Author’s Notes

I am a former competitive League player and current coach, theorycrafter, guide

writer and Mentor Manager for League of Mentoring. For three whole seasons I
focused on my competitive career as a player, before stepping down in order to
pursue a career within coaching and guide writing in 2016. I have achieved the
highest of ranks in Solo Queue, and have the appropriate skills to educate others
within all roles. I take coaching seriously, and strive to be the best coach possible. I
thoroughly enjoy expanding my repertoire through reading books and articles - many
of which I try my best to transition into educational value for those I coach, be it
whole teams or individual players. My achievements are below from SG to NA.

Singapore The Legends Circuit 2016 - Challenger Series / GN Jungle

SG Garena Campus League B Division 2016 - Champion / CCKSS Head Coach
SG Garena Campus League A Division 2016 Season 2 - Top 8 / ITE XD Jungle
OMEN by HP Singapore Championships 2018 - Top 4 / J3X eSports Head Coach
Singapore Legends Series 2018 Spring - Top 4 / J3X eSports Head Coach
Globe Conquerors Manila 2018 - Singapore Qualifier - Top 3 / Impunity Head Coach
ABLSeries Season 5 2018 Regular/Playoff Season - 1st Place / Skizm Head Coach
BIG League 2019 - Top 8 / Skizm Sapphire Head Coach
PlayerOne Season 3 2019 - Bloody Gaming Head Coach
NA Scouting Grounds Circuit 2019 Playoffs Top 16 - Uncrowned Head Coach
Twitter | Twitch | Shiagure's Discord Server

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 Introduction to Mentality
Why is it important? As for people who are transitioning from normal games to
ranked games, the correct mentality is the first you need to have a better time in
ranked as you’ll be transitioning to more challenging games and players who take it
seriously and might flame you or give you advice that you might take it the wrong
way. Or maybe if you’re new to competitive play, people might start to view you
seriously and pull you down if you are not deemed worthy in their eyes and you might
get demoralized. Mentality also helps you improve fast and find out what you truly
want from this game.

Individuals, who are mentally fit and optimistic, i.e. looking on the bright side of the
situation, tend to have better overall well-being. Since optimists believe that they are
responsible for their own happiness, they see unfortunate events as a learning
process and work towards improving their own situation instead of blaming others.
Some of the qualities which are good to have other than optimism are resilience,
determination, perseverance and self-efficacy. This segment consists of some
guidelines on the importance of thinking positive.

Benefits of Positive Mentality

Your outlook determines how you live your life.

Positive person → happier and successful

Negative person → unhappy and less successful

Positive thinking opens more opportunities, enabling you to ride on the

challenges so as to grow.

That is just one of the benefits of positive thinking. Below are other benefits of
positive thinking.

- Restful nights
- Greater success
- Strong sense of self-efficacy
- Higher self-esteem
- Improved health

Positivity can be achieved. Your background does not matter; it is about your choice
and it’s your life. After all, what have you got to lose, other than your negativity?

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 Fixed Versus Growth Mindset
Fixed versus Growth Mindset topic is an idea by Carol Dweck. Our emotions,
thoughts and behaviours are all linked and influence each other. Changing one part
of the cycle will help improve the situation and help you feel better.

Thinks negatively Problems Thinks positively

Avoid Challenges ← Challenges → Embrace Challenges

Gives up easily Persist in the face of

← Obstacles →
setbacks

See effort as futile ← Effort → See effort as the path

Refuse to accept criticism ← Criticism → Learn from criticism

Jealous of successful individuals Identify learning points and

← Success of others →
becoming inspired

Results of the difference between of the two mindset

As a result, they underachieve As a result, they reach
higher levels of
achievement

Negative vs Positive Thinking Patterns

You will experience various situations where your mental ability will be challenged.
There will be times where you will have to push yourself to the limits. Hence it is
important to make sure that you do not think too negatively.

As you walk into a new path of your league life, your new journey may be challenging
but definitely a fruitful one. It is possible to enjoy your Ranked/Competitive
experience when you adopt a positive attitude.

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 Negative unhelpful Challenging up helpful
Can change into
thinking styles thinking

Overgeneralization
Coming to a conclusion
based on a single
incident
Am I condemning
→ myself as a person on
E.g. I used to get at least
the basis of one event?
5.0 KDA as Elise every
game, but this game I
didn’t, am I not good
anymore?

