The 3 W’s of Life: Women, Wisdom, and Winning at Super Smash Bros. 9781982960667

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The 3 W’s of Life: Women, Wisdom, and Winning at Super Smash Bros. Adam Brooks Copyright © 2018 Adam Brooks All rights reserved. ISBN: 9781982960667

DEDICATION I dedicate this book to the people in my life who I know will always be there for me, and will always be happy to support me in whatever I do. Thank you.

CONTENTS 1 Preface

1

2 Winning at Super Smash Bros. 6 3 Wisdom

26

4 Women

46

5 Acknowledgements

62

“My B.” –Kashan “Chillindude” Khan

Preface The Smash community is one of the most welcoming and diverse communities I have ever gotten to know. Having attended my first event in November 2013, after following the scene at a distance, the completion of this book marks my 5th year involved. Seeing the way a video game can bring people together, my passion for the Smash community began to flourish. I have become so immersed that I consider it my second family. To me, what makes the Smash community special is that the game we play is, at heart, a children’s party game. With nothing but sheer passion, we made the game so much more than it was intended to be. I recognize that a considerable amount of my growth took place within the Smash community. Although it provided me with novel insight on friendship, leadership and competition, I cannot deny that I missed out on other opportunity to learn. Sometime within my Smash career, I was forced to separate myself from the first local community I took part of, to pursue studies afar and on my own. On this journey, my eyes were greatly opened to many of life’s intricacies. I quickly realized it was in understanding these intricacies that would lead to a life further from uncertainty and closer to straightforward success. Grasping the underlying concepts behind these intricacies gave me the wisdom to know right from wrong and become capable of always finding the path that will take me where I want to go, no matter the obstacle life puts in my way. Because my interests span competitive Super Smash Bros. and women, I committed myself to carry over much wisdom to cover these extents.

All of this came to be through awareness. The drastic and positive change my eye-opening journey has had on my life inspires me to share my experience with, foremost, the people whom I relate to most, the people of the Smash community. “Life is a crazy, mystical thing. And sometimes you just go out like a buster.” –Joseph “Mang0” Marques Life has seriously put me to the test. It’s made me look like a buster, but, in the end, I always come out on top, with more vigor than before. I have now gotten to the point in my life where I am excited to wake up every day at 5:30AM, am a straight A student, have never looked better, and overall feel like I am finally living life with the correct sense of direction. My potential for happiness and fulfillment in life had been limited by lack of awareness. Think of it like the potential of a newcomer playing Super Smash Bros. Melee is limited if he isn’t aware of all the game has to offer. I was going through life blind. The wisdom I acquired made sense of why things are in life, and how to proceed to live a better and fuller life, in the way best suited for oneself. I am now a firm believer that awareness is accumulation of knowledge, and knowledge is power. Whether you are part of the Smash community, and no matter the age or gender; I assure there is plenty of value to take from this book. Still, the contents are more geared toward members of the Smash community. Therefore, I approach themes in a personable manner toward the community, but expand when necessary to ensure digestibility for all. Because of the predominantly male demographic of the Smash community, and the fact that I experience life as a male, some of the

content is more relevant to male readers, most prominently in the chapter dedicated to the discussion of women. As the common female remains elusive within the Smash community, I feel this discussion is an important matter to bring to the table. But do not fret female readers, because there is still much benefit to reap. Not only is the discussion on women founded on generalities of modern relationships and attraction, which is relevant to all, but a male’s point of view should be enlightening. Throughout 3 chapters, I share innovative ways of looking at Super Smash Bros., the dating world, and life as a whole. These are the 3 W’s that make up any honest man’s life: Women, Wisdom, and Winning at Super Smash Bros. The 3 W’s of life are covered in an order reversed from the cover, as that will likely be the order most relevant to you, but didn’t flow so well as a working title. The 1st chapter quickly gets every newcomer’s main question out of the way, “which character should I main?” The discussion then delves into the underestimated effects of a negative mindset, and the contrasting mindset needed to improve. It examines what the objective of every competitive Super Smash Bros. player should be, and the most effective ways to get there are. The true purpose of the writing in this chapter is to bring out awareness, so that everything starts to click, and you can begin to draw out ideas on your own. All that makes the professionals so great should become very clear, and you are bound to discover what it is that is holding you yourself back from greatness. The following chapter sets out the philosophy to live by for getting the most out of life, and achieving your greatest potential. Valuable principles in regards to reaching goals, dealing with stress, and general guidance are shared, so you can start living life on easy mode. I seek to provide alternative perspectives you are likely to have never even considered, for the goal of opening your eyes to how you can achieve the best life fit for you.

The topics of finance and health are briefly touched upon, only to point you in the right direction, where other works are suggested for further reading. The third and final chapter unravels the great conundrum that is, “the woman”. Women are wonderful. I can’t say I’d be where I am today without them. After going over the dynamic of the god forsaken “friend zone”, the discussion focuses on what makes a man attractive to women, and the key principles to avoiding destructive heartbreak that so many male friends of mine have fallen victim to, then come running to me asking for advice. In a male-dominated environment, where Twitch chat has taken the role as ambassador for interacting with women, this chapter is essential for the growth of our community. Parallels are drawn everywhere, because everything in this world is connected. What is discussed in one chapter will be applicable to others, and to a whole realm of possibilities. That is the sense in combining these topics in a single book. I encourage you to draw out examined ideas by and large, and continue to develop further ways of thinking inspired by others. Furthermore, the contents of this book provide the most benefit when referred back to. Not everything is applicable immediately, and a time or situation in your life may make some of the material more relevant to you. As many topics are touched upon, I encourage you to take your time to allow ideas to fully sink in before subjecting them to scrutiny.

Winning at Super Smash Bros.

Main a Viable Character The first step to finding success in competitive Super Smash Bros. is to choose a viable character to main. If you fail to do so, it’s a guarantee you will switch mains down the line, making all time spent trying to prove how “underrated” Roy is a waste, or will forever whine about how your character is holding back your “true potential”. Now you don’t need to main Fox or Bayonetta, but you should be aware of what you’re getting into when deciding your main. Admittedly, everyone does love a mid-tier hero, so if you’re willing to put in multiples of effort compared to your opponent, by all means, go for it. Whomever you decide is the best fit for you, it is pivotal they reside in the groupings of viable characters that soon follows. To avoid entering more controversial territories, only Melee’s cast will be covered. Furthermore, the entirety of this chapter will assume you are either a Melee player or Smash 4 player, and so, those meta-games will be prominently referred to. Nevertheless, everything to be discussed should make sense to players of all Smash games; from 64 to Super Slam. Without further ado, the characters who, in my opinion, are viable for the sake of competing in your favourite party game: Recommended: Fox, Falco, Marth, Sheik, Jigglypuff, Peach, Ice Climbers Adequate: Captain Falcon, Samus, Pikachu, Yoshi, Luigi Mid-Tier Hero: Dr. Mario, Mario, Ganondorf Leffen: Mewtwo

We’re Going to Stick One Main, One Main Only “Don’t worry about your [viable] character holding you back whatsoever at low level, mid-level, and even pretty high level. I always say top 10/15 level in the world is when you can start to think about that at all.” –Adam “Armada” Lindgren Feel free to reread that quote in Armada’s voice for a more authentic experience. Dividing your time and efforts amongst multiple characters is a surefire way to hinder overall progress. Even if you are not putting in conscious effort to improve, playing as the same character on repeat naturally refines particular skills. It is certainly okay to take a break from your main to enjoy all that Super Smash Bros. has to offer, but take Armada’s word that picking up a secondary is strictly not the solution to your losses.

