Tuesday, November 27, 2012

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.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The importance of MINDSET in HoN.


I was previously woking on a guide to winning in HoN, but I want to adapt it to be compatible with all competitive endeavors. This is what I had for the importance of mindset. Please comment or message if you have any comments.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF MINDSET

“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the rest.” – Aristotle

Here are a list of some human qualities and traits we would like to have for playing HoN:
Acuity – Sharpness in thought and sight
Reflexive – Fast, advantageous, and skillful reaction
Perceptive – Able to see opportunities and analyze situations deeply
Conviction – Executing every action with purpose
Aggression – The ability to find and exploit weak points in the enemy’s strategy
Defensive – Ensuring no mistakes are made for the enemy to capitalize on

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines courage as “strength in the face of danger.” All of us have these qualities, but the game of HoN adds danger. We might already have these things, but we must be able to find strength in the midst of the dangerous situations we find ourselves in. I chose to go over Mindset first because of the truth that this quote reveals: courage guarantees all else. Without having the courage to execute, what use is having all of the skill in the world?

“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” – Sophocles (Oedipus Rex)

One may have great skill in HoN, but can they win if they are predicting a loss? Since they expect a loss, they make no attempt to win. The worst part of this at the end of a game, they say, “I knew we would lose.” Their loss will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. They have lost, but then they find shelter in the fact that they were right. All of the reasons they gave of why they might have hypothetically lost have all been proven correct! Since they were right, they believe they have been excused and they will have no problem in repeating this prophesizing. What good is being right if you have lost? You cannot improve at a rate faster than a snail’s pace if this is the mindset you have.

“Success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis.” – Napoleon Hill

            A win is a win, no matter how many mistakes are made. A loss is a loss, no matter the reasons why you lost. This quote is a strict but direct approach to winning and losing. No apologies yet no excuses. One can only find true solace from the ghost of their mistakes by winning. Mistakes become irrelevant because the fact of the matter is that you have won. When you have lost, failure makes ALL of your mistakes relevant. In the game of HoN, every player could have always done more to contribute to success. It is a truth that many neglect, but those who have a strong will to improve take to heart.


“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 I can do..” – Hellen Keller

Start of my Journey.

About Myself:

My name is Angelo. I'm starting my journey to being highly ranked in both Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends. I have been playing MOBAs for 5 years starting with DotA in 7th grade, somewhere in 2006-2007. I have learned so much from this game, but I am slowly realizing it now and I am looking to take it to the next level.

I want to become a competitive player in one game or the other, preferably LoL because it is much more heavily populated. I want to become a known blogger for these games and I want to coach people  and help them become better at the game they enjoy and to lead better lives because of it. I value self-improvement and I read on my own time to do so.

I want to write informational and motivational work for competitive players in general, whether it be for sports, gaming, or any other competitive endeavor. I have been reading a lot of things lately that have inspired me to achieve and I want to share it with people. Many of my ideas and things I'm learning are untested, and I want to use video games to show myself how much I can accomplish.

I have big plans for the future. I plan on making a team of similarly dedicated individuals who strive for greatness. I want to be surrounded by people who wish to improve themselves and be among the best of the best.

In HoN, I am currently 1730 MMR and I am looking to hit 1800 MMR by the end of December.

In LoL, I just hit Level 30 a few days ago and I will be playing another account to level 30 to ready myself for Ranked Queue.

HoN IGN: housesarebig, HarassMeNow
LoL IGN: housesarebig, 7DX Sloth

Message me in-game or comment on my post if you think similarly and want to join me on my journey to the top.