Mentality

So mentality is a concept that people seem to think they understand, when in reality if you do have a grasp you have a much smaller understanding than you may think. This is because mentality is such a huge vague concept that can be broken down into many different points. All that can be elaborated into even smaller branches. Let's see if we can get some cogs spinning



First thing's first. Setting a goal. Goals are so very necessary for yourself to see progress and to make the long discouraging path ahead of you much more realistic. If you don't set a lot of small goals and keep updating them when you reach one, results may feel like nothing compared to the bigger picture and it's hard to take your progress gratefully. So how would you set a goal? I like to think of it like a game with main story missions and side quests (GTA, Fallout, Skyrim, etc). You have your main story missions which are placement numbers, and then you have your side quests like beating this player, learning this matchup cuz you lose to it randomly, or you don't know how to fight this playstyle. The side quests are just things you do to make the main story easier. So knowing how to fight a character will make getting your placement easier. The actual placement yourself, you want to set something realistic that's just out of your grasp, but you obviously need to get something in line to get there. If you're constantly getting 25th, a good goal for you would be breaking that top 16. It would take hard work and determination, but it's hella possible within let's say a month. You need to set a goal to see results, or else it is too easy to not appreciate your progress or feel like because the end goal is a lot more far away than it is. Luckily for Florida, CFL runs gym badges that are used to get everyone active in the scene, and to set your goals for you. Just getting into the scene and your goals are to add a number to your wins for that night? Gym battles may be right for you. A lot of newcomers and lower level players set goals as if they're doomed or are just there to lose. The worst thing you can do after you lose is leave. Play friendlies, get a gym battle in, see if you can get another serious set in with the dude you lost to. Talk about it, don't leave. Leaving right after losing is doing nothing for your goal.



Next would be that hard work and determination I was talking about when reaching that goal. Now that you have your goal in mind, you can start by taking it a little bit more seriously. Just like in any sport you need to want to win badly. You need motivation and drive, without these you may see yourself in a loop of doing well then going back to doing bad and being in a big circle of disappointment. If you take it seriously and you want to win, you WILL see results. 100% of the time, the drive and motivation is all it takes to bring you to that next level. Once you actually want to see your goals come to life, you need to be playing more. You need to raise the bar on your training methods and time management at tournaments. Have someone assess your gameplay, what are the weaknesses that you continue to see in your gameplay, and why haven't you fixed them yet, these questions you need to ask yourself. You need to find out your weaknesses, and strengthen them. The only way to strengthen your weaknesses is by starting from the ground up skill level wise. Find someone you clobber and if your weakness is let's say ledge pressure, keep this player on the ledge as long as you can. It's important to teach others so they can be better practice for you as well. I'd really like to emphasize this. If you help someone get out of a situation, they can be better practice for you to deal with the other mixups in that situation. So by helping the person you clobber learn different ways to get off the edge, then you will be more prepared for people of higher caliber, because they probably have a better understanding of how to get off the edge. You need to help others and in return they will help you be prepared for higher challenges. Let's say I beat Gount every time we play. If I look over our set and help him clean up his gameplay in a couple different aspects, i'll be even more prepared for Dj Jack. Help people and in return they will help you. By getting the people around you better you in turn will get better to keep above the water (I'll be happy to elaborate this if it doesn't make sense). You need to be playing to learn, not playing to win. Playing to learn will help you appreciate the game and playing more. If you find yourself playing to win you may avoid playing certain people because they may figure you out and beat you. This is a bad mindset, in the end all you wanna do is play and get better, so to reach your goal you need to be playing everyone as much as possible. If you go to a tournament as a 1-2'er and you only hope to go 2-2 tonight, you're not getting the full tournament experience. The people you're losing to that early also are in the same position as you. You all want to get better and you all want to win one more set than you did last time. So the smart thing to do for both of you would be to play friendlies and figure out why you lost. By practicing and feeding off of each other then you both will see perspective of different situations. Seeing stuff from all views will be helpful for you in later situations. These things will up your training methods greatly and it will help you with tournament pressure and expectations. It's also good for not getting salty over a loss. All of these things will take your training to the next level and in turn you will see progress.



So you have your goal, and you trained valiantly, and you think tonight is the night where you can break your goal. How do you approach a night like that? Before the set even gets called before you even make it to the weekly you need to have a gameplay, a mindset, an idea of the people you'll probably see along the way to your goal. You need to walk into the night with the hopes that your nerves don't get in the way, and neither does your pride. You need to find the balance between confidence and being cocky. If you're cocky, the smash shaman gods will strike you down just for your cockiness. First step is your mentality for the night. You need to think about a game plan for matchups that you have struggled with in the past, but most importantly you need to focus on playing well. Before bracket even starts you need to be playing friendlies and getting confident with your movement and your play, if you come in late and play your round 1 immediately, how can you expect to reach your goal. So you've walked in, you've warmed up, you don't set yourself up for failure, the only thing left is the bracket. How do you stop nerves from taking sets from you? This is a meaning of life type question as there's no right answer to it. Some people naturally have no nerves and some people get torn open by them. The only advice I've personally found success with is to mirror your training environment. If you're used to practicing at a school or community place then you probably won't be too pressed about the loud tourney. My training is on wifi, where i listen to music and pwn, so in tourney I find most success with listening to music and focusing that way. As far as confidence goes I've found success with thinking of people's worst losses and it can make the player im fighting seem a lot more realistic. Like if you play me you should know I've lost to a 12 year old, a 35 year old dude, and almost lost to a 1111 mii gunner from Tampa who spammed smash attacks. Anything is possible. If i play Zero all that's on my mind before is Seagull Joe. It makes it realistic and not discouraging. Good way to force courage and confidence, if someone else can do it, you can too. Too much confidence will lead to your demise so don't be cocky either