No Johns If you are unable to find moderate success with a character from the list of viable characters, to put it bluntly, you’re the problem. It is in your best interest to only ever blame yourself or your gameplay. Even if an external factor did come into play that affected your gameplay, you must always focus on how you could improve, not on what you couldn’t control. Personally, I don’t care how cold your hands were. I don’t care if it was, in the words of Drake, your “controlla, controlla”. I don’t care, and neither should you. In other words: No Johns. No Johns [noh-jons]: No excuses. A saying as old as time. Whether there truly exists an O.G. scumbag named John is a separate matter, the point at hand is that you need to stop viewing this as just a phrase and start believing in it as a mantra. Because, once you live by it, you acquire the mentality that doesn’t get held back from chasing improvement. Instead of believing you took a close loss merely due to a little bad luck, you will choose to believe that if you didn’t JV5 your opponent, there is much you could’ve improved upon. JV [jey-vee]: Coined and named after smasher JV3X3, who would frequently joke how if he won with 3 stocks and 0% taken, for example, that it was basically a 4-stock. This would now be considered a JV4-stock. A prime difference between that of a rich man and a poor man is frequently said to be that a rich man never blames anything but himself, while the poor man blames what he cannot change. This is one of the first topics discussed in Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor

Dad, while plenty of other sources support this sentiment as well. Clearly, I advocate this sentiment in regards to learning a skill

Mentality It’s common to see new players join a scene, improve for some time, then reach a plateau. It’s typically at that skill level which they begin to sit at indefinitely, forever destined to be better than Player X, and worse than Player Y. Have you also noticed it’s the saltiest players who tend to improve the least? It’s the open-minded personality types who you’ll find on your local Power Ranking. This is because open-minded players are more willing to see where they went wrong, hence, subscribe to the “No Johns” mantra. Stubborn personality types believe they are a lot better than they actually are, thus make little effort to seek flaws in their already “crisp” gameplay. If you want to improve at Smash, you need to leave your ego at the door. But no matter the personality type, we are all human. None of us want to lose, and none of us can genuinely enjoy a loss to the same degree to that of a win. As such, all of us will experience some degree of salt from time to time. Salt [sawlt]: The feeling someone has when something doesn't go their way. Presumably because of how salty their tears are. Salt fogs up the mind with frustration, anger, and disappointment. This fog is a serious impediment to potential growth. Chances are, if you’re salty after a loss, you aren’t reflecting on the numerous legitimate reasons that lead to it. It is therefore pertinent to minimize salt to the best of your capabilities. Out of all the flavors, choosing not to be salty can be difficult for even the humblest of gamers, so I urge you to read on. How to Not Be Salty 101

Following a loss, have you ever been concerned that others might begin to perceive you as a lower skill level? If you’ve caught your subconscious thinking this way, I advise dedicating effort to adjust your mentality. 1. If you care what other people think; you will be salty. Eliminating the care of what others think has significantly impacted my life for the better, in all regards. I am sure this concept isn’t news to you. It is a simple point, but incredibly hard for so many to commit. If you are able to shape your mentality in this way, you will set yourself free, and gain the ability to achieve anything you want out of life. It is through the “No Johns” mantra that you will be encouraged to no longer care what others think. No longer will you have to explain losses like, “I was so close to winning but then–” or, “I was doing so well until I got hit by Wario’s far–“. If you don’t care what others think, you won’t feel the need to let them know how close you were to beating some player, as if you yearn for others to see you are basically as good as someone else. When you care what others think, your focus becomes set on demonstrating skill. The way you demonstrate skill is by winning against others. It follows then, that if you care what others think, your priority is set solely on achieving the win. 2. If you yourself only care about winning; you will be salty. It is once you begin to play with the main purpose to win, rather than to improve, your progress becomes greatly hindered. It is when this shift in mentality occurs that most players plateau to a certain extent. This is the exact reason new players tend to improve quickly, at first, then forever plateau between Player X and Player Y. When they

are new to a scene, they are unknown, and have no concerns for others in attendance. They are there not to win, since they really don’t expect to win being new, but enter with primary focus to improve, and in no rush to do so. Once established in the community, a self-imposed expectation or pressure to maintain results or continue making upsets inhibits, due to now caring what others think, whether consciously or subconsciously, which results in the detrimental shift in mindset from a focus on improving to a focus on netting the wins. In short, new players come into the scene seeking to learn, then, later on, their focus shifts to winning, which is their subconscious trying to take a shortcut to becoming the best. But sometimes there are no shortcuts. Improvement requires hard work, but also time and patience. This is why Wi-Fi players have great potential to become incredible players, and certainly do. There is no pressure to prove yourself to anyone, so you continuously and comfortably keep a focus set on improving. Most players are aware of the fact that the majority of top Smash 4 players were the top Brawl players, however, there are many who are still unaware of the fact that the top Brawl players were originally the top Wi-Fi players. I argue it is with the described ability to keep steady focus on improvement in this type of environment that their success ultimately draws back to. Don’t care about winning; care about improving, and the wins will come.

Zero to Hero First and foremost, learn the basics and play a lot. If it’s Melee, you’re going to need to practice a heck of a lot more to succeed. A lot of the advanced stuff is just going to be a grind. But aside from the practice makes perfect approach, there a several more means to improving that are valuable to be aware of. The Game Plan to Winning How do you really win a game of Super Smash Bros.? The answer: you hit your opponent until they get knocked off stage and can’t recover, then repeat until all their lives (ugh, stocks) are depleted. So, how does one lose? Obviously, it’s the opposite. You get hit until you have lost all your lives. Straightforwardly, this makes the game plan to winning the following: 1. Hit your opponent more. 2. Get hit by your opponent less. When you break it down, that’s all there really is to it. This brings us to an unforgettable quote in Smash’s history. “Don’t get hit.” –Albert Einstein –Joel Isai “Isai” Alvarado This quote gained its notoriety because it is, literally, the optimal way to play. Though, of course, not entirely practical. The Beefy Smash Doods have actually proven this on their YouTube channel. It is impossible play so perfectly that you are guaranteed to never get hit. But, it is in striving to achieve optimal play, by following the game plan set out, that will directly make you a better player.

