Help maintaining mindfulness/not autopiloting

[Eonn]

I can't seem to stop myself from going on autopilot and it costs me so many matches and sets. I can't even focus on looking at the opponent for an entire stock. Does anyone have some advice or exercises to help me out?

 

[AirFair]

get some muscle memory first one how to control your character well.

 

[ECHOnce]

Try addy.

Not as a joke. I didn't realize I had ADD kinda bad until just before I got into smash. Until I hit college reading loads, I thought my losing focus while reading just made me a slightly slower reader than normal. Once I started going out to smash fests/tournies, it gradually became apparent to me that my reactions felt sluggish on days that I forgot my meds on. If you're like me, it's kind of hard to tell the difference in how you feel when on adderall. You don't feel any different physically in the spur of the moment. But when you look back on how you performed, whether it's feeling like you're auto-piloting in smash or taking 2-3 times longer to get through reading material than classmates who score worse than you, there's definitely something that seems off. Used properly, it's an aid to reaching average/normal reaction and processing speeds, or at least close to it...not some esports steroids equivalent.

Lookup the symptoms for ADD, and consider visiting a neuropsychologist for proper diagnosis and treatment if you think it's worth checking out. If you do find you have ADD and are prescribed adderall or its alternatives, I'd caution you on being open about it in the smash community. I don't have any personal bad experiences, but there's a good chance that you'll be prescribed a stronger dosage than what many smashers use to give themselves a boost (and from stories I've heard, not sure when/where these ever took place, but apparently they could be acquired pretty easily). I've had a friend describe to me that he could physically notice a difference in how active his mind was during play, from the weakest dose (10mg iirc) he tried out once. I use like...36mg and have never experienced anything special like that. Not sure what an overdose would look like, but I doubt it'd be pretty - when I first bumped up to 36 from 18mg, I lost 20lbs and had bad insomnia for a few weeks until I adjusted. I still struggle to keep above 110lbs now (very underweight at 5'7"). The side-effects can be brutal, but they can be dealt with responsibly (I'm a bad example lol...good people set a timer to remember to eat meals, since sometimes you just don't get hungry at all, but I always forget and skip meals >___>), and it's worth every bit of trouble when you cut hours off slower-than-average work time and don't have to feel like just keeping focused is a chore 1-3 hours into most smash sessions.

 

[Eonn]

Try addy.

Not as a joke. I didn't realize I had ADD kinda bad until just before I got into smash. Until I hit college reading loads, I thought my losing focus while reading just made me a slightly slower reader than normal. Once I started going out to smash fests/tournies, it gradually became apparent to me that my reactions felt sluggish on days that I forgot my meds on. If you're like me, it's kind of hard to tell the difference in how you feel when on adderall. You don't feel any different physically in the spur of the moment. But when you look back on how you performed, whether it's feeling like you're auto-piloting in smash or taking 2-3 times longer to get through reading material than classmates who score worse than you, there's definitely something that seems off. Used properly, it's an aid to reaching average/normal reaction and processing speeds, or at least close to it...not some esports steroids equivalent.

Lookup the symptoms for ADD, and consider visiting a neuropsychologist for proper diagnosis and treatment if you think it's worth checking out. If you do find you have ADD and are prescribed adderall or its alternatives, I'd caution you on being open about it in the smash community. I don't have any personal bad experiences, but there's a good chance that you'll be prescribed a stronger dosage than what many smashers use to give themselves a boost (and from stories I've heard, not sure when/where these ever took place, but apparently they could be acquired pretty easily). I've had a friend describe to me that he could physically notice a difference in how active his mind was during play, from the weakest dose (10mg iirc) he tried out once. I use like...36mg and have never experienced anything special like that. Not sure what an overdose would look like, but I doubt it'd be pretty - when I first bumped up to 36 from 18mg, I lost 20lbs and had bad insomnia for a few weeks until I adjusted. I still struggle to keep above 110lbs now (very underweight at 5'7"). The side-effects can be brutal, but they can be dealt with responsibly (I'm a bad example lol...good people set a timer to remember to eat meals, since sometimes you just don't get hungry at all, but I always forget and skip meals >___>), and it's worth every bit of trouble when you cut hours off slower-than-average work time and don't have to feel like just keeping focused is a chore 1-3 hours into most smash sessions.