A huge chunk of mentality for improvement is being open minded. It's very necessary to listen to what people have to say and hear other perspectives, after a loss, before a set, after a win, everything. Not being open to advice or being quick to write off what people have to say about a set or matchup just because they don't play your main, is just plain ignorant. You don't know everything, you won't ever know anything, so keep that ear perched and be ready to listen to my melody. 💯.. Players who are quick to tell you why your advice won't work are always the one that are caught in the same loop of not living up to their expectations. Call people out on sight about that shit if you want to help them in the long run. Even if what the person said doesn't work, have you tried it out in all situations, i'm assuming they have some background or reason to believe it works. So if you talk it out and maybe show them why it wouldn't work, you can be helping them out as well. Another thing you have to consider, is that if someone does give you advice, talk it over with them and find out what they really mean. If you don't have a solid understanding of what they mean, ask them to elaborate. Some people are quick to just listen to something and say you're right, leaving with no new knowledge because they don't really have a good understanding of what the person is actually even saying. So there are bad sides of each spectrum of being open minded and close minded. The middle of both being understanding.



I would consider myself to have a well rounded mentality and with this I have found growth in the past. A good mentality can honestly change your life, inside and outside of smash. A good mentality can keep you in a set, it can keep you learning after a loss and you can make the adjustments for the next time you play, and can keep you going altogether. A good mentality is desperately needed when you're in a set and you get hit with the curveballs. These curveballs can be sd's, early kills, missed tech's, anything that hits you and you didn't think that should hit you, are all factors that can put you on tilt. A good mentality will let you accept the crazy shit for what it is and keep you going. If you get hit by a bayo combo and tell yourself, i expected this when going into the set against a bayo, you'll be more likely to keep the set going and reclaim momentum as opposed to someone with a bad mentality. By staying in the set, even if you lose, you can learn a few things before it's over, to seal your opponent's fate the next time you guys play. It's so important to keep going, if you give up and get tossed around cuz you know it's over, you're playing yourself. In the words of Kingwill, "remember what game we're playing.." This quote is inspirational because it can help you deal with the crazy stuff, by accepting it as normal possibilities in Smash 4. But also as an inspiration to do the impossible, who cares how far you're down, remember what game we're playing. People die early they sd, they get platform stretchered. Crazy stuff happens so getting discouraged and giving up is the most childish stuff I see at a tournament. Play your heart out till the set is over. If not you're literally wasting your time. Don't waste your time. By staying in the set and learning more you're improving as a player. Good mentalities bring growth and wisdom.



Bad mentalities will slow or stop growth completely. These bad mentalities can be caused by taking improvement the wrong way, and now being entitled to your new fancy results because you aren't considering that everyone else is getting better at the same time is you. Every round is a fight whether you like to think so or not, and whether you win or lose, it's on you. So by getting upset or thinking someone shouldn't beat you, you're inheriting a very bad mindset, which will haunt you for sure. Character understanding and matchup experience may hold you over for a while, but sooner or later down the line your mentality will halt your progress until you figure that part out. Get it in line while you can, if you think that someone shouldn't be beating you, you already need to get it in line lmao. Entitlement will waste your time. You always need to remember that until you're top 8'ing consistently at majors: you ain't shit, your boys ain't shit, your main ain't shit, and the people that slap you on a weekly basis ain't shit on the grand scheme of things. I have no reason to be an asshole to you cuz you aren't as good as me because in the grand scheme of things, I ain't shit. Once you realize this key component, getting better and helping other people get better will go a lot more swimmingly. You should never be scared to ask someone to play or for advice, that doesn't make any sense. Even if someone does top 8, like let's say Nairo. You can't be scared to ask him for games even though he top 8's regularly, cuz even if he top 8's.. he gets no bitches.. so don't play your idol card so much and realize that everyone is on the same level approachable wise. If you believe everyone is equal, you will be more open to seeking help and you will be more open to helping others. Help others beat you so they can help you beat them again, you guys then both become more versed in the matchup and overall better players. Bad mentalities will end you if you don't stop them when you see them.



If you're a newer player, come out. I don't care if you're bad and no one else will either, come get better.



hope this helped







Sent from my iPhone

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