[0:00] remember when gaming was simple why did
[0:03] that ever have to change gaming used to
[0:06] mean abandoning your personal hygiene
[0:08] for 12-hour marathons guzzling
[0:11] fluorescent colored soda and ignoring
[0:14] any suggestions to go outside back then
[0:17] escaping really did mean just diving
[0:20] head first into pixelated Bliss no
[0:23] stress no pressure just a sweet sweet
[0:26] hum of your PC's fan on a warm summer
[0:29] day now fast forward to your grown-up
[0:33] self complete with a day job mounting
[0:36] bills and a tick tock Society where to
[0:38] feel like you're worth anything you need
[0:41] to have gone to the gym started three
[0:43] passive income businesses invested in
[0:45] the latest meme coin and had an ice
[0:47] water plunge all by 10:00 a.m. in the
[0:49] morning clearly the stress builds up now
[0:53] when you try to play some more of
[0:54] arrivals and go up the ladder when
[0:56] things don't go your way this game which
[0:59] is supposed to be your way to wind down
[1:02] has become just another source of stress
[1:04] as if we need any more and being hard
[1:07] stuck in a rank or two is incredibly
[1:10] frustrating here's the kicker though
[1:12] it's not just your mechanics your
[1:15] precious reflexes or the matchmaking or
[1:18] your mouse pad that's this big that are
[1:20] the cause of your slow rank climb and
[1:22] your eroding mental health it's also
[1:26] that jumbled mess of mental habits
[1:28] pulling the strings behind the scenes
[1:30] quietly Whispering hey man today was
[1:33] garbage but why not keep the momentum
[1:36] going by tilting your way through a few
[1:38] more humiliating losses and dropping
[1:40] even further huh sure the internet is
[1:43] practically drowning in tutorials and
[1:46] character guides on how to take space as
[1:49] a tank and uh use off angles as a DPS
[1:53] and animation cancel like a pro these
[1:56] things are really important but none of
[1:59] that mechanical Wizardry matters the
[2:02] moment your psyche decides to light
[2:04] itself on fire if tilt and burnout join
[2:08] as the seventh player on your team your
[2:10] aim your reaction time decision making
[2:14] everything even any trace of fun go
[2:16] straight out the window so let's
[2:18] confront this mess head on together in
[2:21] the first part of the video I'm going to
[2:22] identify the mental blockers that cause
[2:25] this because we have to start somewhere
[2:27] then I'm going to use some sports
[2:28] psychology and research and you know I
[2:31] like research in order to relate all of
[2:33] it to Competitive Gaming and
[2:35] specifically to Marvel rivals in order
[2:37] to understand what good mental actually
[2:40] looks like and then we're going to tap
[2:41] her off with some actionable tips and
[2:43] things you can actually do in order to
[2:46] see Improvement so we can all try to
[2:48] unfuck ourselves from whichever rank
[2:50] we're at let's start identifying the
[2:53] main mental blockers that are typically
[2:55] holding you back I know climbing the
[2:57] competitive ladder in Marvel rivals can
[3:00] feel a lot like trying to eat soup with
[3:02] a fork one minute you're riding a hot
[3:04] streak thinking you finally got a handle
[3:06] on your character and then the next
[3:08] you're getting clapped so hard you start
[3:11] questioning if you were ever actually
[3:13] good or if the matchmaking gods were
[3:15] just feeding you scrubs to keep you
[3:17] hooked and when that happens it's really
[3:20] easy to just start spiraling you start
[3:23] thinking maybe the system is just rigged
[3:26] maybe your teammates are all garbage
[3:28] maybe the game itself has some personal
[3:31] Vendetta against you is the system
[3:33] rigged some say yes some say no and
[3:36] we're just coping some say kind of but
[3:39] it's just unfair regardless either way
[3:43] are your teammates all trash sometimes
[3:46] yeah absolutely but sometimes you're the
[3:50] problem and does the game hate you with
[3:53] an attitude like that man yeah here's
[3:55] the thing and I really want you to
[3:57] internalize this whether or not all of
[4:00] these things are true doesn't matter
[4:03] sitting in these mental traps is not
[4:05] going to help you climb instead they'll
[4:07] tilt you into the ground they'll burn
[4:09] you out and they're going to suck out
[4:11] every ounce of fun out of the game which
[4:14] is going to make you play worse so let's
[4:16] talk about what's holding you back the
[4:18] first one is the blame game one of the
[4:21] biggest mistakes you can make in a game
[4:23] like this one is blaming your teammates
[4:25] for every loss and yeah I get it
[4:29] sometimes they are the problem of course
[4:31] but making that your default mindset is
