All Purple Text acts as link ✋ Welcome to my focus warm-up guide . I will talk about the mental aspect of focus and be as thorough as possible. I will cite multiple studies, neuroscientist, and link some clips throughout. I will explain everything! You should understand the service being offered and be confident in its ability to help you . Distribution of this guide is allowed, but the support you share allows me to spend more time to make guides like this, so any donations are appreciated greatly! Without them I won’t be able to continue this type of work, alongside my youtube. 💓 Socials ( all socials are accessible via click) Twitter → @ProsperAims YouTube → Prosper Channel Discord → Scholar Cord Paypal → ProsperAims@gmail.com Glossary Motor Skill : a learned ability to cause a predetermined movement outcome with maximum certainty. Acetylcholine : the chief neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the autonomic nervous system (a branch of the peripheral nervous system) that contracts smooth muscles, dilates blood vessels, increases bodily secretions, and slows heart rate. Neuroplasticity : The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life Urgency : calling for immediate attention All Purple Text acts as link Focus is crucial for our improvement, in all aspects of life. More than most think as well, NeuroScientist Dr. Andrew Huberman explains this beautifully, urgent focus helps our motor skill learning with the release of a chemical called acetylcholine, in short it “sets markers” on certain parts of the brain to undergo change, this acts as a precursor for a necessary alteration in our synaptic connections for improvement which we refer to as neuroplasticity. The actual change doesn’t happen until we reach deep sleep. To clarify, in order for us to improve our motor skills, we need URGENT FOCUS (to set markers for change) + DEEP SLEEP (for the change to occur). What does this mean for us as gamers? If you wish to improve your aim or gameplay you cannot autopilot, or mindlessly just fall into a routine, you need to be fully engaged and focused in the activity for acetylcholine to produce and get those markers set in the brain for change. For example, if you can focus for a full 30 minutes on an FPS aim trainer, what you learn and change most is what you practice and focus on in that amount of time. How effective is this method? Very, according to scientists like Dr. Huberman we can emulate the neuroplasticity of a child using this method. This is remarkable since children are known to be far more malleable than adults, it's the reason they can learn multiple languages fluently, while people over 25 struggle greatly. Why is Shroud good at aiming? Why are people like Faker the best in League of Legends? For a variety of reasons, but one the largest contributors is the fact they played games similar to the ones they are well known for from a young age. Shroud played fps games (CS) at a young age. Faker played strategy games (StarCraft) as a child. What we learn from a young age is vital in how well we perform today. Is focus the same for everyone? Everyone is different, but also similar in some sense of the word. While specific exercises can help all of us focus, the duration of that focus will differ between each individual, the level of that focus and the discipline to maintain it everytime you practice is largely dependent on your own resolve. All Purple Text acts as link How can we create our own resolve or motivation? I have been a long time fan of people that seem to be the living embodiment of determination. People like David Goggins, Les Brown, and many others. These two explained it best, both described their undying motivation with a level of urgency. Technically there are two ways to motivate yourself with urgency, either with passion in the love for something, or fear to avoid a terrible outcome. Fear is almost always more effective than passion. For example, let us create a situation where we can interchange positive and negative variables. You’re on a cliff, there is a briefcase filled with life changing money that is slowly sliding off the edge. Think about how you would feel, and the level of urgency for you to reach that briefcase. Now think of the same situation, but instead of a case filled with cash it’s someone you care for very deeply that was sliding off the edge of this cliff. Think about the level of urgency you would feel to save them to avoid the worst outcome. Which one do you think creates more urgency and motivation? That’s your answer, 99% of people would choose the negative variable. As humans it's always easier to cope with the loss of opportunity, than the loss of something we already have that holds value. In an ideal scenario, we would play next to a lion cage and everytime we messed up the cage would open a little. This would undoubtedly create a level of intense urgency but for obvious reasons, is unrealistic and can cause unwanted stress since