Psychology of Ranked: Goal Setting and You

Sport’s psychologists use a variety of tools to maximize the efficiency of their athletes, as well as the effectiveness of their work. One of the most useful methods or tools you can use to improve is goal setting. The idea of goal setting is used in most walks of life. There is something you want to achieve, so you set that as a goal and work to achieve it. While goal setting itself is not a particularly difficult task, doing it in the most effective way possible can be. Real goal setting includes a systematic method of establishing a plan to accomplish something within some specified amount of time.

Goal Setting Effectively

Goal setting effectively requires various specific criteria. For an example, we will make our goal to CS well in the laning phase. Each criteria will be explained, and then added to our detailed goal. The goal should be specific. I want a high creep score is not a specific goal, but by the end of this list of details, it will be. The goal should also be a measurable one. I want to earn 100 minion kills. Now things are coming along. It should also be time-based. I want to earn 100 minion kills by the ten-minute mark. Now we have a good goal. It should also be difficult but attainable. It is rather difficult to get 100 CS at ten minutes, but it is possible. Because by 10:05 there will be 107 minions, our goal is 93.5% accuracy, which is not easy for many people. That being said, harassing and being harassed or forced back to base will obviously hinder your goal, whereas farming jungle camps or another lane that built up could be quite helpful. Next, it should be a combination of short and long-term goals. If our long-term goal is 100 minions slain by ten minutes, our short-term goals can be 40 minions by five minutes and 65 at seven minutes, which are close to the right curve for our main target. Now our goal looks like this, “I want to earn 100 minion kills by the ten-minute mark, while making sure to hit 40 minions at five minutes and 65 minions at seven minutes.” This goal is specific, measurable, time-sensitive, difficult but attainable, and has both short and long-term goals.

Other Options

Now that we have determined how to set a good goal, let’s discuss our other options. First, we could not set goals. If we did not set a minion goal, gauging our success in lane would be purely comparative to our opponent, which is fine, but will make it harder to improve as a player. We would not be able to look at how we are doing in comparison to what we want or where we feel we should be. The other option is a vague “do your best” goal, such as, “I want to farm well so I am going to do what I can.” The problem with these goals is if you stick to your best, your best will not grow. By setting a goal that is at your best or maybe a bit further than what you think is your best, you can practice and work to attain a new best. Also, by just saying you will do your best, as long as you feel you did what you could, you will not look to improve. By using the previously used methods of goal setting, we can see our progress specifically, and notice where we fell behind in order to analyze that and grow from it.

How to Pursue a Goal

While the setting of the goal is the core of the process, how you pursue the goal is important as well. Your goal should be set and pursued using positive terms rather than negative ones. Instead of thinking about not missing minions or not losing lane, focus on the positive side of that such as killing minions, particularly more difficult ones like those contested by your lane opponent, or winning lane. Whenever you set a goal for yourself, make sure you think about how the goal is being set. Rather than thinking about the fact that you want to not give up first blood, why not turn it around completely and try to get first blood with the help of your jungler. If that is too far in the other direction, a simple “I am going to play safe and defensively,” could be better. Having a positive mentality with your goal setting increases your likelihood of following through as well as thinking about it more often.

In Closing

Other possible goals to set include climbing to a particular rank, our example of farming, jungle camp timing, achieving a certain gank route, or winning the game as a whole. Over all, it is important to establish a goal that is specific, time-based, measurable, difficult but still doable, and a combination of one long-term goal and multiple short-term goals. Putting together a good goal or set of goals can lead to the mentality of improving and form great habits going forward that can and will lead to further success as a player. As always thank you for reading, let me know how to improve my articles, and keep an eye out for my future content.

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