Thanks! I have a ton of symptoms associated with ADHD and my parents have assumed that's what I have, but I've never had an official diagnosis. I'll talk to my doctor about it next time I see him. Any advice in the meantime? It could take a while.

 

[flieskiller]

I can't seem to stop myself from going on autopilot and it costs me so many matches and sets. I can't even focus on looking at the opponent for an entire stock. Does anyone have some advice or exercises to help me out?

If you're not into taking medication (like suggested above), some ideas on top of my head:

• 20 minutes meditation every day, improve your focus in general
• Try to eat less carbs/sugar, more vegetables/meat before your sets. Drink more water too
• When you feel you will autopilot, try to stay campy/defensive. Maybe it's when going into the offensive that the autopilot kicks in, so by forcing the opponent to go attack you, you will be into react mode instead of auto acting.

 

[EPsilon933]

Learn how to play with an autopilot to make it better. Try streaming and talking at the same time. It's fun. You might be surprised what you'll be able to do without thinking

 

[Eonn]

If you're not into taking medication (like suggested above), some ideas on top of my head:

• 20 minutes meditation every day, improve your focus in general
• Try to eat less carbs/sugar, more vegetables/meat before your sets. Drink more water too
• When you feel you will autopilot, try to stay campy/defensive. Maybe it's when going into the offensive that the autopilot kicks in, so by forcing the opponent to go attack you, you will be into react mode instead of auto acting.

I'll try looking into meditation. I've never done it before, are you aware of any methods that would be able to be done between sets in a public area or should I just do it before I leave for a tourney? The food stuff definitely affects my play, I tend to do a lot better in tournaments like Smash on Tap since they're hosted in a bar with free water and homemade food instead of my usual diet. And I'll try that defensive thing, although most the time I don't even realize I'm going on autopilot until it's too late. I just kind of blank out and don't see it coming.

Learn how to play with an autopilot to make it better. Try streaming and talking at the same time. It's fun. You might be surprised what you'll be able to do without thinking

It's definitely good (necessary even) to have some sort of autopilot so you can focus more on the mental game, but I'm not at that level yet. I've been playing for just over two months so my autopilot involves failing edgeguards and punishes, running into moves, et cetera. I'll often lose to players I know I could beat because I'm not watching approaches, defense options, all that stuff and get hit by the same thing way too many times in a row.

I want to be able to consciously focus on my game so I can actually start improving and eventually reach the point where my autopilot is good enough to pick up and notice most situations.

 

[ECHOnce]

Thanks! I have a ton of symptoms associated with ADHD and my parents have assumed that's what I have, but I've never had an official diagnosis. I'll talk to my doctor about it next time I see him. Any advice in the meantime? It could take a while.

In terms of bettering your performance? Not much, really :/ I got into smash competitively after I already had been diagnosed, so my solution was to just keep on top of my meds and not miss any (inconsistency is pretty bad, as your doc may explain to you later. For meds like adderall, depending on your brain chemistry, it can take a few weeks of daily usage for your body to adjust and see the full benefits). If it helps (not sure how this could be applied to smash), reading techniques I used to use to try keep up with my peers involved reading outloud, typing what you're reading word-for-word as you go, etc. For some people, having the text read out loud to you as you go helps - Dragon NaturallySpeaking is one program that's pretty good, but isn't free. Word and other default programs sometimes have a text-to-speech feature hidden away in the options, but often go waaay too slowly to be useful, or sound awkward at normal speed.

I would also take breaks when you feel like things are slowing down. No sense in just plain continuing if your results or further effort are having diminishing returns. Sucks to have to walk away from smash, but from the sounds of it, you've already had a few sessions where you just feel burned out for most of it and never picked up. If you have other business to do, it can help to think of it like a goose chase, and plan around that with shorter smash meetups, bringing a snack or...whatever might help pick your focus back up.

Thanks for correcting me on the term lol, always get them mixed up. The older terms used to be "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" and "Attention Deficit Disorder." They're now classified as ADHD, ADHD-PI (predominantly inattentive), and ADHD-I (inattentive, formerly just called ADD). I have ADHD-I, which seems similar to what you're describing.

