Technology, Mental Toughness
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Mind Gaming in Esports
Most of what humans do is mental. Many things are second nature such as walking, eating, brushing teeth, etc. Sometimes some tasks take lots of thinking and some tasks are done purely with instincts. Within both sports and esports, instincts are necessary for top performance.
Playing video games takes strategy and psychology. A gamer must be able to predict what an opponent will do and adapt when something isn’t working. To do this team play and film study are necessary to have an advantage. This is something that takes a lot of preparation and can be mentally draining.
Trash talk is a vital tool to use when gaming to throw the opponent off of their game. While I am a huge trash talker, I am against insults, cursing, etc. A phrase such as "You don't belong here" can get in a player's head and cause their performance to slip.
Some tips to perform at the top level consistently and prevent mental and physical burnout:
- Have a routine. Having a routine helps prevent overthinking. Our mind only has so much capacity. Having to think about minimal tasks such as what to eat and what to wear will take up mental capacity.
- Hyperfocus on the task at hand. Other stuff may be going on in life but when it's go-time there is only one focus. Multi-tasking may seem more beneficial time-wise, but laser beam focus wins in the long run.
- Spend lots of time on film study and visualization. Don’t just visualize great things happening. Visualize being a victim of trash talk, recovering from a mistake, or encouraging your teammates after dropping a match.
