Believe it or not, time and space is relative. Einstein’s famous theory of relativity has branched off into many sub categories and one of them is how time actually speeds up and slows down relevant to the speed of an object through space.
Your own heart can speed up and slow down. it’s how we can spot a ball being thrown at us - catch it and also how we drop the ball if we’re not prepared for the catch.
As a VG player, i approach it the same way as an actual game of sport. preparation, psyching yourself up to a game is like mental stretching a muscle, your brain.
so why is this important? because in that same notion, without even realizing it, our own performance can suffer. Here’s a little exercise to see if you can notice when that adrenaline is working in your favor:
Try to notice when your hero moves faster than usual and when that same hero feels slower than usual. Remember that it is a game, there are set programming rules, and nothing has changed. Items and patches aside, each hero should moves the same each time you play. it is your own sense’s speeding up or slowing down.
You can call it being tilted. stressed. drunk. sleepy. OR call it being PUmpED up. Adrenaline rush. they all effect our reactive time and our performance the same way an actual athlete is effected playing any sport.
It takes quite a fair amount of self awareness to notice your own short comings. So don’t feel like you’re lacking if you don’t notice these things. Those who have a system to self - calm, such as meditation, will notice this more than those who don’t.
Watch pro’s. what do they have in common? i’m talking about personality traits. Those talented individuals who are naturally calm all the time, it’s just how they are, because they’re born that way.
Those of us who aren’t, need to find ways to calm ourselves, center our thoughts and recognize when our bodies are under stress, effecting our performance. Stress manifests itself physically before we go into a full blown mental breakdown (tilt). sweat, throbbing forehead, gut wrenching pains. Each person is different, you may have some, none or all of those. Maybe even more.
Those of you who are teenagers, all the way up to 30 years old, congratulations: you are at the peak of your life’s physical performance and you may feel like these rules don’t apply to you. You’re just the best and nobody can beat you.
I am not talented. I take time out to de-stress. it takes my full concentration to really perform well and I notice when i’m failing miserably. The fortunate thing for me and many like me, is that we’ll always have something to strive for, a goal to achieve, because… well, we’re just not that great. it’s going to take time to be great.
Not to take anything away from those who are just naturally talented. But they get bored, they get tired of constantly winning. it’s not their fault, they’re just born with those genes.
For the rest of us. Hard work, de-stress methods, focus and all those tools we have to make us perform at our peak will help us climb.
Even if we don’t climb, it’s only a game. I just wanted to share about how self-awareness can help us recognize when we should take a break, center our thoughts and get back into it when we’re psyched up again.
