03 Mar 2019
One time I was working on a project and my colleagues and I, for one reason or another, made a few mistakes. My colleagues, however, considered those mistakes to be extremely negative, dire and abysmal. I found that conclusion unwarranted as I consider mistakes as the building blocks of success. So it got me thinking where I got this mindset from…
I used to play video games. A lot. At one point I even got paid to do it.
When I was in Grade 9 (or thereabouts), I started playing the video game League of Legends. At first, I wasn’t that good – I was somewhere in the middle ranks. Then I became obsessed – I wanted to become better! Truly better!
I started watching professional competitions, youtube guides and clips. I took advice from people who were better. I started watching my own games and studying my mistakes. I invested a lot of time and effort. Gradually, I was even changing my mindset to think like the professionals whose gameplay I was trying to imitate. Essentially, I changed myself to win more games and become better at the game.
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Changing myself for a game that I have now not played seriously since Grade 12? Well, I would do it again!
Here are the key lessons I learned throughout my gaming years:
Lesson 1: It’s MY fault. Yes, everything.
I stopped bullsh*tting myself. Losing 5 games in a row? There was 1 common denominator in those 5 games – me. My teammates had nothing to do with that. Even if they did, blaming them did little for me. It was about improving and perfecting my own gameplay and I had to take responsibility for the outcome. I cared about my ranking, not my teammates’.
Lesson 2: Develop a growth mindset
In order to spend hours on end watching your games, learning how to play and reading about the most appropriate ways to execute certain tactics took time and effort. I wanted to learn, I wanted to grow.
Lesson 3: Mistakes happen. Always.
In every single game, or at every step in your life, mistakes will happen. Big or small, they will be there. I feel in love with mistake because I realized that…
Lesson 4: Mistakes are the best learning tool.
Seek mistakes. Make mistakes. Fail. That’s the best way to learn. Undoubtedly. If you are not defeated every now and then, you can never win. And almost inevitably there is a win after a lose.
Lesson 5: Always have a leader.
No, not a boss. A leader. Someone who takes the decision for a few people. If this person fails, they will learn and do better next time. Make sure they have a growth mindset too. But it’s always better for one person to call the shots and coordinate while the others feed them information in the most efficient way possible.
Lesson 6: Don’t be an as*hole.
I used to swear at and insult people while playing especially when they did a mistake. But then I realized that insulting other people isn’t going to get me anywhere. Sure, it does feel nice but if I wanted to go somewhere in my game, I had to stop. The best thing I did? I muted everyone at the beginning of each game so I can’t see what they’re saying – that way I avoid all of their swearing, insults and trolling. Best. Games. Ever. Same applies for life: Sure, swearing is a good, rewarding thing to do in short-term to get that frustration out of your chest, but to get somewhere in life you should learn to sacrifice who you are now for what you can become.
