ET - A story about success

Between 2006 and 2012 I played a video game called ET. But I don t want to talk to you about the game, as much as I want to talk to you about the people who became legendary in this game, and how much of what you need to do in order to be successful in this game, can relate to being successful in real life as well.

Be proactive

A lot of players I met in ET they complained that they can t achieve a certain level because of factors like : computer,I net speed, mouse, time, environment, personal life.In fact, all these were excuses. How do I know that? Because I talked both to players who were average and always complaining and also with the successful players. And what I discovered was that what one of the most important differences between successful and average players, was that those who were successful they were so active that it did not matter they played from the cheapest pc or laptop, that they had good I net speed or not, that their family life was peacefull and calm or that they had problems in real life that they needed to deal with. In fact, they took any obstacle that they encounter on their path and they turn it into a ramp. They were proactive. They were so proactive that they took responsibility for everything they did. For their pc, for their I net speed, for their environment, for their mistakes and failures in the game.


Be Proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. You can't keep blaming everything on your parents or grandparents. Proactive people recognize that they are "response-able." They don't blame genetics, circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. They know they choose their behavior. Reactive people, on the other hand, are often affected by their physical environment. They find external sources to blame for their behavior. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and performance, and they blame the weather. All of these external forces act as stimuli that we respond to. Between the stimulus and the response is your greatest power--you have the freedom to choose your response. One of the most important things you choose is what you say. Your language is a good indicator of how you see yourself. A proactive person uses proactive language--I can, I will, I prefer, etc. A reactive person uses reactive language--I can't, I have to, if only. Reactive people believe they are not responsible for what they say and do--they have no choice.Instead of reacting to or worrying about conditions over which they have little or no control, proactive people focus their time and energy on things they can control. (health, children, problem at work)


The vision : Seeing something you are not, before you will be

The average players I met and played with, they had something in common which kept them on the average , common level : they never told me they want to be number 1. All they said is: “We just want to have fun, we going to play the 5th or 6th division and that s it”. And that s exactly what happened. On the other hand, the very few successful et pro players I met, even before they was successful or before they started to make money out of the game, they told me: “I want to go to the lans and I want to win the nations cup and I want to win the Euro Cup.”They had a mental picture of what they wanted, before they even started to work on it. They had a dream, and most important they had a “Why” for what they did.


People always ask me
"Son what does it take
To reach out and touch your dreams?"
To them I always say

Are you hungry?
Are you thirsty?
Is it a fire that burns you up inside?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Are you eating, sleeping, dreamingWith that one thing on your mind?

(Tim McGraw)



The ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.



Ambition

Genius = hard working person

Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work... Albert Einstein

There was players to which everybody was looking with great admiration and pride. Players which names was everytime on everybody lips. Such a player is Sergi Torras Aragonés. Well, for the world he was Sergi, but for the ET players he was Winghaven.

Ambition+Competitive Edge


Winghaven lost a lot. He lost time,friends,energy,his girlfriend. Or maybe he did not loose at all. Maybe what he did in fact, was winning all this time.Even when you loose, is ok to loose.But you can t never get confortable with it. You can never be satisfied with loosing. When you loose it gots to hurt you. Winghaven felt the pain of loosing more than anybody I know. Do you think that stopped him or that made him quit?

So I started studying. I wasn’t watching the game no more. I wanted to study what was in Winghaven. I’m like “What’s in Winghaven? Winghaven got something in him?” So I asked him :
What was the common thing that you think all phenomenal players in ET has ?

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0n1ezhjCozL

I asked Winghaven what did he learned froom the game or the guys he met in game or from the practice for the competitions , that he was able to apply in real life as well ?

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1mJ0Dluo63F


There is always some one better than you, you can t always win.
Learn from the mistakes you made, the constructive criticism.
The last thing you want to do is to give up.
The competitive edge is not something that you can touch or something that they can give you….is something that exists in your heart.And when you have that, you take it in everything you do.


