How to Cultivate a Gaming Mindset

We’ve all heard advice like, “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” or, “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” and perhaps pushed them aside as meaningless platitudes. However, cultivating tried and tested methods to enhance your mindset has been proven to have a positive effect, whether you’re trying to advance your chess game or push your business into a new level of productivity. Not only can a cultivated mindset help you to focus your energy, but it can also increase your self-confidence, open you up to more social contacts, and boost your motivation levels. 

In recent years, gamification has taken over many areas of life, from education to exercise and even dating. As well as making progress in these areas feel more instantly rewarding, it also provides the perfect opportunity to implement a gamer’s mindset whenever you want to complete a task to the best of your ability. Even when that task is, in fact, playing video games. Many gamers from all walks of life turn to a cultivated mindset when they want to take their gameplay to the next level, particularly when they are pros or playing competitively. 

Here, we’ll take a look at 3 ways to cultivate a gaming mindset which can then be applied to whichever field you’re working in. 

Study Up 

When approaching a new sector, it’s a good idea to study up first. Even when embarking on a project within an existing specialty of yours, preparative study sessions can do you the world of good. Understanding the arena that you’re walking into will only help to build confidence in your skillset and therefore open the way for better results. 

For example, whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, the game of poker warrants regular and in-depth analysis. This game is now hundreds of years old and contains many different variants on the rules, from Texas Hold’em to Omaha to 7 Card Stud. Study the rules, review your previous games, and watch the pros play in order to enhance your own game. 

Learn to Breathe 

Every minute of every day, our bodies are breathing in order to keep us alive and, for the most part, we don’t even think about it. It just happens. However, harnessing the breath can be a powerful tool for focus, reducing the likelihood of tilt and clarifying the mind in a holistic way. ‘Tilt’ is a term which comes from the gaming world, but it can equally apply to any given situation where our emotions could get the better of us. If you surrender to how you’re feeling in the moment, this can be the difference between winning or losing a match, closing or losing a deal, or even just having a good or bad day. 

Practicing regular breathing exercises gives you a different option when things start feeling out of control. Rather than reverting to a panicked or negative mindset, you can implement this tool to maintain a calm equilibrium and focus on the task at hand. 

Visualize 

This might sound a little too left field for some people, but it’s actually very simple. Visualization techniques and goal identification can help you to power towards your end goal, remaining centered and in control at all times. Whether you want to beat your opponent in a game of Go or bring in a new client for your company, this can be a really helpful device to use. 

Athletes often visualize themselves at peak performance in order to win games and build up their abilities and you can do the same. The trick is to believe that you’ve already achieved your goal and winning is in the bag; then you can simply walk through the motions needed to get there, knowing that success is a given. As long as you have a definite idea of what your goal is, you’ll find yourself accomplishing it in no time.