Breaking Barriers and Good Mindsets for Competitive Players

Hey guys!
In this vlog I wanted to address good practices when it comes to mindset, and how analysis helps to really fix much more than you think it might, and how far that impact can really go.
If you enjoyed the video please subscribe and share it, and I'll try my best to keep 'em coming :).

[@joebazooks]

The secret is actually really simple: just relax. An unrelaxed mind is chaotic. Remember why you started playing the game, it's fun. It shouldn't not be fun, otherwise you're doing the wrong thing. Also bear in mind that there is ALWAYS room for improvement, whether you're Byali, Phil Ivey, or an unknown; Nobody has perfected anything in this world.

[@norm1540]

So good ddk, it's like Thorin had a baby with an ex-pro player in terms of content, pure awesomeness.

[@LordDisasterPTFO]

More videos like this would be awesome. I like that a lot of your videos are focused on players/tactics/mentality.

[@ddkesports]

I definitely aim to get more into the nitty gritty of being a player. Honestly I want to continue doing as much on the mentality/sports psychology angle as I can, it's not often talked about so you can expect more to follow on that.

[@troyehh]

youre everywhere bro

[@budcrypt1c489]

Daniel Kapadia crossed the barrier from good to perfect. Cant wait to see more videos!

[@adriktheman]

i think this is abit out of the blue. But man as i musician. I think im picking up alot for musical competitions. thank you

[@ZulousOG]

After 6 years and I still come back to this video

[@indraine]

thanks for the insight! im currently LEM and kind of in a slump, I didn't know how to improve and to pinpoint the mistakes I was actually doing, this helped me to put myself in retrospective and see things from another angle. subbed, keep up the good work

[@JAMEZJEE]

10:00 - 11:40 is SO true, whenever i've gone through a shit period with awping, its because I started missing shots and it affected me mentally and i started playing more passively, not making any aggressive plays, and missing a TONNE of shots. And it clicked with me that whenever I start to play out of my mind again, its because I made a good play and from then on, I play like normal again.

[@ThomateMaligno]

This helped me more than it should, lol. Mindset is surely the most difficult thing to master in CS:GO...skill alone won't get you to the top if you don't have the confidence to hit your shots. God, how many times I missed stupid shots that could've made my team win just because of the "I better not fuck this up" mentality, lol. I couldn't agree more on the "comfort" topic, if you're not comfortable with your physical setup (mouse, mousepad, a table in the perfect height so your arms don't keep sticking on the table), it will get on your head and unable you to play well. I couldn't thank you more for this video, keep up the good work.

[@HeathroN]

Hmmm, great for you that you came over this mindset dude ;P But as you can tell than I got a couple of qeustions for you. Like I just recently got a new mouse, keyboard and mousepad that feel sort of comfortable, atleast better than my last mouse the (G502 I hated that mouse for CS) but sometimes when I fail mutiple times I try to search the excuse at the eqquipment. But I got some sort over it. And did you get over you're bad mindset cause I still think (back in my mind) whilst shooting, Ohw man I am gonna fail or at the beginning of the round: I need to do something... Let's try to entry mid but than these thoughts get in my mind of: dude what if he is at that position I cannot kill him or what if he peakes while I am looking at the otherside? I can't get rid of these thoughts maybe they are deep cause its not the 'owh I better not fock up this' annymore it got worse and worse... I still love the game but these mindsets are just such a big barrier for like I can train alot...

[@HeathroN]

But I cannot improve on it cause this mindset or I am not as good as in competitive as in 1vs1 or DM, I just feel I am doing everything wrong. I don't know where to start... Can you tell me what you did to get rid of it? Can you help me?

[@ThomateMaligno]

+HeathroN, Thomas Just like you, I bought a new mouse, and a new mousepad, with the hope that I would become a professional player with the right equipment, lol... little did I know they would be useless if my mindset wasn't right. It took me 2000h on CS to understand how important mindset is in order to achieve success in the game. As you told me, you're able to play well when you're DMing or in 1v1s, but, when you start a competitive match, everything goes downhill, and the reason you're lacking isn't skill, but the right mindset. You're putting way too much effort into the game, which causes you to fear failing your spray, or fail to clutch, etc. What you need to do is: 1- You need to play the game almost in a "instinctive" kind of way, stop overthinking about stuff, after all, it's just a game, if you fail, it's no big deal. Just focus on tapping heads. Play almost like a robot, do not let emotions get in the way of the game too much, you NEED to play the game in a cold-blooded kind of way, don't be emotionally connected to the game. - I know this sounds crazy, but this will make you enjoy the game alot more, since you will be playing better. Basically, play the game as if you didn't give a shit about it. 2- Mute toxic people, don't let them get into your head, caring about what they say will make you feel more pressure, and consequently harm your performance in-game. If you follow step 1 correctly, you won't even need to mute them, because you won't be caring about their insults anymore. 3 - Positively do NOT be afraid of the enemy, this will cause you to die most of the time. Be agressive, let the enemy be afraid of you. I used to think just like you, I was afraid of peeking, because I had this thought on the back of my mind that I would die to an AWPer or something, it was pretty hard to overcome, but I managed to do it, so can you. Play fearlessly, this will help you alot too. I hope this helped you, dude. (^:

[@HeathroN]

+ThomateMaligno Thanks for the tips at first :P, but it sounds so simple and so hard at the same time to pull that off like I completely understand it now you told me but to pull it of in game is so hard my mindset gets in the way everytime even when I tried to be positive... LIke I can play against every rank the only thing I am lacking is what you said. But tapping heads do I need to understand it as ScreaM or focus on Headshots ;)

[@HeathroN]

+ThomateMaligno can I add you on Steam? So you can help me a bit, and tell you're CS:GO lifestory and how you got there ;D You can also add me just go to your profile and change your name in the web browser link to HeathroN

[@pizdecki]

Really good tips. I agree with everything you said. I really enjoyed the last few minutes. It is so important to keep the good vibes. Attitude is everything.