What is Optimal Play? Optimal play entails using the best option at each point in time. Achieving optimal play means optimizing the two step game plan. That is, find every opportunity to land a hit, get the most out of every hit, avoid getting hit, and take the least from every hit, when you are inevitably on the receiving end. But knowing and implementing the best option in every situation is far-reaching. You must direct your efforts on optimizing your play in situations which occur most often, and provide the most benefit. Hence, the most relevant. Then, continue to optimize by working your way down in-game scenarios from high to low relevancy. It seems obvious, but far too many put too much focus toward advanced techniques that are seldom needed before mastering common ledge-play, or toward everything at once and become master of none. Unfortunately, there is often not a single optimal option for a corresponding situation. Only guaranteed options will truly show no variance. No strategies are unbeatable, but surely, some are superior to others. Instead of learning a single option for a given scenario, you will have to know several, if not every possible one. It becomes a pie chart, where you use the option considered to be best most of the time, then the second best option a bit less of the time, then the third option a bit less of the time… you get the idea. Oh, but you don’t? No problem, I’ve got the DKbillstats right here. Let us consider the situation of a Fox hanging onto the ledge of Final Destination in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The frequencies and options I have placed are simply placeholder. I am unable to tell you the optimal frequency of using ledge jump, but this is up to you as a player to learn from experience and analysis. I recommend making an effort to know every single one of your options, or close to. Even if the frequency of use is minimal, these can be saved for rare mix-ups to keep your opponent constantly on their toes. We have yet to talk about how to implement such optimized strategy, or any strategy for that matter. Indeed, you will need to master the techniques for execution, but applying it to your actual gameplay is the real issue. The Four Levels of Competence To make implementing an option or strategy into your gameplay to the point of full competency a rapid process, it is an immense advantage to understand the four levels of competence.

1. Unconscious Incompetence: You are incompetent at something, and you’re unaware of it. You don’t notice the parts of your gameplay that are slacking, so you’re never able to improve them. Already, this is the most important level of competence to be aware of. It is undoubtingly a leading cause to stunted improvement. If your main approach to trying to improve is playing every day until your eyes bleed, but you still achieve the same results, this is why. You are playing too unconsciously, if you will. It’s like unintentionally working out with improper form and expecting results. You must expend mental effort to discover your incompetencies. The other side of it is when one stays blind to incompetencies due to a high ego, as if their play was already “good enough”, or when complacency gets the best of them. However, if it were easy to spot incompetencies, everyone would fix them, become a pro player, and I wouldn’t feel the need to write this book. 2. Conscious Incompetence: You’re incompetent at something, and you know you are. You have recognized your weak point, and are now on the path to determining the optimal resolution and executing it correctly. This is the most satisfying level of competence to arrive at, as it means you have just discovered a weakness and can be eager to mend it and become stronger. 3. Conscious Competence: When you are focused on performing a task, you can perform it competently. However, if the opportunity to make use of it arises spontaneously, you will fail to perform it correctly, or fall back to an old habit.

This is best explained by example of learning to wavedash in Melee. Newcomers who have mastered wavedashing on its own will not be making use of it in their gameplay soon after. They have to understand when it is applicable, and put much focus toward remembering to use it when the opportunity comes. Without this focus to implement, this conscious effort, they are incompetent. 4. Unconscious Competence: You can competently implement an option, and you hardly need to think about it, if at all. This is the second most dire level of competence to consider. Sure it’s not too hard to take wavedashing from the 3rd to 4th level of competence, but that’s because it’s applicable in so many situations. You don’t need to expend conscious effort for very long before an opportunity to implement a wavedash arises. However, when an optimal strategy you’d like to implement shows opportunity once every 5 games, it can become difficult to master unconsciously. Furthermore, trying to take multiple strategies from the 3rd to 4th level of competence simultaneously may impede on the efficiency, as you attempt to remain mindful of them all. This is part of why it is wise to focus on most relevant situations first, one at a time. However, as you advance, you must absolutely not neglect the less relevant scenarios. Part of what differentiates the high level players from lower level players is that the high level players have mastered the common scenarios, but also the less common scenarios. I would argue they have successfully reached the 4th level of competence at even the rarest scenarios. That is why two Fox players on totally different levels can seem equally good on the surface, but then you put them head to head and one’s consistently getting 3-stocked. The same general play will be similar, but it is the less common scenarios that top players have optimized and brought to the highest level of competence that separates them.

It is also why you can play HugS in some friendlies and tell your buddy how you “kept games close”, then place what he did to the power of 5. It is the very infrequent scenarios pros have mastered that will always add up to net them the win. It is with the following mentality that players reach new tiers in their skill and outrank you, despite feeling so close to their skill level when playing them. Every. Little. Thing. Counts. It all makes a difference. Every extra percent you give, and every less percent you take. It is the difference between winning and losing. As you continue to perfect the game plan, and move on to optimizing aspects less relevant, it will get to the point where every extra aspect you optimize will only improve your total skill level by a percent or so. But this is cumulative. And so, every extra percent increase in skill adds up. And it is the top players in the world, and the fastest improving players, who are hungry for each fraction of a percent of added skill. The firm belief that every little thing counts is how modern top players like Light in Smash 4 and N0ne and Zain in Melee caught up. They optimized their characters to new bounds. Ask Reddit if anyone has ever won a set because of a single hit or even a single percent and you’ll get flooded with responses. Heck, go ahead and watch the last game, last stock, last hit of GTX 2017 if you want to know what $6,000 SDI looks like, and if the concept of every little thing counts hasn’t gotten through to you. Of course, there is more to skill and improvement than the consideration and implementation of every optimal little thing, but it is certainly lesser known facet of it, and carries much more weight than given credit. It may certainly be what is holding you back. Adapting

Everyone knows pro players are the masters at adapting. It’s not uncommon to see a lesser skilled player keep it close the first game, then get washed the next. All adapting really is, is going through all the levels of competence in a brief period of time. It comes down to spotting your weakness (passing the 1st level), determining a solution (passing the 2nd level), implementing the solution (passing the 3rd level), and perfecting the execution of the solution to the point where you can be mindless of it (passing the 4th level). Then focus on spotting the next weakness, and repeat the cycle of adapting. But adapting doesn’t only happen over a set, it can happen over years. It should be happening in-game and out of game. The current best Melee players are also some of the longest playing players. They have had years and years to adapt their play in this way. I noted how, if your main way to improve was by playing until your eyes bleed, then that might be a problem. If you are seeing no results, then it certainly is. It is all about how conscious you are while you play. Aside from naturally refining current techniques, playing nonstop only helps because the longer you play, the higher the chance you recognize a flaw. However, it is obviously more efficient to aim to be more aware to recognize more flaws in a lesser amount of time played. This is why I recommend all new players to first focus on just playing the game, as incompetencies stand out and will be readily noticed. Then they should begin to watch pro players. Doing so will quickly reveal much more of what they are doing wrong. As you can see, it is really all about passing the 1st level of competence and becoming aware of where you are going wrong. Mending the flaw thereafter is a given.

