I used to be really good at video games.

The game I focused most time and energy on was League Of Legends.

Even though I was extremely competitive, I made a lot of mistakes

Here are lessons I learned from gaming that are applicable to real life.

[Thread]

Lesson number 1 - Less is more

For most of my League of Legends journey, I played hundreds of mind-numbing brainless hours.

This happened mostly because I was outcome-focused.

I wanted to reach a certain rank no matter what, so I thought to myself If I grinded more hours...

...I would be much more successful.

I was wrong.

This is a perfect representation of why hustle culture will only get you so far.

When you start approaching the top of the ladder, "grinding" won't give you a competitive advantage.

Which brings me to lesson number 2.

Lesson number 2 - Upgrade your systems.

Upgrading your systems is crucial.

When I was at my peak in the game, between Master and Challenger Tier. (top 200 players in Europe solo competitive ladder)

I got there by doing more intangible work and focusing on systems.

What did this mean in this context?

I was spending more time focused on my own health and routines, studying what the best of the best were doing, and analyzing my own games in search of mistakes instead of "grinding just 1 more game".

Systems and smart work > hustle.

Lesson number 3 - Being a specialist > Being a generalist.

Again, when I was performing at my absolute best, I was mainly focused on just playing 3 to 4 characters max.

The best players are the ones that have a base level of knowledge on every character...

But yet, they focus on becoming the absolute best at some characters specifically.

This can be applied to life in general and especially in the market.

Don't be a copywriter, be an email marketing specialist.

Don't be a fitness guy, be a calisthenics specialist.

Lesson number 4 - Survival of the fittest

At some point, the game was coming in with a new patch every 2 weeks.

The best players adapted to the changes and improved their playstyle accordingly.

Those who started slacking get punished with loss of games and ranking.

This is a perfect representation of what happens in real life as well.

Those who adapt and innovate will always come out ahead of those who merely copy and paste.

First-principles thinkers always end up coming out ahead in the long run.

Lesson number 5 - Mastery requires reps

Regardless of what I said before, mastery of anything requires reps.

Before you can become great and optimize, you'll have to grind to become at least good.

In early stages quantity is crucial, in later stages, iteration matters most.

Lesson number 6 - The definition of insanity...

This goes back to lesson number 1 but I want to emphasize it.

For the longest time, I was doing the same thing expecting to improve.

I was not satisfied with my outcomes. (which was being "very good")

But I wanted more...

One day it clicked, If I wanted different outcomes, I had to start providing different inputs.

The same applies to life.

If you're not satisfied with your current situation, look internally.

What are the things you need to start doing differently to get to where you want to go

I hope you enjoyed this thread and I hope you can take some value out of it.

Have a great night.