What's the best way to set and achieve goals in esports?

1 Know your why

Before you set any goals, you need to know why you are pursuing esports in the first place. What is your motivation, passion, and purpose? What are the benefits and costs of your chosen path? How does it fit into your overall life plan? Knowing your why will help you stay focused, motivated, and resilient in the face of obstacles and setbacks. It will also help you avoid burnout, stress, and frustration that can harm your performance and well-being.

2 SMART goals

Once you know your why, you need to translate it into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. These are called SMART goals, and they are essential for any successful endeavor. SMART goals help you clarify what you want to achieve, how you will measure your progress, what resources and actions you need, how your goals relate to your why, and when you expect to reach them. SMART goals also help you break down your big vision into smaller and more manageable steps.

3 Feedback and adaptation

Setting goals is not enough, you also need to monitor and evaluate your performance and outcomes. Feedback is the key to learning and improvement, and it can come from various sources, such as your own self-reflection, your peers, your mentors, your fans, or your data. Feedback helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses, your opportunities and threats, and your gaps and achievements. Based on feedback, you can adapt your goals, strategies, and behaviors to optimize your results and satisfaction.

4 Balance and well-being

Esports can be demanding and stressful, especially if you have high expectations and ambitions. That is why you need to balance your goals with your well-being, both physical and mental. Balance means finding the right amount and quality of time and energy for your esports activities, as well as for your other life domains, such as health, family, friends, hobbies, education, or work. Well-being means taking care of your body and mind, by eating well, sleeping well, exercising regularly, relaxing, having fun, and seeking support when needed.

5 Growth mindset

Finally, you need to cultivate a growth mindset, which is the belief that you can improve your skills and abilities through effort, practice, and feedback. A growth mindset helps you embrace challenges, learn from mistakes, seek new experiences, and celebrate progress. A growth mindset also helps you cope with failure, criticism, and competition, by seeing them as opportunities to grow and improve, rather than as threats or setbacks. A growth mindset will keep you motivated, curious, and confident in your esports journey.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?