Observe, study, practice.
There are entire books on this subject. Obtaining proficiency applies to all things in life and not just Smash. So here is a quick overview.
- Observe: The first step and the easiest. Expand your knowledge. Watch and learn what others are doing. You can see and are introduced to new things, think about them, be reminded and reinforced by them if you see it again.
Examples: Learning new combos and optimal playstyles with an unfamiliar character in a tutorial/guide, learning the theory and design of each character, learning your habits by watching your own footage, learning player and character habits from watching others
- Study: Know and prepare yourself for what is to come. Learn counters, strategies, and recognize ability. Improve your presence of mind. If you are not ready for what is to come, how can you fight it?
Examples: Digesting the commentary on competitive vods, going through competitive sets play-by-play, analyzing and taking track of a player’s habits, figuring out what is good/bad or right/wrong, watching old videos to see progression/things you may have missed, discussing tactics with other players, figuring out movement tricks and the advantages and disadvantages of certain stages, Rockpaperscissors, learning advanced techniques, glitches, character strengths and weaknesses, matchups, learning the language and objectives of different phases of the game: neutral, punish, edge guard, edge trap, disadvantage, advantage, at ledge, tech chase etc.
- Practice: The more time invested the more proficient you become. Practice is the key to mastery. You become faster, your precision is much better, decision making is improved, confidence is built and doubt is removed. The best spend endless amounts of time on practice. Explosive improvement comes through trial and error, by pushing one’s self. Challenge yourself to never be comfortable so that you are always improving in some aspect. You may be the first , become an inventor/engineer, and be powerful if armed with knowledge. However, knowledge alone is not enough to becoming the best.
Examples: Gaining the muscle memory to utilize Bidou tech and RAR aerial attacks, mastering advanced techniques like edge cancels;dash dancing; wavedashing;shield dropping; 10/10 times instead of 3/10 attempts, knowing exactly when to be defensive or offensive, pushing your character to its utmost limits, consistently KOing opponents through edgeguards and kill confirms, practicing to remove your bad habits and build good habits, playing more matches and winning more sets, taking on challenges to improve your proficiency, learning the spacing of certain moves, accurately short hopping and full hopping when you want to