However, as you improve, it becomes increasingly difficult to spot these incompetencies. Like I said, if it were easy to know what you were doing wrong, everyone would fix it and be a pro. As passing the 1st level of competence is so critical, the most effective methods of doing so are discussed in the following sections. One of the best and most used methods is to watch pro players, as mentioned. By watching pro players, you continue to increase your awareness, enabling you to become aware of what you yourself are incompetent at. This is a brilliant way to improve, though there isn’t much to detail. I would like to introduce lesser known, and perhaps more effective learning techniques. But before doing so, I want to call out this tweet by a top player. “I don't get how people don't improve faster. I watch some streams and people drop the same exact combo every week, or do the same bad air dodge every week. Like why is it so hard for most players I swear it's supposed to be common sense.” Foremost, before getting into the nonsense of this quote, there is actually some good insight here. The accidental insight is that a 3rd person view is much better at noticing incompetencies in someone else’s play. A situation that had never been considered to be a weak point by the player may be an obvious flaw to an outsider. We can try to make use of this insight individually by finding an alternative that does not require an external point of view. You can simulate being a third party by watching your own replays and analyzing as if you were an outsider. Weak points may come to light, since you’re now strictly able to focus on analysis, but since you’re operating with the same way of thinking, I do not believe this to be the most effective method. You still won’t know what you don’t know, and watching your own gameplay can only make you realize so much new. Unfortunately, many of us do not readily have a third party who is capable of recognizing weak points in our play.

The naivety in the tweet is that, because the top player who tweeted it sees the incompetencies of others as obvious, that he concludes it should be obvious to them as well. This is not the case, and it is not easy to spot your own incompetencies by any means. It takes time and awareness, but once you have that awareness, it is extremely obvious. If you were to watch a game of yourself from a year ago, you would notice so much wrong with your gameplay. You would be in almost disbelief, and think something along the lines of the tweet like, “why did I think that was a good option, how did I not realize I was doing the same bad get-up attack, how did I used to mess that up?” But most of us wouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. We’d look back and be pleased with how much we’ve improved. What’s obvious now just wasn’t obvious then. And the goal should be to keep becoming aware, and making those unconscious incompetencies, not just conscious, but laughably obvious. As previously mentioned, great methods of doing so are outlined in the following sections. Teach Someone Else One of the fastest ways to learn anything is to teach someone else. Better yet, teach as if they were 5 years old. This method truly tests your understanding, ensuring you are not simply regurgitating what you hear, but can actually explain the reasoning. It is in forcing yourself to carry out these clear teachings where you may quickly realize you don’t possess the full answers to important questions. This is known as the Feynman Technique to learning, and teaching in this way allows you to rapidly realize what you do not know, what the Feynman Technique refers to as recognizing knowledge gaps, or what I consider discovering incompetencies. Having a disciple who is eager to learn will quickly expose your knowledge gaps if you aren’t sharp. One that caught me off guard

recently was, “what is the proper way to edge-guard Sheik?” I realized I didn’t have a suitable answer. I had always just held ledge, then did whatever “felt right”. But, because my disciple counted on me, I sought the interwebs to fill my knowledge gap. Not only did I ensure I had an answer, but also an explanation that would make sense to a newcomer as to why it was the optimal way to edge-guard Sheik. In this way, I truly understood my answer, and could be sure it was correct. Furthermore, teaching something is one of the most effective to store material into your long-term memory. Doing so allows you to retain knowledge of the game that you may have otherwise forgotten soon after. Retaining knowledge means retaining awareness, and awareness leads to greater recognition of incompetence. This is how knowledge is power, even in Super Smash Bros. Without a disciple to hold you accountable, you may easily find yourself rushing for answers, and end up implementing incorrect information. You might also end up implementing answers to questions without really understanding why. In that case, you find a solution, but don’t gain the knowledge, so the opportunity for greater power to recognize further incompetencies down the line is missed. Doing practice problems for a test produces a similar result. If you are going through assignment problems as practice in the morning, and you realize you don’t know how to solve one of them, you will seek out how to solve it. In other words, you seek to fill your knowledge gap. The key element is that you must attempt the problems, or else you won’t know you can’t do them. It is the same idea in that if you do not teach, where not only you are given problems to answer, but must also explain, prove, and demonstrate the answers in simple terms, that you may never realize what you don’t know.

However, I do understand not everyone has an eager disciple, but if you do, I can’t encourage you enough to take advantage of it. If you do not have someone to teach, it can nearly as effective to prepare as if you were going to teach, by asking yourself the right questions, but it is up to you to hold yourself accountable. Wi-Fi Warrior “Wi-Fi IS legitimately a region and yall cant tell me otherwise.” –Jason “ANTi” Bates Wi-Fi Warrior [wahy-fahy-war-yer]: Just a term for people who play online a lot. Playing online is the fastest way to expose yourself to the widest variety of matchups and players. Practicing against different characters will expose your weaknesses in those matchups, making them easily noticed, and the 1st level of competence can be passed. That is how matchup experience is gained. But the gained matchup experience is the lesser benefit, especially in Melee. It is the ability to compete against a multitude of types of players that is more beneficial. Human beings are all different. Your opponents may all be playing Melee, but they’re all playing it with their unique brain. This will lead to many different players abusing your many different incompetencies. Thus, you are given better opportunity to catch sight of shortcomings you were blind to, which your regular sparring partner might do a poor job of taking advantage of. Acknowledging general shortcomings is typically more valuable than acknowledging matchup-specific shortcomings. To summarize, the harder your weaknesses are abused, the more apparent to you they are likely to become. Playing against a wide variety of players will lead to you getting abused in every way

imaginable. As crusty as that sounds, it will result in you discovering incompetencies throughout all aspects of your play. Furthermore, playing against a vast amount of players enables you to experience first-hand a variety of different playstyles, who emphasize different options to different degrees in their playstyle. Even if an option of theirs doesn’t particularly abuse a weakness of yours, by playing against different players you may notice new options that you should implement yourself. Playing the ditto matchup against someone better than you produces the best of both worlds, where you can observe their play to discover what you should be doing more of, while simultaneously having weaknesses exposed in the process. I often train noobs by playing them in the ditto for this reason. Play the Reverse Matchup If all else fails, try playing the reverse matchup. If you are a Fox main who loses most friendlies to their buddy’s Falco, and can’t ever seem to figure out why, try playing Falco against more Fox players. If your Falco isn’t practiced, you will likely lose frequently. This is good, because now you get to observe first-hand all the things Fox players do to beat Falco, and it should become very clear to you how to beat Falco as Fox. Every time a Fox player takes advantage of your unrefined Falco, think to yourself, “what would my buddy do?” then simply do it. If the enemy Fox still outplays you, you can note the exact tactics used to beat Falco play similar to your buddy’s. If the enemy Fox can’t overcome your play now, then move on to facing a better Fox. Meanwhile, your Falco would have just levelled up. This technique is nifty, because playing as your buddy’s main character, it is so easy to become consciously competent since, when recalling what they do to beat you, it is so ingrained in your