Think Win Win

I played with many players who were among the best, and I noticed they were separated in 2 groups which I like to call : The ego maniacs and the Win Win guys.
The ego maniacs was that type of players which on top of their skill they also had a lot of ego. And even though the game we was involved was not part of any competion or of any significant importance for their career, most of the times it was just a simple time passing game to keep them warm up, they were very affective if we was loosing. They was starting to scream during the game over the voice channels, they were mad, they started to loose focus and they were unpolite towards me or the other average guys who was playing with them. Eventually many of them was disconnecting during the game, between the game was over, everything resulting in a big ego drop out.
On the other hand, a few times I had opportunity of playing with even greater players, who were just a huge sea of calm and confidence. The game was bad, we was making no progress, but they was not mad. During the game they was laughing, joking, or giving us serious commentaries on our mistakes or helping us improove the attack or defence tactics. Most of the time, in the end , even if we was loosing one map, we was winning the game.


Is not a question of IF : “If I will make it to the next level, If I m strong enough, If I reach the next level will I be able to make it work?” This is a question of WHEN ? When you will blow up? How much can you wait, how much can you persevere, how much can you hold on?

Do you think that Winghaven just decided one day he is going to make money from gaming and the next day he was already making it? No, and even more at the beginning, for a long time, he was not able to achieve not even a single significant victory. He played with people who was not very good, or they was struggling same like him to get to the next level, and it was frustrating for him because he did not see any physical evidence , any positive result in what he was doing. But that never stopped him pursuing his goal and his dream. Why? Because he had patience. He developed the ability to wake up the next day like nothing happened, no matter how bad the previous day was and start it all over again. He never stopped , he never gave up just because he did not see it in the beginning. He went through blood, sweat and tears to become what he is today.He did not learned about pain and success from movies or books, he learned from his own life, because he went on a specific path.


Have the courage to go through some pain



Many of us are spoiled. Our parents had done everything for us, we never had to do anything for ourselves. Everytime we got in some trouble , some of our house, of our family got us out of it. When I tell people that my parents left me on my own and walk out of my life on an early age, everybody tells me that my parents are some tyrans. You maybe are right, maybe they was mean , but you know what else? They did me a great service, maybe not even realising it. Because they developed the man on an early age and maybe not even than I was fully able to understand how life is suppose to be lived. But eventually I had to grow up on an early age, much more early than other people, and for that many told me during the time that I have no feelings or that I look though or that I m mean. Exactly the same thing that I thaught bout my parents, eventually people around me started to tell me. That was their impression on me.
If you start doing things on your own, if you start develop yourself, if you start constructin your own life and you become independent, there will always be people around who are going to hate you. Is allright, that hate must also be part of your motivation to keep moving forward. In fact you will realise that the more you do, the more you try, the more people will separate in 2 specific categories: people who want to achieve a superior level in life and those who are satisfied with inferiority and live a life of excuses for their failure.


Entourage


Winghaven went through a lot of teams that he did not have any glory with. One of the main reasons for that , was because the teams he was in , was not at the same level of motivation and hard work as he was. He soon understood that he needs to find a team that vibrate with his ideal. People who were just like him, outside normal people, but inside, beasts. Let s see what kind of qualities Winghaven was looking for in his teammates:
Only when he managed to find people with same level of aspiration and sacrifice like him , he was able to achieve the impossible. To make something from nothing. And that team was The Last Resort. The Last Resort was the only team with no sponsors and no money support at all, that manage to beat the best team in the world : Team Dignitas, one of the richest teams, and undefeated champions for years in a row.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s130ZZwT2lG2

This is the “Shine bright like a diamond ” mentality.
Everybody wants to shine bright like a diamond, but nobody want to get cut! You not gonna see a diamond in its original form. Some of you, you will be at the next level, but not in this form you won't. You will make a million dollars in your lifetime. You will make twenty million, thirty, whatever. You will have a company. You will make your dreams become a reality. But you won't do it in that version.

