For any pro/aspiring pro

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This is going to sound pretty simple, probably something you've heard a million times from other people. It's so simple that it's easy to brush off or not something that can easily be thought about. But, there's one very important thing you need if you want to be a pro and it's pretty simple.

You have to enjoy competing for YOURSELF.

Goals are good, they give you an idea and something to strive for. But, they also bring toxic thoughts into your mind without you even noticing it if they're the only thing you strive for.

"I want to be the best" "I want to make money playing games" "I want respect and admiration"

These are good goals, but what happens if they're the reason you want to be a pro? What if they are the only things you're striving for?

You start blaming everyone else when you don't get what you want, you start becoming frustrated, you start thinking "If only I had this everything would be better." The way you start thinking becomes an endless loop, a trap that you can't get out of unless you finally get some perfect version of what you want.

But things aren't perfect, they never will be. You start looking at everything from a negative light because everything isn't aligning with your goal, and you feel cheated, so you try to justify actions. You might even try and do things you wouldn't normally do to try and reach it faster.

Alot of people don't realize they're stuck in these loops until things might be too late. Sometimes it takes years. Especially when you're young.

That's why the most important thing to be able to realize is you want to play the game for YOURSELF. You want to get better because YOU want to. If you fail, if you struggle, YOU will find a way to get better at it. Because that's what being competitive is isn't it? Trying to prove your better then someone else, trying to find the best version of yourself. If someone's better, you'll find out why, and if things go wrong you'll decide whether you could have done more.

Wanting to be the best will lead you to blaming other people when you're not. Wanting money will frustrate you when you don't get it fast enough or someone has more then you. Wanting admiration and respect will cause you to doubt yourself and question everyone when you don't get it when you think you should.

So my best piece of advice, even though it's simple... is play because you want to, for yourself, because you have fun competing against the best and trying to be the best. Trust yourself, but make sure you realize when you need to get better.

It may take a lot of time to get where you want, but as long as you're striving to be the best person you can be for YOURSELF, that's what being a competitor is.

You can be frustrated with yourself, just don't put that frustration on other people.

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