memory, due to a mild form of PTSD, that you barely need to put in conscious effort to implement it. It is a sort of win-win situation, where if the gameplay you copied from your buddy doesn’t work, you have now just observed a tactic to outplay it, but if it does work, you have just significantly improved as another character. In this way, you can approach a playstyle and skill close to that of your buddy’s shockingly fast. Keep playing against better players until you have understood play that can overcome the tactics of your buddy’s bird. Of course, this doesn’t work if your bud possesses far greater technical skill than you. If you are that outclassed, determining incompetencies in terms of the matchup isn’t the priority. Further Improvement: Practice, Understand, Learn As discussed, improving should be your focus– not winning. Considering the reasons why you lost following any match is a quick method to unravel more unconscious incompetencies. This is easily done when passing up the salt and living by the No Johns mantra. It is important to question yourself specifically; Why didn’t that approach work? How did he manage to get that grab? How could I have put myself in a better situation? These are the types of questions you always have to ask yourself. Routinely refresh your memory and keep yourself in check. Question your methods. Put your ego at the door and you may surprise yourself. You may find you have been using the same suboptimal option for years.

Innovation Conclusively, there is innovation. At this point in Melee’s metagame, you won’t be doing much innovation yourself. Majority of useful, seldom useful, and straight up troll techniques have already been discovered. But by discovering something of your character

yourself, you will have a much greater appreciation for it, and hence, be more conscious of it. And being more conscious of your options means they are less likely to be forgotten and slip out of your back pocket. Much of this chapter centralizes on attaining all the optimal options, but in all honestly, some things you will find just better suit you. Some things you will just be able to make work more than others. And I encourage you to give your playstyle a little bit of unique flavour. In the end, whether my words on Smash have enlightened you or not, please consider how these thoughts can be applied to even outside the realm of Smash. In the preface, I discussed how so much of life improved due to awareness. From this chapter, you may have realized a considerable aspect to improving at something comes from having great awareness. It all comes back to awareness being the accumulation of knowledge, and knowledge grants power. Value awareness, because being aware means greater knowing. And greater knowing means greater power. And with great power comes great Fox mains.

Wisdom Introduction I want to share, in this chapter, the belief system I have developed that has helped me immensely in travelling through life. I have continuously sought out opportunities to learn and better myself, and now have at my disposal wisdom that covers so vastly, I am consistently able to make proper judgement to maintain my course. Though I don’t just maintain my course, I take the most fulfilling paths and make the most of each journey. For these reasons, I believe I am an agreeable candidate to share what I have gained, and why I encourage you to remain open minded to the philosophies and broadening your point of view.

Become the Best Version of Yourself This is easily the driving force that has made the largest impact on my life. The wisest investment you can make is investing in yourself. Setting the goal of becoming the best version of yourself as a top priority is one of the easiest paths to happiness, success, and fulfillment. You will never feel a sense of wasting time or meaninglessness when you decide to invest in yourself. Becoming the best version of yourself means you are bound to become more attractive, focused, organized, enjoyable to be around, and more. But the most brilliant aspect of this goal is that it specifies that it is of yourself. It is an unreachable goal you can always strive for, that is directly suited toward your personal needs and desires. You will alter that goal based on how the perception of your best self changes over time. Everyone is different, and there is no single perfect human. There are fundamental traits everyone’s best version should have,

like being healthy and happy. But to properly conceptualize your own best self, you must be cognizant of your beliefs and values. Know thyself It is very important to know yourself, if you want to become the person that you’ll be happiest to be. Take some time to reflect upon what you value and what kind of person you would genuinely like to become. Know your morals in the same way the best Smash 4 player in the world does. “I have morals that are not very well placed; to buy a $100 titty mousepad is one thing, but to play as Bayonetta is something else.” –Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios [redacted] If you have a goal to be fit for the sole purpose of impressing the girl next door, for example, you are setting yourself up for failure. Living life for other people is the quickest way to dodge happiness. If that girl were to reject you, move away, or move on, you’d lose all incentive to hit the gym. want to work out for the purpose of attracting women”. It’s okay to set a goal to be more attractive to women, just make sure it isn’t for a specific one, and also find reason to do it for you as well. Don’t become the person the girl next door wishes you would be, or your parents, or your friends, or whoever. Only become the person you yourself wish to become. By all means, avoid superficiality. If your values and decisions are based on how you feel others will perceive you, you are taking away much of your freedom, happiness, and potential for growth. Most superficial people don’t even realize they are, or choose to stay blind to it. It’s a tough pill to swallow. Live life for you, do what makes you happy, and do it confidently. I am very glad to be part of a community where majority of people are not superficial. A tweet I came across recently:

“I feel like smashers are the only real friends I have honestly. If you're one of them though, just know that you're sick as f*ck.” This was from a younger smasher. Rather expected, as high school is perhaps the most superficial environment. In any case, I can understand his sentiment, and I am sure many feel the same. Most of the real people I have met in my life have come from the Smash community. We were brought together out of a genuine passion for a youthful video game, after all. We truly want the best for each other. Previously, I have demonstrated how caring what others think can drastically hold you back at a video game, imagine how it could be holding you back in aspects of your actual life. Confidence Act like you are the star of a reality show, cameras following you everywhere, because you are so damn interesting. Believe that you are a god and eventually you may learn that this is true. Carry out confidence. Confidence is the most attractive characteristic in any human being. Part of knowing yourself is figuring out what makes you happy. Having confidence gives you the ability to do absolutely anything you need or desire to achieve this happiness. Know yourself well enough to find the right direction. Gather the confidence to take the steps forward.

What will make you happy?

A brilliant question to ask oneself, which I credit to hearing from Dennis Prager, radio talk show host and writer. If you are ever stuck on a decision in life, or whenever you make even minor plans, try asking yourself, “what will make me happy?” You will be surprised at the power of this phrase. As long as you answer honestly, you may realize there so much you would rather do, but don’t. You will begin to have much less regret, and making the right decisions will be more clear. You will even be motivated to carry out tasks you have put off far too long. However, you must not confuse what will make you happy with what will be the most fun. Oftentimes, choosing the option that is considered the most fun, but deep down you know won’t make you happy, will leave you off much worse. Don’t have fun to be happy; be happy to have fun. Childhood Something important to note is that a lot of who you are and how you think is based on your childhood. How you were parented plays a tremendous role in your current personality and behaviours. I mention this because it is important to be aware of who you are and why you might be that way. This is an important step needed to make the right changes moving forward. Take some time to think about this one. What are you like now, and how can you draw that back to your upbringing? There is not one person on this planet not shaped by their childhood, so consider deeply.