Reasoning based on
emotions
Using own emotions to
view the situation Am I confusing my
→
thoughts with facts?
E.g. I feel uptight,
something is going to
happen

Amplifying Negativity
Focusing on the negative
rather than seeing the
Am I concentrating on
whole picture
→ my weakness and
forgetting my strengths?
E.g. I played worst than
last time (though I was
ranked 1 Elise)

Personalising the
situation
Taking things too
personally or blaming Am I taking things that
self for own problems → do not relate to me
personally?
E.g. I blamed myself for
trolling around hence my
Elise skills got worse.

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 Impact of Positive Thinking on Goal Setting
What is goal setting? Why is it important? How does it help?

● Identify a specific ● Give you a ● You are able to

goal. clearer view of make effective
what you want to decisions.
● Make sure it is achieve.
realistic and
within your ● Keeps you ● Makes you
focused on your motivated,
control.
objective. increasing
likelihood of
● With a goal you succeeding.
● Give yourself a
will start
timeframe to
believing you are ● Short term goals
achieve it.
able to achieve it. will make it
easier to achieve
long term goals.

}
Realistic goals

Success
Goal Setting →
Enough Time
Positive
Right Attitude →
Perseverance

Controlling your Emotions

Turning into a competitive / ranked player at the beginning will likely increase
everyday emotions and its impact. It is normal to feel negative in times of gameplay,
uncertainty and unfamiliarity.

You will need to have strong emotional resilience as well as the ability to manage,
and adjust your emotions suitably for the sake of your well-being.

Emotion Regulation
Our emotions are integral in our lives. We may not be aware but our emotions
influence our actions and so lead to different consequences. Thus, it is vital to
control our emotions.

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Before you go full keyboard warrior, pause to think, you have some time to calm
down to see the bigger picture. If you feel that your emotions are getting out of
control, below are some questions you can ask yourself.

1. Am i using that negative filter1? Am i thinking too much? Is there another way
of looking at it?
2. Are my emotions getting out of hand?
3. What would be the most effective action for this situation?
4. What is it that is really pushing me to this feeling here?
5. What harm has been caused?
6. What is the worst/best case scenario that could happen? Which is the most
likely to happen?
7. What advice can i give to someone else in this situation?

Once you have calmed down, try adopting a different perspective by reappraising
your situation.

Managing Negative Emotions

To cope with the negative emotions and improve your overall emotional health, it is
critical to reflect and accept where you are at the moment. Self-awareness is key in
emotional regulation. Go through some of these pointers when you are distressed to
reflect on how you are feeling right now.

Reflecting on your own options.

Change. Accept. Moving On.2

Change
What can i Change?

1 Negative filter is for an example, People said you are good and all, but one person criticizes your part of your
skill and you tunneled yourself into that comment, forgetting all the positive comments
2 Adapted from SOS Emotions Handbook, Matthew, R., NYU Student Health Centre

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 ● My Environment?
● My Response?
● My Situation?

How can i make changes?

Accept
Accept as it is, I can’t change for what has happened.
This is normal response to the situation
I don’t have to fight it or try to stop it.
It will pass on eventually.

Letting Go
Is it worth holding on to the emotions?
What can i learn from this experience?
How can i approach it differently in the future?

Healthy ways to cope with emotions

During your first few times, you would experience various emotions during your
ranked or competitive games adjusting to the new environment (More competitive
etc). Feelings of stress, fear, anxiety and anger is normal. Thus, it is important to
manage your emotions in a healthy way. If you feel too overwhelmed do not use
unhealthy methods such as smoking/drinking to use as stress coping steps as it is
often ineffective and might bring additional problems like addiction or health
problems.

Here are few ways to help you manage your emotions in a healthy way.

● Talk to someone who is willing to help and trustable.

● Check on your emotions and reflect from time to time. What am I feeling right
now? Why is that so?
● Pen down your experiences and your emotions.
● If you do something well, practice self affirmation.
● If you make a mistake, embrace and learn from your mistakes. Step back and
look at the bigger picture.
● Take deep breaths and stay calm. Don’t act on your feelings immediately, I
know it’s hard but try not to. Deep breathing helps because it boosts the
supply of oxygen to your brain which helps create a state of calmness.

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 Socializing
Now I know this is very hard to do for most people, since we use gaming to escape
from reality but you should at least read this and understand why it’s good to
socialize.

At times, you may feel that you are facing these changes that comes about with
competitive/ranked alone. In reality, there are actually people (coaches, some Solo
Queue people) who are willing to support you on this change.

Having a strong social support system has numerous benefits, such as higher levels
of well being and reduced anxiety. It also helps you to settle into a new environment
better.

Therefore, it is important to maintain friendly relationships with those you made

contact with, like your friends who plays the same game as you. These social
dynamics will affect the atmosphere and the mood of the environment around you.