[@Na7ure]

Thank you for this video, you are a god for putting this discussion on the table, well done man.

[@R3C3iVer]

really good video daniel, helped me alot about thinking of an competitive mindset.

[@joshuatimmer1439]

You literally explained me in these 15 minutes and this is an old video but it still helped me alot. For anyone watching this video, a good trick is to unbind your TAB key so you cant see your own score, and dont overthink things. I'm still stuck with many of the things he said for example comfort, i'm basically broke so i cant change my mouse that often but you gotta have patience c:

[@Karivar]

Thx for another awesome video!

[@Naigelou]

Ive been searching for good psychology angle videos of cs:go. Keep up the good work!

[@Ihitjoo]

great video Daniel you bring up an interesting topic! p.s. missing the faceit league casts :(

[@Axellios]

Great vid man. Cheers.

[@1deagr]

I have the opposite problem, a problem with self belief. my problem is, if I am playing too good and destroying everyone then I start to psych myself out thinking "your bound to fail now" "this isn't going to last long" etc etc it's so frustrating as I have played vs some of the top players in pugs and owned them but my mindset is RIP

[@wiseguy5505]

Amazing video man! Thank you very much :)

[@yoMetron]

Thanks for this great video. Love from Germany. :)

[@obniavanzi2551]

You are right man, this is the secret to get better.

[@MadManTn]

great video dan , helped me a lot =D

[@johnchristian5027]

great advice ddk

[@MetalAllDayAllNight]

You should check out Steven Pressfield The War of Art but I have a feeling you already have. A lot of what you talk about is resistance. Resisting the fact that you're playing shitty or making poor decisions and blaming it on x y or z instead of owning up to the fact and telling yourself "yep, that was bad, I better try something else". Getting in the zone is super hard and super easy with the right/wrong mentality. It's easy to keep yourself out of the zone when all you can think about is "oh no, I'm not in the zone, why am I not in the zone etc." It's easy when you just let go the worry of not being in the zone/the past/the future and just focus on what is right in front of you: the present. It's tough stuff to wrap your head around and I'm not sure I explained it as well as I could

[@anubirexgaming5609]

Thank you so much, not a csgo player, but seriously this can be universally applied, and is total gold.

[@aleyzr]

Donno why but 1:12 is making me laugh again and again :D awesome ;) keep going, love your content!

[@TimScarfe]

Hey Dan, strongly recommend buying the moonwalking with Einstein book on Kindle (by Josh foer) and read chapter 8 when he talks about overcoming the stage of progression when something becomes autonomous I.e. why do we stop improving at typing at some point even though we practice constantly. Would be good material for you to do a vlog on, later

[@JDragon272]

I ended up Calling It Quits - yet part of me actually wants to get back in the game - yet part of me now believes I am “Not Built for Competitive Gaming”, and instead only do Leisurely Gaming. While the rest of the competition - Losing Ranks or Staying Top Dogs… it’s their problem now.

[@SubligYT]

Good Video! Need the how to analyze a demo video!

[@AXEONyo]

Hey DDK, could you please do a video on getting into a good mindset before games? and also how to avoid tilting?

[@NullGamingXYZ]

Have you read The Inner Game of Tennis? It seems like a lot of stuff you talked about in this video is also discussed in it. Pretty interesting read.

[@afc9020]

Should you watch the whole demos or just highlights/lowlights?

[@Romeoishandsome223]

Not just for games. Life also

[@jboogy3239]

30yr old that fits all the qualifications to be a great pro. Where can I go or who can I start talking to, to take the next step?

[@yellowkindbud]

So my buddy who improved his lg from 25 to 45 consistently through cfg changes was lying to me?

[@chewie481]

Isn't Starcraft a lot about watching demos, but more importantly not about watching your own demos, but the demos from the pros? Do you think that can be compared to FPSs like Quake/CS?

[@LordDisasterPTFO]

Well, for a beginner, it's definitely important to watch gameplay/demos from pros. But above all you should watch your own demos. That's where you can fix your mistakes and improve in any game.

[@SirNerdyTheHandsome]

can you stream quake live?

[@mhj050178]

Basicly: Make a plan, stick to it

[@johnderdup1527]

Really good video man. Lots of helpful advice and things to think about :)

[@ronniemillsap]

[@VivaLaRazsa]

Why does Thorin suddenly look different in this video ?

[@DannyAbcro]

he cut his hair

[@rohan1_]

Danny Abcro Battlefield Content He also underwent extreme vocal conditioning to get rid of his UK accent.

[@badebaser1895]

***** english vs scottish

[@badebaser1895]

***** NP! I'm pretty sure it's the diff

[@vincenzbill9155]

ddk op

[@user-yw4cf3yd2w]

yo

[@niky1690]

daniel kappada

[@jwwwun]

Idk why but I kinda thought this was clickbait cuz of the weird eye tbh

[@mdvhimself]

"you feel negativity while playing cs"...cause you cant hit shit on the hamster powered 60tick valve servers. FREE YOUR MIND!

[@JohnDobak]

Jesus Christ that's a big microphone.

[@tommy8701]

Funk the mm...

[@jiyuzanandrewrockwell2676]

Good message and ideas. Could be 10 minutes shorter.

[@hunchbackproduction]

Demos ... Demos everywhere :D

[@PinkShoesAreSnazzy]

I'd say that changing your crosshair can really HELP more than it hurts. I know you briefly mentioned that playing "fresh" by changing your crosshair can help, but you mainly stuck with the idea that everything must be static: not true.