Reaching Your Goals F*ck motivation

I am sure you all have your dreams and aspirations. Your biggest obstacle, according to you, is likely lack of motivation. It comes and goes. However, when you are motivated, all your excuses seem to disappear. You manage to work for hours on end and accomplish whatever you are set on, no matter the circumstances. I’m here to tell you: f*ck motivation. Motivation is fickle. Motivation is fleeting. Learn to work without it. Cultivate selfdiscipline and force yourself to do what it is you know deep down you want. Build permanent strength, do not rely on temporary motivation. Most people aren’t willing to put in the work If you aren’t willing to put the effort in, someone else will. If there is something you want, you can choose to be weak or choose to be strong. You can let yourself be held back by family, fears, or what others think, or you can choose to overcome anything in your path. Nothing ever worth working towards is easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it. If you fear failure, you never know unless you try. Alas, you might work your butt off for years and still not succeed. But you know what, hard work may not always result in success, but it sure as hell won’t result in regret. It is better to have tried and failed than to forever wonder what could have been. There is always so much more to learn than failure. Believe failure as more valuable than success. If you have the courage to take away from your failures, you will learn to love them. If your fear is of what others would think, you are limiting yourself immensely. Understand that those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.

Showing up is half the battle, the secret of getting ahead is getting started If you really don’t feel like working out one day, or you have work to do but can’t stop procrastinating; try to muster up the willpower to just get started. Even with the bare minimum. Lift the lightest weight. Read a single page of your textbook. This seems pointless, but just getting started already puts you ahead of where you just were. The success lies in that once you’ve gotten started, you are very likely to surprise yourself and go much further than planned. Seriously, it is a great secret unsuccessful people don’t want to believe. This is exactly how I was able to write this book. A lot of times I really did not want to work on it. I would tell myself I needed a coffee first, or a proper desk to work at, or the house was too loud and that I’d work on it later. The excuses were countless. But it is with this secret that I could always convince myself to just write one sentence. Time and time again, the progress that followed exceeded anticipations profoundly. Set your limitations, and surely, they are yours The biggest obstacle to beginning something is the limitations you set yourself beforehand. Like many philosophies in Smash that resonate with everyday life matters, you must remember: No Johns. You either don’t think you are good enough to accomplish your goals, afraid of being embarrassed by failure, or somehow convinced yourself it would never succeed. Maybe someone else convinced you it wouldn’t succeed. Don’t listen to them. They are likely fearful you succeed and surpass them. (Humans are competitive in nature. No one wants to be surpassed, and it’s the entire reason all of us in the Smash community desire to come together to compete.). How are you supposed to know something won’t work if you don’t try? In Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the five most common limitations are explained to be fear, cynicism, laziness, bad

habits, and arrogance. I encourage you to read the book if you wish to understand these further.

The Most Important Thing in Life Now I understand this is a bold statement. Ask anyone what the most important thing is in life, and you’ll get a different answer. I have realized that as I move on in life, and foresee my future, the most important thing in life becomes other people. There is nothing that can provide as much meaning as other people. You should acknowledge that we are all on intertwined here living life on this planet. It is when you picture life in complete isolation, be it on an island or as the last man on Earth, you truly understand the deep enrichment that those around us bring. The ability to remember experiences together is so cherished. You will find that you cannot reminisce with superficial friends in the same way. One genuine friend is superior to any quantity of superficial friends. You would think being alone makes you lonely, but it’s being surrounded by the wrong people that’s the loneliest thing in the world. Sharing time with others lets you experience this crazy thing we call life together. Not spending more time with others is said to be the most common regret of those lying on their deathbed. It’s understandable, because at that point material items have little meaning. Other people also cost nothing. If you are able to enjoy time just being with them, you never have to waste money on materialistic needs.

In short, other people add further value and meaning to your life, and so, it’s important to put proper effort into maintaining strong bonds when you find the people worthwhile.

Choose Good Friends “Simply put, anyone who makes it a struggle to see you, friend or interest, isn't worth your effort or time. There are usually plenty of others around you who will gladly take the chance to spend time with you. Seeing a person is easy for those who are genuinely interested.” –Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez If you plan to take my advice and seek strong friendships, you mustn’t waste effort on people who aren’t willing to put effort in as well. You deserve better, and you deserve respect. You don’t need those people; you are more than enough. The last phrase I have bolded because it has gotten me through every kind of relationship problem I have ever been in. Any girlfriend or friend causing you more trouble than happiness is absolutely not worth it. It is true others can add value to your life, but it is first and foremost to acknowledge your own self-worth. As I put earlier, a single strong friendship will always outweigh any amount of weak or superficial friendships. It is true that you are the sum of your 5 closest friends. Do you ever catch yourself using the lingo your close friends use all the time? Surround yourself with strong minded people and you will strive. A true good friend is likely rather good to you. That means it should be important to you to be a good friend to them. Be the friend you wish you had. Really listen to them when they are talking, don’t think of what you’re going to say next. It should be important to you

to be the best version of yourself in general, and that includes being the best friend you can be. It is therefore important in continuing to know thyself, to know who you want to be as a friend. Understand what you believe a good friend is and how you want to carry that out. If I know my readers well, you will want to be a great friend. What that consists of is up to you to conclude and carry out.

Nobody Is Perfect This is important on the topic of women in the prevention of infatuation, or, oneitis. But in this chapter I would like to focus in more general terms. Every person you ever meet will have qualities you do not like. It is up to you to decide whether their positive qualities outweigh the negative. Even so, it can still be easy to become frustrated over the negative qualities. All strengths will have corresponding weaknesses. Think of the negative aspects in your friends, family members, and others, as their weaknesses of strength. Sure your best friend can be immature at times… but that’s also why you like him. Sure your other friend is forgetful, but you know it’s because he is too busy trying to have a good time with you. Give everyone a chance. You never know who might become your best friend. Treat everyone with respect, because everyone knows something you don’t. The wisest mind has something yet to learn.

How to Get Anyone to Like You This brief section stems from ideas shared in Dale Carnegie’s, How to Win Friends and Influence People, a book I highly recommend to understand and take advantage of social behaviors.