[4:34] a one-way ticket to being hardstuck
[4:37] forever even if you're right let's give
[4:39] you that pointing fingers doesn't help
[4:42] it just makes you bitter it blinds you
[4:45] to your own mistakes and ironically it
[4:47] makes you an even worse teammate to play
[4:50] with and guess what if you're miserable
[4:52] to play with you're less likely to win
[4:55] if we all agree that tilt makes you a
[4:58] shell of who you are as a player then
[5:00] tilting other players does the exact
[5:02] same thing if you have this stupid
[5:04] Spider-Man who keeps dying all the time
[5:07] do you think it's helpful to tilt that
[5:09] so you're going to take that horrible
[5:11] skill set you're going to make them
[5:12] angry so then they can play even worse
[5:15] yet you want to win the match that
[5:17] doesn't work players who consistently
[5:20] and constantly blame others tend to have
[5:22] a fixed mindset we'll talk about that in
[5:24] a minute they assume that the issue is
[5:27] everyone else instead of ever looking
[5:30] inward but if you want to improve you
[5:32] need to ask yourself and be realistic
[5:35] what could I have done better even in
[5:37] the games that are just a dumpster fire
[5:39] where your team was awful there's always
[5:42] something that you could have done
[5:43] differently would it have changed the
[5:45] outcome probably not would it have made
[5:47] you into a better more self-aware player
[5:50] absolutely and would that get you to a
[5:53] rankup Down the Line in a faster way
[5:56] yeah buddy the next belief we want to
[5:58] talk about is related to ELO hell and
[6:01] this illusion of no control and you know
[6:03] ELO hell the idea that the matchmaking
[6:07] system is screwing you over keeping you
[6:09] trapped in a rank that you don't belong
[6:12] in you know what sometimes it does feel
[6:14] like that here's the truth man yes some
[6:17] matches are
[6:19] unwinable it sucks but over the long run
[6:23] your rank is mostly determined by your
[6:25] own performance not those individual
[6:27] sucky matches psychologists call this
[6:30] the Locust of control high performing
[6:32] players believe that their actions shape
[6:34] their results struggling players on the
[6:36] other hand externalize blame they assume
[6:39] the universe just hates them and here's
[6:41] the kicker both are self-fulfilling
[6:43] prophecies if you believe for example
[6:46] that the system is rigged and my
[6:48] teammates suck then what do you think's
[6:50] going to happen you're going to play
[6:51] like someone who has no control over
[6:53] their climb but if you believe I control
[6:56] my rank I am here I have the power even
[6:59] in the chaotic situations then you're
[7:01] going to be focusing on what actually
[7:03] matters and what's that your decision-
[7:05] making your positioning your awareness a
[7:08] billion other things and even if you're
[7:10] wrong and ELO hell exists and your
[7:12] teammates suck the mindset is what's
[7:15] actually going to help you improve the
[7:17] belief has to be healthy so yeah whether
[7:20] ELO hell is real or not who gives a [ __ ]
[7:22] it doesn't matter it's what you believe
[7:24] that makes the difference the final one
[7:26] I'll give you before we move on to the
[7:28] next chapter is fear and rank anxiety or
[7:31] basically fear of losing we've all been
[7:33] there dude you finally hit a new Rank
[7:36] and suddenly every game feels high
[7:38] Stakes or maybe not a new rank maybe
[7:40] you're one game away from getting a new
[7:42] rank stress you start playing too
[7:45] cautiously you start to second guess
[7:47] yourself and before you know it you're
[7:49] making worse decisions not better
[7:51] decisions this is classic performance
[7:55] anxiety and according to a lot of sports
[7:57] psychology out there too much anxiety
[7:59] tanks your ability to play well the best
[8:01] players in the world focus on the
[8:03] process not just the result if you only
[8:05] care about your rank every loss just
[8:07] feels catastrophic you start dodging
[8:10] matches you don't play as much you are
[8:12] afraid to risk a demotion you just stop
[8:15] learning you stop improving and
[8:17] eventually you're going to stop having
[8:18] fun too at the end of the day if you
[8:20] want to climb in a more stressfree way
[8:23] and have a bit more fun as you're
[8:25] climbing you need to let go of the
[8:27] excuses dude you need to stop being Afra
[8:29] afid to lose and you need to focus on
[8:31] what you can control because the truth
[8:34] is nobody's going to carry you up the
[8:36] ladder we're solo cuing here you either
[8:38] get better or you get stuck and it's
[8:41] 100% your own choice now let's analyze
[8:44] you know the psychology of a champion so