Socializing tips
Having a network of friends are important. They are your pillar of support during your
journey to be a better player or adjustments to playing in a ranked matches. It may
be hard to get to know and make friends with strangers from SoloQ at first but I will
give tips and advices you can take on to ease that problem.

1. Be Polite. Take the first step to approach and greet the other person. Always
ask nicely and remember to say “thank you” if he helped in any other way to
make him feel happy so you can have better conversation with your other
teammates since they know you recognize what they did to help you.

2. Be Considerate. Treat others like how you want to be treated. This might not
happen all the time, people might have bad games and u decided to approach
them nicely and they respond in a bad way due to previous games so don’t be
shocked. Try to control your anger and maybe he’ll start cooling down.

3. Keep an open mind. It is perfectly fine to have different views, just listen
quietly or walk away from the conversation when your views and that of
others do not match.

4. Accept each other. You can still talk and be friends and accept one another
even though you both are different. A simple “Hello” will do.

5. Be Positive and Helpful. Nobody likes a negative person in general.

Preventing Conflicts
Playing with someone who might have different skill levels, or interest can be
difficult. Conflicts are bound to happen, but it is part of learning about one another

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and getting closer and forging strong support, and eventually lasting friendships.
Below are some tips on how you can prevent conflicts from happening.

1. Know your triggers. Know what makes you angry and avoid getting into such
situations.

2. Avoid Arguments. If you are having a conversation with a difficult person. You
can do this by saying something like “Sorry you feel this way, we may just hold
different views but i respect yours.”

3. Do not let differences results in divisions. Remember everyone has different

opinions, but that does not mean that you cannot get along with others.

4. Avoid being involved in disputes. If you ever find yourself involved in one, stop.
Disputes tend to be emotionally charged and hence the argument will go
around in circles with everyone trying to prove their point.

Managing Conflicts3
Should conflicts really happen, it is important to know how to handle them properly.
Below are 5 common conflict management styles.

Competing High focus on Collaborating

I win, you lose agenda I win, you win

Low focus on ← Compromising → High focus on

friendship I win some you win relationship
some

Avoiding ↓ Accommodating
You lose, I lose I lose, you win
Low focus on
agenda

Each of us is capable of using all five conflict-handling modes. None of us can be

characterized as having a single style of dealing with conflict. But certain people use
some modes better than others and, therefore, tend to rely on those modes more
heavily than others whether because of temperament or practice. Collaborating is
the best as it increase your agenda AND friendship, working with each other and
both wins.

How to use “Collaborating” conflict management style.

1. Identify the issue at hand. and be clear and specific about the problems faced.

3 Adapted from the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument Model.

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 2. Understand everyone’s interests, engage in active listening (listen as you seek
to understand).

3. Balance your own goals with the goals of others. Try not to be too cooperative
towards the goals of others or too assertive about your own goals.

4. Collaborate and come up with a win-win situation.

Recall the last time you had a conflict with another person. Write down what made
you angry and what you could have done better.

What triggered me What could i have done better

“Elise buy locket please” Think about it his comment and see the
team comps again and see if his idea is
right, if not explain nicely.

juGoal Settings
Goal setting provide a long term vision and short-term motivation. There is nothing to
work towards if you do not have a goal. Having a goal drives you and keeps you
focused. Set your goals now.

When you are setting goals, make it S.M.A.R.T4

Specific Goals should cover the 5W

(who, what, when, where, why)

Measurable Able to monitor and understand your

progress to fulfill your goals

Achievable Make sure your goals is not out of reach

and is achievable

Relevant Ensure your goal is relevant by meeting

your immediate milestones and long
term vision

Time-Specific By when do you want to achieve your

goal
Example. I have to do 20 pushups a day before i sleep so that i can do 60 pushups at
the end of 1 month as I used to be able to only do 40 pushups in 1 minute.

What would you like to achieve and what do you see yourself achieving?

4 Adapted from https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.php

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Spend some time thinking through before penning it down

Goal: To be a better team player so i can Goal:

increase my chances of winning in
Challenger Series To achieve by(date):
Started on: (1/11/2017)
To achieve by(date): (2/1/2018)

How to achieve this goal? How to achieve this goal?

↓ ↓

Try to apply them

↓ ↓

Try to master them

We come to an end of Mentality. I may update this in the future but for now I’m out of
ideas. I hope this will help you any way, I know it’s hard to be positive, i been there,
but i promise you, it’s really worth it.

Special Thanks
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ for ideas and baselines on their website.

IRL Counsellor for breaking my mental block for 6 years.

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