In the following, I discuss ideologies which have enlightened me from the cited book, with an addition of others that I have personally found great truth in. Call people by their name. There is nothing sweeter than the sound of your own name. This may sound silly, but now that I have made you conscious of it, you will realize you yourself respond to your name much more admirably. Call people by their name, it is much more endearing. Smile. A simple smile instantly associates good qualities. It shows you are able to be happy, it makes others want to be around you, and a smile is contagious unto others. Nobody enjoys the company of a constant downer. Of course, in life, you cannot always be genuinely happy. It is up to you to always find the positives in life, and to find reason to make that smile as genuine as possible. Carrying a smile will lead to better companionship, and happiness will come easier. It’s a snowball effect. Show real appreciation, then genuine interest. I have emphasized the importance of other people, but sometimes it is difficult to enjoy other people because you can, honestly, find some people boring, or smelly. That is okay, because I do too. Instead of trying to be interested when you just aren’t, show genuine appreciation. If your grandma is recounting her life as a librarian for the thousandth time, try to be appreciative of the fact that another human being is spending their time wanting to be with you. You will find showing genuine interest comes a lot easier after real appreciation. Do not waste your time on people who aren’t willing to put any effort in, but truly appreciate those who do. Then you can find genuine interest. Talk less. The most obnoxious type of person is the one who never shuts up. And the more you talk, the more likely you are to spit out something untoward. Now you shouldn’t constantly fear to speak

in worry of iterating something inappropriate, but it is much wiser to speak less, but with more purpose when you do. When you speak with purpose, you say things you mean. You don’t end up speaking without thinking, and you don’t say the wrong thing. On much rarer occasion will you have to take back something you said. It will also enable you to speak with more assurance and confidence. In my experience, speaking less gains more respect, and makes you less likely to lose it. Nevertheless, communication is splendid and necessary. Conversing can be one of the most enjoyable activities to partake in. Just understand the setting you are in, and use your best judgement when deciding what to say.

Stress In this day and age, stress, anxiety, fear, and the like, have become widespread and are the symptoms to the ever-growing amount of mental health problems we hear of. Out of all the stress relief advice I have come across in my lifetime, it is only in the following that I have been able to consistently find peace on my own. Be your own best friend Life has its struggles. I don’t have the answer to everything. For me, when times get tough, I’d look for something or someone I could turn to. But what if you don’t have a friend or family member you can talk to, or who is able to understand. What if you find no decent way to cope. I often felt that relief could come from just being able to talk to or vent to someone. That is how I learned the importance of being your own best friend. Usually, under stress, there is no answer to look for, but it is the reassurance from someone else that, “it’ll be okay” or “you’re being too hard on yourself” which might be all you need.

You can do this for yourself, and you deserve to. Be your own best friend you can turn to when times get tough. Be compassionate with yourself. Be understanding with yourself. Imagine your best friend was struggling with what you are, what would you tell him if he came to you? Give that same guidance and clarity to yourself. It works. After gaining the ability to be your own best friend, it is much more delightful going through life, as you know there is someone always right by your side and who has your back. Once it is out of your control, learn to let it go A lot of anxiety comes from things that are not even in your control. Worry can build up about something that will happen, you fear will happen, or has already happened and are still concerned of it. A great quote Kris “Toph” Aldenderfer brought up while commenting some Melee follows. “If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the moment.” There isn’t a known originator of this quote, but until hearing it, I never realized how all my depressive moments really did come from the past, and all my anxiety did come from the future. If something is currently out of your hands, you must learn to let it go. Acknowledge that worrying does nothing for you. If it is from the past, being sad about it does nothing either. I know it is easier said than done, but you must learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward. If an issue is out your hands at the current moment, then you are letting unneeded concern take away time you could be living to the

fullest. Today is a gift, that is why it’s called the present. You should keep in mind that there are always pros and cons to everything. People tend to want what they cannot have. You might be so focused by negatives that you fail to note all there is to be positive about. Be smarter than your human nature. See the good in any situation. If you cannot change a situation, change your attitude towards it. Don’t sweat the small stuff There is always so much going on in life that it is rarely worth worrying over the small stuff. I finally let this idea sink in after making the most minor adjustments to a parking job for 5 minutes, where I knew it didn’t even matter. Even the bigger stuff can be made small when you consider the bigger picture. Ask yourself how much something will matter in a week, a month, or a year. I know I have been through some very stressful times because they seemed like massive life ordeals, but in the grand scheme of things, I can barely remember them.

General Wisdom There are plenty of eye opening ideas out there, but here lies the wisdom I find myself extracting value from most frequently. All progress takes place outside your comfort zone The journey of life is a wild ride. It is in your best interest to experience it fully while you can, and to reach your maximum growth. You can only grow if you choose to leave your comfort zone. If you never try new things, think outside the box, and face your fears, you limit yourself to what life has to offer. You don’t know what you are missing out on when you choose to stick to what you know

and are comfortable with. There is also much less to regret when you choose to leave your comfort zone. Everything is difficult, until you know how to do it Have you ever completed a project that at first seemed impossible? Can you look back over your years in school or work and remember how hard you used to think classes or projects were? Recalling these moments, they probably weren’t so bad after all. Well, it’s just because you learned how to do it. Everything is easy if you know how to do it. This is the saying that has really convinced me I can accomplish any task, no matter how daunting initially. If a classmate asks me if I think a test will be easy or hard, I’ll typically respond with, “it’ll be easy if you know how to do it”. Sure, it’s not a satisfying response, but I’m not sure how to give a proper answer. Of course, not everything is easy to learn how to do. The difficulty is based on how straightforward something is to understand. But this way of thinking breaks down intimidating tasks and makes everything seem much more possible. It’s not that it’s too hard, it’s that I haven’t fully understood it yet. If you’re going through hell, keep going If you’re trying to get something done and it feels like hell, don’t stop now. You’re already experiencing hell, keep pushing through your studying, workout, or whatever grueling task you’re up against and fully reap what you’ve already worked so hard for. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Recalling this quote in a time of needs never fails to put me in beast mode.

The problem isn’t the problem, your attitude toward the problem is the problem If something arises in your life that you consider problematic, and it’s causing a sort of frustration or disappointment, instead of fixating on how bad the problem is, focus on changing your attitude towards it. Sometimes shit happens. Maybe it isn’t stressful, depressing or worrisome, but just plain shitty. As a human, you will have to accept shit getting thrown your way from time to time. To lessen the effect shit has on your life, you must learn to change your perception of it. By focusing on shifting your attitude, there is an actual chance of finding peace with the situation, instead of making matters worse. Have no expectations, and you can only be pleasantly surprised Disappointment comes from setting expectations. Setting expectations for anything really serves no purpose. When expectations are placed, you are leaving yourself open to disappointment. When no expectations are held, you are only susceptible to being pleasantly surprised. Do something today your tomorrow you will thank you for The mindset that will never let yourself procrastinate again. From time to time you perform kind acts for others. Instead, the next time you have a moment, perform a kind act for yourself. Do something today that when you wake up tomorrow you will want think, “I am so glad I got that done last night.” Being able to thank yourself is how to effectively begin to love yourself. As cheesy as it sounds, there is nothing more blissful than to live life loving who you are and what you do.