EDIT:

I'll try looking into meditation. I've never done it before, are you aware of any methods that would be able to be done between sets in a public area or should I just do it before I leave for a tourney? The food stuff definitely affects my play, I tend to do a lot better in tournaments like Smash on Tap since they're hosted in a bar with free water and homemade food instead of my usual diet. And I'll try that defensive thing, although most the time I don't even realize I'm going on autopilot until it's too late. I just kind of blank out and don't see it coming.

Forgot something. Sounds silly, but sometimes keeping track of fake "triggers" has helped me before. Like...taking a jacket on/off as if not feeling too warm/cold will help your focus a bit, or drinking water between matches, or tapping a little beat out between stocks, and thinking/telling yourself "ok, now I'm gonna do better." Kinda like...giving yourself a peptalk. Making up excuses for your underperformance, so you can keep motivated enough to try refocus because you have it in you to do better. Even if it feels useless and next-level-weaboo, the outside stimulus and active thinking (not just passive "bah I shouldn't approached there, that was dumb" thoughts) can break the auto-pilot, even if its for just a bit. Acknowledging that you're being challenged can also be an important step, too, and not taking your opponent for granted as someone you'd prob step all over if you weren't feeling off point.

 

[Eonn]

I would also take breaks when you feel like things are slowing down. No sense in just plain continuing if your results or further effort are having diminishing returns. Sucks to have to walk away from smash, but from the sounds of it, you've already had a few sessions where you just feel burned out for most of it and never picked up. If you have other business to do, it can help to think of it like a goose chase, and plan around that with shorter smash meetups, bringing a snack or...whatever might help pick your focus back up.

I'll try doing that, at least when I can during friendlies. Some days I'll be super focused on a couple matches but it usually doesn't last longer than 20 minutes or so and then I go back to having trouble. I've heard gum helps some people focus so I might actually try that next time. If I snack I usually just eat sugary foods but that makes me crash within the hour and hinders me further for quite a while. I really don't want to walk away from Smash, maybe I'll just try playing in short bursts each day and focus the rest of my time on other things.


Funny thing is, half the time I'll be in a match and I space out and start thinking about another match or something stupid like "What would happen if I made it to finals and won with some cool move" instead of "what is my opponent doing? How do I beat it?"

Thanks for all the tips though, I'll definitely be giving meditation a shot for a while.

 

[flieskiller]

I'll try looking into meditation. I've never done it before, are you aware of any methods that would be able to be done between sets in a public area or should I just do it before I leave for a tourney?

Ideally, this should be done a minimum of 1 time per day, every day. This can be done more than 1 time per day. This is not a magic "do it 1 time before a tournament and it will improve your success by 200%!". I've read that some people notice a difference within weeks of doing it. I know PPMD does it to fight his depression. Here is the gist of it:

1. Find a place to sit, not uncomfortable so you can easily do it. Set a timer to 21 minutes (so you prepare for 1 minute before starting). Make yourself the most comfortable within that minute.

2. When it starts, close your eyes or look a random point to keep looking at (whichever works better for you, me it's open eyes), and try to think nothing except of your breathing.

If you start thinking of other things, don't be mad, stay calm, acknowledge that you got disturbed, that it's not bad and return back to focus on your breathing.

Ideally, you shouldn't move at all (even scratching somewhere on your body)

3. After 20 minutes, the timer goes off, you can return to normal.

 

[Eonn]

Ideally, this should be done a minimum of 1 time per day, every day. This can be done more than 1 time per day. This is not a magic "do it 1 time before a tournament and it will improve your success by 200%!". I've read that some people notice a difference within weeks of doing it. I know PPMD does it to fight his depression. Here is the gist of it:

1. Find a place to sit, not uncomfortable so you can easily do it. Set a timer to 21 minutes (so you prepare for 1 minute before starting). Make yourself the most comfortable within that minute.

2. When it starts, close your eyes or look a random point to keep looking at (whichever works better for you, me it's open eyes), and try to think nothing except of your breathing.

If you start thinking of other things, don't be mad, stay calm, acknowledge that you got disturbed, that it's not bad and return back to focus on your breathing.

Ideally, you shouldn't move at all (even scratching somewhere on your body)

3. After 20 minutes, the timer goes off, you can return to normal.

Thanks! I'll give this a try tomorrow, it sounds quite difficult to sit still for that long. I'll end up focusing on my goal of focusing on breathing.