the risk is too high. What situation can we pose upon ourselves? The best thing we can do is remind ourselves of the worst possible outcome if we don’t focus and achieve our goals, imagining a reality that is possible and undesirable would work best, it can be not wanting to work an office job, proving your haters right, essentially imagining the worst possible reality of what your life would be if you didn’t succeed. If you don’t have something to lose outside of opportunity, you must find something to put at stake. It’s important to remind yourself, not to become overly stressed with the idea of failure but allow it to make you work more intensely to focus on what's at hand. ★ Now that you understand the importance of urgency, and how to conjure it, What are some things we can do outside of our mental to influence our focus? The most obvious two are diet and sleep. Like I say constantly A healthy body is a healthy mind and a healthy mind is essential for optimal cognitive performance, and that includes focus. If you wish to improve you must start here, less sugar, more natural nitrates, and a healthier lifestyle overall is step 1. Deep Sleep, like I mentioned earlier, is necessary for neuroplasticity. Which means you should try to be asleep for 8 hours straight. All Purple Text acts as link The most important thing that comes with focus is what I have mentioned thus far, urgency will create focus more than anything but there are some other things we can do to help. This routine I am about to share, has helped me and other gamers. I haven’t met a person that hasn’t benefited from it, with that being said your results may differ from ours, you have been warned. Do this routine and whenever you aim train, or are trying to improve in a set area of gaming, and apply the urgent focus method to begin the neuroplasticity process. 1) Eat a light Meal Early As soon as you wake up grab a fruit or light snack. The less sugar the better. This will provide you with some necessary fuel without making you feel sluggish or giving you a crash afterward. You don’t want to feel hungry, but you don’t want to have a heavy meal either, act accordingly. ➤ Drink a good amount of water, a small dose of caffeine can help as well (100mg-150mg). 2) Eye and Hand exercises To play at your best, and be completely absorbed by the activity and achieve full focus we need our body to be relaxed, unwanted pains, or rigged motions won’t help us in any way and may even hinder our progress, and cause injuries. Additionally eye exercises can help our focus, and responsiveness. This can help you in staying focused for a longer set of time, and allow it to come more naturally. Eye Stretches (Click Purple Titles to Access Video) → Basic Eye Warm-Up3 → NOTED Focus Eye Training → Lazy Eye Exercise (Horizontal Strafing) → Hand Stretches by Dr.Levi 3) Visual exercise / Meditation (10 minutes) to help focus. Use one of these two visualization exercises, or meditate instead. Visualization Exercises and Meditation have been proven to help focus in a number of studies. according to a study held at the University of Washington that shows increased levels of focus in just 10-15 minutes. Study : → Washington Study All Purple Text acts as link Visualization exercise 1 “Find a photograph, and take your time to analyze it. Memorize every detail you can. Then simply close your eyes and try to recreate it in your mind. Bring in as much as you can: the colors, the birds in the sky, the freckles on the skin — whatever is there. Open your eyes to get more detail if you have to. Remember that this is not a test: do it until you get good at it.” (LEV GOLDENTOUCH, PHD) →SOURCE Visualization exercise 2 (My Personal Favorite) → Daydream exercise (follow all steps) 4) Physical Exercise has been proven time and time again to help with all aspects of cognitive function including our focus and attention. The best way to exercise for cognitive benefits is through aerobic exercise (Cardio). → Exercise before activity helps focus Study → Harvard article on exercise changes to the brain TimeStamps of Dr. Andrew Huberman PodCast on Rich Roll → Full PodCast Rich Roll (Dr.Huberman) Dr.Huberman defining neuroplasticity →:“Before the age 25 the brain is extremely malleable” Dr. Huberman talking about the→ “Role of Acetylcholine” Dr.Huberman mentioning → “Stanford study on Neuroplasticity of adults“ All Purple Text acts as link Sources https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40362#:~:text=Neuroplasticity%3 A%20The%20brain's%20ability%20to,to%20changes%20in%20their%20environment. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/urgent https://www.britannica.com/science/acetylcholine https://www.keytostudy.com/visualization-focus-training/ http://faculty.washington.edu/wobbrock/pubs/gi-12.02.pdf https://bit.ly/2Q9U33V https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinkingskills-201404097110 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090331183800.htm