[8:46] to speak and think about why mindset
[8:48] matters more than you think I've looked
[8:50] into some psychology research out there
[8:52] specifically sports psychology and I
[8:54] think a lot of that relates to gaming
[8:56] many will argue that something like
[8:58] Marvel rivals or any other hero shooter
[9:00] is a sport and that's why Esports exist
[9:03] there's a lot of hand eye coordination
[9:04] you need to have and a lot of kind of
[9:06] almost physical attributes in order to
[9:08] be able to play so let's just assume
[9:09] that something like MMA is the same as
[9:13] gaming if ranking up in Marvel Rivals
[9:15] was just about clicking heads faster
[9:18] you'd see a lot more people at the top
[9:20] wouldn't you but you don't because the
[9:21] real difference between players who keep
[9:23] improving and climbing and those who
[9:25] stay stuck isn't just mechanics that's
[9:28] super important but it's also their
[9:30] mindset I know it sounds like the kind
[9:32] of thing some self-help Guru would yell
[9:35] at you about on YouTube but it's true
[9:37] it's not just fluff it's decades and
[9:40] Decades of research in sports psychology
[9:42] all of them point to the same conclusion
[9:45] your mental game matters big time let's
[9:47] break down what actually separates the
[9:49] climbers from the complainers the first
[9:52] one is really thinking about the process
[9:55] more than you think about the results
[9:57] and I said it before just a second ago
[9:59] but I'm doubling down on it man if you
[10:01] want to climb you have to stop obsessing
[10:04] over your rank it's a little
[10:06] counterintuitive it's kind of backwards
[10:08] you know isn't the whole point to win
[10:10] and yeah totally but the second you
[10:13] fixate on wins and losses and you become
[10:15] obsessed you're setting yourself up to
[10:17] tilt the more you chase a thing whether
[10:20] it's in gaming or in life the more it
[10:22] tends to run right look at a pro athlete
[10:24] a sprinter doesn't just run a race
[10:26] thinking like oh my God I got to get the
[10:28] gold at all cost no they're locked in on
[10:31] their stride on their breathing their
[10:33] execution their technique the gold medal
[10:36] is just a you know a byproduct of
[10:39] getting those things right but the
[10:40] process is more important the same thing
[10:43] applies in marel Rivals the best players
[10:45] out there aren't just freaking out about
[10:47] every rank deviation they're analyzing
[10:50] things all the time they're thinking
[10:51] about their map awareness their decision
[10:54] making their positioning and that's what
[10:56] actually leads to more wins over time
[10:59] and that's what actually leads to
[11:00] ranking up there's a concept that's
[11:02] really interesting called probability
[11:04] based thinking and it's a real game
[11:07] changer think about it even a god tier
[11:09] player with like 60 70% win rate at
[11:13] Celestial is still going to lose you
[11:15] know 30 40% of the time that's a lot of
[11:18] losing so if you lose your mind every
[11:21] time a game doesn't go your way exactly
[11:24] you're basically fighting against
[11:26] reality it's not healthy instead analyze
[11:29] the loss think about things like did you
[11:32] make the right plays based on the
[11:33] information that you had did you have
[11:36] perfect positioning was your accuracy
[11:38] High were you making the right picks
[11:41] were you fighting the right opponents a
[11:43] lot of other things and if yes to all of
[11:45] those questions then just move on the
[11:47] loss is just variance it doesn't matter
[11:49] in the long run if no and you can
[11:51] recognize that you messed some things up
[11:53] then congratulations you just found a
[11:55] lesson that's sick so apply it and
[11:58] you're already better than before for
[11:59] kind of that simple the next concept is
[12:02] one of my favorites and it is growth
[12:04] mindset it's literally the reason why
[12:06] some players get better and others just
[12:08] complain in anything in life but
[12:10] especially in Marvel Rivals there are
[12:12] typically two types of players there are
[12:14] the fixed mindset players the ones that
[12:16] think that skill is something you're
[12:18] born with or it's innate or you don't
[12:20] have a ton of control over or they just
[12:22] come up with excuses if they lose it's
[12:25] because of their teammates or it's the
[12:27] game or it's the matchmaking or
[12:28] something things rigged you know those
[12:30] kinds of people and then there are the
[12:32] growth mindset players they believe that
[12:34] skill is developed if they lose they ask
[12:37] what could I have done better even if