 

[-ACE-]

I can't seem to stop myself from going on autopilot and it costs me so many matches and sets. I can't even focus on looking at the opponent for an entire stock. Does anyone have some advice or exercises to help me out?

Describe your general mindset while you are focused versus while on auto pilot. Dig deep and answer honestly, then go from there. Try to to identify the cause of this by mentally documenting exactly when it happens to better understand why.

This has happened to me countless times, usually after I make a major mistake, lose a stock, or get mildly frustrated for whatever reason. Sometimes I would spend you much time analyzing my last mistake and drop seemingly 50% of my focus on the important things going on presently, such as reading my opponent's neutral/zoning/spacing/habits etc.

I had to think deeply about this over time and put more focus into my neutral game, and try to not over-analyze situations.

It would be good to play serious sets with a good player that lives near you, one that's down to talk about mindset. Do MM's or have something at stake to make the matches more serious. Try to focus and ask questions. You really never know what new way of thinking might tear away at this weakness. Push yourself!

I condone the use of adderall in gaming since half the people with an Adderall prescription shouldn't have one to begin with. So since they can take it, anyone can (my opinion). The effects are actually quite patient-specific and amphetamines are not for everyone, but in most cases it augments one's ability to focus significantly. Details just jump at you. Multi-tasking can be harder but is usually easier, and focusing on 1-2 things only is usually MUCH easier.

^^ with that said, I still say drugs are not the answer. Dig deep and keep asking questions and I think you'll have a breakthrough.

 

[Massive]

I like how one of the first responses was to get on amphetamines, lol.

 

[Dolla Pills]

What I do is I pay attention to when I start unintentionally going on auto pilot, and that way I can immediately recognize what is happening and correct myself as well as keep myself from doing the same thing in future matches.

 

[shaxstax]

Thanks! I have a ton of symptoms associated with ADHD and my parents have assumed that's what I have, but I've never had an official diagnosis. I'll talk to my doctor about it next time I see him. Any advice in the meantime? It could take a while.

this i super true its hard to balance meds and playing properly since both sides have pros and cons . for example when i dont take my meds i seem to be more aggressive and adapt quickly during sets but my tech skill usually lacks a lot . on the other hand when i do take them my tech is really good but i seem oblivious to patterns and usually lose stocks due to not being smart . in saying that i think taking meds helps a lot with auto pilot and i know that it stopped me from just zoning out during sets .

 

[ECHOnce]

What I do is I pay attention to when I start unintentionally going on auto pilot, and that way I can immediately recognize what is happening and correct myself as well as keep myself from doing the same thing in future matches.

This is an amazing skill to learn; being able to manage your focus and allot some of it towards noticing what your and your opponent are doing that's good/bad, and being able to come up with solutions and adapt. Pretty commonly brought up in player advice, but very few actually learn how to do so proficiently. Record some matches and experiment with some scenarios, where you could've used other options, and study that to the extent where...when you're next playing someone, it becomes as simple/instinctive as picking one of 2-5 RPS moves, or Pokemon moves that's most appropriate. If you can make that step, it'll require less focus to go into "observer" mode, and so you can use it without autopiloting to such a degree.

This applies to anyone obv, but it's hard to observe anything during autopilot in the first place for a good chunk of players lol.

 

[Eonn]

This is an amazing skill to learn; being able to manage your focus and allot some of it towards noticing what your and your opponent are doing that's good/bad, and being able to come up with solutions and adapt. Pretty commonly brought up in player advice, but very few actually learn how to do so proficiently. Record some matches and experiment with some scenarios, where you could've used other options, and study that to the extent where...when you're next playing someone, it becomes as simple/instinctive as picking one of 2-5 RPS moves, or Pokemon moves that's most appropriate. If you can make that step, it'll require less focus to go into "observer" mode, and so you can use it without autopiloting to such a degree.

This applies to anyone obv, but it's hard to observe anything during autopilot in the first place for a good chunk of players lol.

Thanks, I've been trying to manage it somewhat like this. I've noticed that if I start with a gameplan I'll play alright for the first few seconds, maybe a minute, but once I start getting hit or comboed it all goes downhill. Opposite is true too though; if I start winning by a decent amount I'll go full autopilot and lose. God this is hard lol. Maybe I'll write out extensive game plans and try to force myself to stick to those.