A Quick and Easy Mindset Change to Improve

"I did my best to support, but our carry sucked so we lost."
"Our lane was outmatched and nobody came to gank so we lost."
"I'm the carry and everyone keeps taking my farm, so we lost."
"I tanked the entire team but nobody followed up, so we lost."
"I killed mid, but the other two lanes got wrecked so we lost."

In HoN, 1600 MM rating is slightly above average. When I was in this bracket, I used to tell myself these things all of the time and move on with my day. It became easy to shrug off the fact that I could have done better by blaming my teammates. I knew I made mistakes, but that didn't matter because my team is bad. I won some games. I lost some games. For the most part, I stayed in about the same place. I felt trapped in my bracket because of my terrible teammates.

WRONG. For those of you looking to improve, here are the reasons why these things do not matter:

1. Yes, you only make up one-fifth, or 20% of your team. You cannot do everything, so DO EVERYTHING THAT YOU CAN DO. Unless you can HONESTLY tell yourself you've done all that you can, then you have contributed to your loss.
2. Learn from your mistakes and avoid making them again. If you truly had a game which you made NO mistakes, then you can blame your team. If you made a few mistakes, you contributed to the loss. End of story
3. If you found yourself in a losing position and did nothing about it, then you have contributed to your loss.
4. If your teammates found themselves in a losing position and you did nothing to it, then you have contributed to your loss.
5. If you have stopped trying to find ways to win, then the game is instantly lost. Never stop believing in a win unless all 4 others have. If you mentally gave up and stopped trying to find ways to win, you have contributed to your loss

If you give up in a game and believe that everything is everyone else's fault, how can your condition improve? If you give up easily in a game where you have nothing to lose from trying, how easily do you give up in life? Be honest with yourself and be better than everyone else who can't. The first step is to admit fault in yourself. Here are some quotes that inspired me to be the better person. By changing my mindset, I climbed out of the 1600 bracket and made my way to 1700.

"One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with the word "impossible." He knows all the rules which will NOT work. He knows all the things which CANNOT be done."

-Napoleon Hill

I see this all too much in ANY competitive sport. When I played tennis, I have seen friends succumb to this weakness. I myself have fallen prey to this weakness as well. In fact, I know ALL of us have experienced moments of weakness like this. We predict failure and find reasons why our prediction is most likely accurate. After that, we take no meaningful action and we fail. If you aim to win and improve, does this make sense? Instead of finding reasons to fail, FIND REASONS TO SUCCEED.

"If you cannot bear the faults of a friend, you make them your own [because you have not the charity to correct them.]"

-Publilius Syrus (Maxim 28)

If someone on your team is struggling, do your best to help them. As the quote says, if you do not help them, you have just made their problem yours. This applies ESPECIALLY to MOBA games. If you are currently not in the position to help, work to be in a position to do so. In HoN, it just might take a level or two and you will be ready to gank another lane. In LoL, it just might take a summoner spell to come up or a level. Whichever the case may be, find a way to help. Make no excuses, just help them. If you don't, it will be your problem later in the game.

"I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but I still can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do something that I can do."

-Helen Keller

A blind-deaf-mute who learned how to read and write, Helen Keller is truly an inspiration. She realized that she was an individual in a very populated world. She realized that she was less capable than everyone else, but that did not discourage her from doing her best to reach out and make a change. Upon further research, I found out that she did a lot to better the world through political activity and by publishing work. She was blind, deaf, and mute. She knew her limitations. Yet, she knew no boundaries for what she could accomplish.

If you are interested in Helen Keller's work, click HERE.

If she can be like that while missing three major things we all use to interact with our surroundings, why can't we be like her? Reassess your limitations and then try again. You're just one player out of five, so you can't do everything. BUT SINCE YOU CAN'T DO EVERYTHING, DO AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. Stop fooling yourself that you have done all that you can do. There's always more you could have done. There's always a decision you could have made differently to make things better. Even if you played well, there is always BETTER. Having this mindset is the only way you can improve in ANYTHING in life. Always remember that you can do better, no matter how well your performance.

"Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected."

-Sophocles

Remember the last time you said to your team and yourself, "this game is lost." Was that game really lost? Or did the odds seem overwhelmingly against your favor? More often than not, you will lose when you do this to yourself.

Now remember the last time you were substantially behind and told everyone, "this game isn't over, we can win." More often than not, you find a way to win. You do your best to outplay the other team and take all opportunities they give you. You play much more carefully because you believe there is a chance to win. Your belief in winning has literally carried you and your team out of the gutter. Even if you don't win, you were MUCH closer to winning. If you don't win, you end up making the other team earn their win. Look for an opportunity to win. If you give up, you will never find that opportunity and you make your predicted loss a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"Faith is the only agency through which the cosmic force of infinite intelligence can be harnessed and used by man."

-Napoleon Hill

This seems like the biggest hoax in the world. Many will ignore this, but the few who try it will succeed. After thinking about this quote and being honest with myself, I realized that this quote heavily applied to many events in my life. I also started believing that I could win EVERY game, regardless of the circumstances. Slowly, my win rate started going up and my MM rating in HoN up with it. I know it sounds cheesy. I know it sounds silly. I know it sounds like a fantasy. But I also know it works. Join me in putting this little piece of information to work and share your experiences with me.