[12:39] some of the other things are true again
[12:41] trash teammates strange matchmaking the
[12:44] billion other things that can happen in
[12:46] this game regardless they drown that
[12:48] noise out and they think about what
[12:50] could I have done better guess which
[12:53] group actually gets good it's rhetorical
[12:55] see psychologist Carol dwi's research on
[12:58] mindset is is legendary in sports
[13:00] psychology and the same principles apply
[13:03] in Marvel Rivals see studies on League
[13:05] of Legends found that fixed mindset
[13:07] players stay stuck because they blame
[13:09] external factors meanwhile growth
[13:11] mindset players improve adapt and
[13:13] eventually surpass them the final bit
[13:15] I'll give you here before we pass on to
[13:17] the next piece is really about selft
[13:20] talk you know that voice in your head
[13:21] which really can just make you or break
[13:24] you let me ask you directly after a loss
[13:26] happens what do you tell yourself do you
[13:28] say say things like man I always choke I
[13:31] I [ __ ] suck at this game why am I
[13:33] even playing or things like that was
[13:36] rough I learned some things but hey man
[13:38] off to the next one because you know
[13:40] what whichever one you pick you're right
[13:43] Sports psychologists have found that
[13:45] selft talk has a huge impact on
[13:47] performance in Esports we tend to ignore
[13:50] this but the top players don't they know
[13:53] that confidence isn't just some you know
[13:55] magic thing that you either have or
[13:58] don't have it's it's something you build
[14:00] and a really big part of it is the way
[14:02] you talk to yourself so the next time
[14:04] you mess up try not to spiral into I
[14:07] suck I'll never climb instead just treat
[14:09] yourself like you would a teammate that
[14:11] you like if you have a teammate and they
[14:13] messed up and had a bad performance
[14:15] you're never going to be nasty to them I
[14:17] hope you're going to tell them things
[14:18] like all right dude shake it off all
[14:20] good we got it next round here's like
[14:22] three things that you did really well um
[14:24] let's let's focus on that dude let's go
[14:26] this one tiny shift can make a massive
[14:29] difference in how things play out it's
[14:31] less tilt it means more focus and that
[14:33] means better plays now let's turn to
[14:36] page and really go into some more
[14:38] actionable things you know mindset
[14:40] shifts you can practice in order to
[14:42] power your climb and go from frustrated
[14:44] to focused you know if you're tired of
[14:47] feeling like you're just banging your
[14:49] head against the ranked wall in Mar ofel
[14:51] rals dude welcome to the club I'm in the
[14:54] same place here are some things you can
[14:56] do the first one is control what you can
[14:58] and just let go of the rest this game is
[15:02] a monster every match is chaos hundreds
[15:06] and hundreds of things are happening all
[15:08] at once and most of them are completely
[15:11] outside of your control there are things
[15:13] you can control your decision making
[15:15] your mechanics your communication your
[15:18] attitude your positioning things like
[15:21] that what you can't control are things
[15:23] like the bad Dives your teammates are
[15:25] making which hero your teammates pick
[15:28] whether they have a brain stem so the
[15:30] sooner you internalize this the less
[15:32] energy you're going to be wasting on
[15:34] useless frustration we solo qu dude we
[15:36] can't control those guys we have to
[15:38] focus on our own stuff the next one I'll
[15:40] give you is to focus on Improvement and
[15:42] not just rank or in other words really
[15:45] zero in on the process [ __ ] the outcome
[15:48] yeah you want to rank up I know dude
[15:50] obviously I do too but ironically if you
[15:53] focus too much on the rank while playing
[15:56] or you focus too much on whether you're
[15:58] going to win or lose or where the game
[16:00] is going you're making it harder to get
[16:02] the outcome that you want instead before
[16:04] every session you want to set some
[16:06] tangible smart goals things that are
[16:09] achievable first of all things that are
[16:10] in your control and things that will
[16:12] give you the sense of improvement
[16:14] because over time they stack up and if
[16:15] you're successful in improving the
[16:17] things you can control everything else
[16:18] is going to fall into place for example
[16:20] you can sit down for a play session and
[16:22] only focus on three things the first one
[16:24] may be something like I normally have a
[16:27] accuracy of 35% % I want to maintain an
[16:30] accuracy of at least 38% during today's
[16:33] game session and I'm going to do my best
