Reasons to keep playing even in the face of "defeat."

Everyone that plays competitive games has been in a losing position, but not everyone has the proper mindset to climb out of that position.

What do you focus on when you're losing? What items the enemy has? What levels the enemy has? How many of your towers are down? How many towers they have? Are these the right things to focus on if you are trying to turn a losing game into a winning one? If you don't care much about winning, go ahead and press the green thumbs up button on the concede vote. But if you care about winning and have a truly burning desire to win, keep reading.

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. 

Success comes to those who become SUCCESS CONSCIOUS. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become FAILURE CONSCIOUS.

 - Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich)

Too many times in life, we think of reasons why things are impossible. We think of reasons why our desires aren't going to become reality. We create artificial shortcomings for ourselves and those around us. We say we can't do something because X or because someone else is Y. We create limitations for ourselves and sabotage ourselves. We find reasons why something will not happen or something will not work and we give up. Inaction will NEVER yield any results. If you TRULY want to accomplish something, why should you limit yourself and give up?

Let's all be the better man (or woman) and forget about failure. Let's think about how we can be successful and win the game. Even if the game looks like a lost one, why not work as hard as you can and turn it around? Failure will come to those who allow it to saturate and consume their mind. The ones who cry for concede votes are the ones who will be losing the most games. They give up before the other team has defeated them. They would rather predict a loss and be correct than trying as hard as they can. I truly realized this after reading the following quote:

Most people would rather be CERTAIN they're miserable, than risk being happy. 

- Robert Anthony

Think about that quote for a second. When people give up and beg for concede votes, isn't this what they are doing? They would rather be certain they've lost instead of doing all they can and risk winning? You know that these people have a habit of giving up. They have a habit of being defeated in life, and their habit perpetuates itself in all other parts of life. I'm writing to pull people out of their terrible attitudes and to inspire them to be better and stop giving up. This game should be a way for all of us to become mentally stronger people, not a place for us to practice giving up. We can make it that way one step at a time.

Focus on the right things, and you can turn a losing game into a winning one. The best part about working hard from a losing position is that even if you don't end up with a win, at least you didn't beat yourself and you made your enemy defeat you himself. By pressing the concede button, you have beaten yourself. You've saved your opponent much trouble. In the Art of War, Sun Tzu describes the process of winning.

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself ... Thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.

- Sun Tzu

We can never truly be certain of our success. All we have the power to do is to make sure WE don't make mistakes ourselves. That is the first step to winning. Capitalizing on the errors the enemy makes is the second step. As Sun Tzu says, the enemy must first make an error. Without their error, you cannot win. Considering that, the enemy can't win if you don't give them an opportunity to defeat you. Surrendering makes no sense at all if you are sincerely trying to win. You have not done all that you can to secure yourself against defeat. In fact, you are the ultimate cause of your own defeat by surrendering.

Work to secure yourself against defeat while waiting for your opponent to give you an opportunity to defeat them. You can't say that the enemy "won't throw" because that is not something you are in control of. You are only in control of yourself and indirectly, your teammates. Only your opponents can control how they react to you and your team's actions.

Being defeated is only a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.

- Marilyn Vos Savant

Be the one on the team who makes defeat temporary. What is giving up going to do for you? What will it do for your team? Nothing. Work to change "defeat" into something more productive. And if you ever want to blame your enemies, read the following article and make the change that ensures your success and development.

How to improve your mindset to deal with bad teammates.