If you are not willing to learn every day, to read every book that they tell you to read, to do every assignment that they tell you to do and to practice unlimited time, cause guess what, nobody can controll how long you practice, if you are not willing to do that, you will not shine like a diamond. If you run from constructive criticism, if you are afraid of getting an advice who people who are superior to you because they worked hard to get on a level you are not , and you feel embarrased by this and you create a defence mechanism , you will not shine like a diamond.
Stop hanging out with people that are so inferior that they will never tell you about yourself because they need you to much….people that couldn t tell you about yourself even if they want to. You don t like being with people who are better than you because they make you feel inferior and they only tell you what you want and like to hear. What you unconsciously are asking to hear, because you are afraid of the constructive criticism. The truth you are not on the level you are suppose to be it might hurt, but you will make it.


The greatest asset you have is YOU


Winghaven runs. He plays football every week with his friends. Sometimes they enjoy playing it on the beach. A healthy body for a healthy mind. He doesn t smoke. He just drinks occasionally when he goes out with his friends. If you want to be able to practice every day 3 up to 5 hours, you need to stay in shape. He knows that. He knows that without his body being in his best shape, his mind is not going to be in best shape. If his mind is not in his best shape, he fails at practice and in the competitions. And he doesn t afford that. Cause this is his life. This is what he does. Some people go to their regular 8 hours/day job , they come home, grab a beer from the fridge and watch the sad news on TV. Winghaven doesn’t do that. He knows there is more than this in life and he wants it.
He listen to music because music relax him. His social life is active and he is always helpful with everybody asking for his help in any problem. If there is something you need and Winghaven has, he will give it to you. Cause being good is part of his agenda. This is a state of mind. He doesn t make it to get more fans, he doesn’t need it. He really gets enough money, fans are just an extension. Towards me he never had any obligation including helping me in this project but he did it anyway. Because he gets good energy from it.


Feeling good doesn't just happen. Living a life in balance means taking the necessary time to renew yourself. It's all up to you. You can renew yourself through relaxation. Or you can totally burn yourself out by overdoing everything. There is a thin line between relaxation and being lazy and getting confortable. Don t mix this two. Relax, if you had a hard work day or a hard week. You deserve it. But if you did nothing, and you feel the need to relax, than you have a big problem. If you got an average note on an exam and you are able to go party after it without having any remorse you have a mental problem. You deserve a reward, but first you deserve to work for that reward. Good things happen to those who work and wait.


Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not point fingers and blame other people. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!

And remember :

Is not how much damage you can give, is how much damage you can take and keep moving forward !


I would like to express my love , sympathy and my best thaught to the people that rocked with me during this 5 years :


Poland : Shogun, Devastator,Mefisto,Ti Key,Tenac, Maree, Mode, MadMack,C4,Arturinho,Book,Samraj,Xane, Meehow,fwraven,noobygirl, stokkie, chickita
Netherlands : Abrikozenjam , bartmen, caspar, Newbcake,l4mpje, retarded,gigi, photosyntesis,tesla,kim, Virkes, havenloods, jack, homiee, voice
Germany : kresti, lango, scatman,mongoloid,nik,doberman, rayson, panda, sylabill, urtier, mundus
UK: Potty,Kamz, wiking,aimer,meto,kyato, fumble, williams,mayday,dtsje,ethr,griim,Motyl, magicrizla, Razz
US: Warwitch,Ipod,Ohoorcool,Hakkam,smoshi, opiate and the fearless assasins clan
France : Alienboy, chicken,Ange,Francis, Marie, Rafff, cojiine
Bulgary: Vova Columbia: Stonerrr
Czech Republic: Cameron , Elanius, T4mj
Italy : Nocs, mama, Russel, Stevji, scowieso
Greece :jollygood,
Switzerland: Skyzer
Slovenia: Seareal and mikethebike
Estonia: Eagle, lendur,booo,adrenaline,pred, mexor, shaaq
Portugal : un1, koshito, azerty, thepanzer
Pakistan : Harris
Finland: Judge, jury, xenox,soppali,taivas,bizniz,acizco, zanc, talex,blackwolf,qmm, lordi
Austria: DonMathias, blacky
India ; DKZ, FruitsApricot
Norway : Zodiac, fluffer

A special shoutout to Winghaven from Spain, one of the greatest to play this game.

This project is dedicated to all those who shared passion, time and energy in ET between 2002-2012.