[16:34] to do that the second one is I'm going
[16:36] to work on better positioning so I'm
[16:38] going to make a rule of thumb where I'm
[16:39] super conscious about where my player
[16:42] you know my hero is and I'm going to
[16:43] make sure that I'm always like half a
[16:45] second or maybe a second away from
[16:47] natural cover I'm going to be using
[16:48] Corners I'm going to be using slopes and
[16:50] then the last one is hey because I'm a
[16:52] conscientious growth mindset player I
[16:55] watched some highlevel ranked play of
[16:57] other people playing my character and I
[16:59] saw a really cool flanking route that
[17:01] this one guy took so I'm going to try
[17:03] that one and at the same time mix it in
[17:05] with my other goals that's it that's all
[17:06] I'm going to be doing tonight why do you
[17:08] do this because goals like these
[17:11] actually keep you engaged in the game
[17:13] itself they give you agency there are
[17:15] things you can control if you [ __ ] it up
[17:17] it's your fault and your fault entirely
[17:19] and if you succeed it's also your credit
[17:22] the last one I'll leave you with is
[17:23] treat losses as lessons not punishment a
[17:27] loss is not some personal attack on your
[17:29] ego it's it's just data that's all it is
[17:33] the angry tilted players treat losses
[17:36] like a moral failure it's stupid smart
[17:39] players treat them like a learning
[17:41] opportunity so after a bad game instead
[17:43] of Rage queuing into another disaster
[17:46] watch the VOD and think about what was
[17:48] the Turning Point here what exactly
[17:50] happened in this match the second one is
[17:52] were there small mistakes being done by
[17:54] me or someone else that just snowballed
[17:57] into a bigger issue and what could I
[17:59] have done to communicate or prevent them
[18:01] through some of my skill set another one
[18:03] is what killed me and specifically was
[18:05] it always positioning was it bad pick
[18:07] selection things like that are super
[18:10] super useful and imagine a world where
[18:12] you combine the tangible goals that you
[18:14] set prior to the game with analysis of
[18:16] your vods afterwards and asking the
[18:18] right questions dude you're going to be
[18:20] amazing another thing you can do with
[18:22] this to make it even more efficient is
[18:24] just write it down jot down some key
[18:26] lessons from the game and then move on
[18:28] and if it's sounds excessive well it is
[18:30] in some ways but guess what Pro players
[18:32] do this people that take this seriously
[18:34] do this and a lot of them rewatch their
[18:36] own replays take a lot of notes they
[18:38] study other high rank streams to find
[18:41] patterns and mistakes they would watch
[18:42] the VOD from the enemy perspective just
[18:45] to see how they appear on their screen
[18:47] and that reveals a whole lot there's a
[18:49] lot of cool stuff that they do that is
[18:51] all in the spirit of improvement because
[18:54] Improvement isn't just about playing
[18:56] more and playing with more intent it's
[18:59] literally about learning more with this
[19:01] kind of mindset even a losing streak of
[19:04] like 24 losses something crazy starts to
[19:07] become valuable think about how much
[19:09] data there is in a losing streak so
[19:11] remember you either win or you learn
[19:14] both move you forward if you handle them
[19:16] right that's about it I'm an emotional
[19:19] person like everybody these games
[19:21] frustrate me and to go back all the way
[19:23] to the beginning of the video it's not
[19:25] supposed to do that it's a game I play
[19:27] this when I want to wind down have fun
[19:29] with other people play Marvel stuff and
[19:32] Marvel stuff I'm a big Marvel fan
[19:34] [ __ ] obviously I nerd out about stuff
[19:36] like that that's why I play this game
[19:38] and when it tilts me and gets me angry
[19:40] and gives me anxiety it's really
[19:41] disappointing because that's not what
[19:43] gaming ever was for me and these games
[19:45] can really get me in a bad mental place
[19:48] so what I've developed since I began
[19:49] playing the game were these things I'm
[19:51] not pulling them out of my ass these are
[19:53] things that I'm actively doing and if
[19:55] this video built any perspective if it
[19:57] was useful do let me know is well I feel
[19:59] strongly about the topic I think I'm a
[20:01] big proponent of mental health
[20:03] especially in gaming and I really
[20:04] enjoyed making it so I just wanted to
[20:06] put something out there that hopefully
[20:07] helps a couple of people enjoy the game
[20:09] more and enjoy gaming more as well so
[20:12] thank you so much for watching and I
[20:13] will see you at the top