Finance “Idk how some of yall smashers actually survive, I know some of them dont have jobs/place 17th at best but still somehow have enough money to eat KBBQ 3 times in one weekend” –Jason “ANTi” Bates Be a minimalist The mentality I observed from Aaron Clarey’s, Bachelor Pad Economics, but realized I had already been carrying out. By far, the easiest financial plan you can set for yourself is to be a minimalist. You can spend hundreds of hours managing your finances on a frequent basis, or, you can acquire the philosophy a minimalist. Being a minimalist essentially means being content with spending as little as possible. It is incredible the amount of adults who are currently living in debt. The only way debt occurs is when you spend more money than you actually have. As absurd as it sounds, hundreds of thousands of people spend more than they have, and the statistics say it is likely to happen to you. That is why it becomes critical to track your income and appropriately budget for expenses such as food, entertainment, rent, emergency fund, etc. That is, if you are not a minimalist. If you are only spending on the minimum, then you will likely not have to worry of falling into debt. It is really up to you how far you want to go with it. Somewhere between living in your best friend’s bathtub and skipping the KBBQ every once in a while is a reasonable medium for being a minimalist. “The key is smart spending, and very seldom eating KBBQ, sadly, the KBBQ part, not the smart spending, it's astonishing how much you can save if you remove unnecessary expenses and stay diligent.”

“I feel like this community would really benefit from learning how to effectively spend and save money, like some of those people who eat KBBQ after every tournament, and then also go to tons of events. :p KBBQ is amazing, but that would be a start.” –Griffin “Fatality” Miller I couldn’t agree more with Yummy Pepperoni’s Fatality here, and so, I hope my brief financial philosophy rubs off onto the community to some extent. Additionally, you should be aware that what you make is what you save. If you make 80k/year and spend 75k/year, you are poorer than he who makes 40k/year but spends 20k/year. This is all really only the beginning to finance, as I am not qualified to speak much further, so I highly recommend books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki, and The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham, if you are prepared to enhance your financial literacy.

Health The biggest drawback in selecting gaming as your sport of choice is the lack of physical activity. Not only is it lacking, but results in hours on end of sedentariness. It is vital for the long and short term well-being of your body and mind that you incorporate physical activity into your lifestyle. You will look better, age better, sleep better, feel better, double-shine better, and more. If you choose to be a competitive gamer, you should respect your body and make some sort of effort to keep your vessel healthy. As physical beings, we all carry the responsibility of remaining physically active.

In the following, I have outlined extremely easy-to-implement ways to support a healthier lifestyle as a competitive gamer. Although it is far from revolutionary, it is the small steps you make that will hopefully lead to healthier choices down the line. As I have shared, the secret is just to get started. Stand. Standing is so much better for your body. It burns many more calories per hour, prevents your legs from becoming weak, and is a better position for your digestion and back. Ensure you are carrying out proper posture, which holds benefits as well, namely the prevention of back and neck issues as you age. Wi-Fi Workouts. If you’re at home playing Wi-Fi or netplay, do a few pushups between sets. This is a great way to blow some steam after a rough loss. Instead of taking it out online or at the wall, let your frustration out in the form of a workout. Better yet though, do some push-ups every night too. And every morning. And before every meal. Or just go to your local gym already! The difference between someone who doesn’t work out and a person who just does some push-ups every day is breathtaking. Wrist Stretches. Although not very active, I think wrist stretching is important in gaming, and puts you in the right direction toward a healthier lifestyle. There are some good guides you can follow on YouTube, and it is very relaxing as well. I like to do these before bed after a tournament, or whenever it feels necessary. Start incorporating full-body stretches if you enjoy them. Drink Water. Shifting your drink of choice to water will be one of the best decisions you make, and will never regret. It is incredible how once you make the switch to water, you quickly and completely lose the desire for any other sort of beverage. Not only is water the healthiest drink, but also the cheapest and comes at a 0 caloric intake. Water will also curb your hunger a tremendous amount. Of course, I recommend adjusting your diet entirely to select healthier

options, but the easiest and most impactful first step you can take is to drink water, and drink lots. The above tips are really to ease you into the idea of carrying out a healthier lifestyle. Ideally, you would join your local gym or plan more full workouts you could complete at home on a regular basis. If you’re already doing that, then hopefully some of my tips were new to you. “Damn drinking soda makes you so fat lmao. I thought it was mainly food but drinks are JUST as bad” –Jason “ANTi” Bates

Hygiene WEAR. DEODERANT. Guys, this is seriously a problem. If this wasn’t a problem, I wouldn’t be coming across posts on the Smash Bros. subreddits titled “stinky day…” or “can we as a community do something about the stench at tournaments?” or “I’m new to Smash but is this really that much of an issue?”. The last post in regards to the following tweet. “Tourney goers: You can shower but if your clothes smell like garbage, you smell like garbage. Wash your clothes before you wear them 5 more times in a row. And do the shower + deodorant combo please

”

–Richard “Keitaro” King Jr. If you don’t wear deodorant, you will smell. Don’t come to a tournament smelling “normal”. Come to a tournament smelling good. If you are accustomed to your stanky must and think it is a “normal” smell, then you’re gonna get the whole community complaining why every tournament smells like buttcheeks.

That is really it. Use deodorant, shower moderately, and wear clean clothes and everyone is satisfied. Do it for you. Be the type of person who wants to be clean. I respect all the TOs who take action on those stinkin’ up the place. Don’t let it be you.

Women “I honestly think we just need to keep girls out of Smash, so much toxicity in this community is caused by their presence, and they get so many privileges compared to the others I mean have you seen Bayo's hitboxes? ZSS Rage combos? Lost neutral to sheik 100 times? Out.” –Alan “Afro Smash” Gardner

Introduction The Smash community is predominantly made up of straight males. As such, I find the discussion of women to be relevant. Still, I encourage all readers to indulge in this chapter, as I share perspectives surrounding romantic relationships and attraction relevant to both parties. To put it bluntly, Smashers don’t have the best reputation when it comes to interacting with women. There’s a reason we’re called Jims and they’re called Chads. But before giving up on women entirely, and turning to your Waifu, there is still hope. Gaming scenes hold very little exposure to women, leading to the male majority lacking experience with them. On the surface it seems any so-called experience isn’t necessary, because they are just other human beings, but when, by nature, males are urged to seek a mate in the opposite sex, a totally different dynamic exists. There can be serious repercussions if this dynamic is handled inappropriately, and failing to understand rejection will lead to frustration, and possibly, depression. In this chapter, I would like to give you a no-bullshit truth, so there’s no falling into the trap of not understanding why you can’t find success with a decent woman, and so you don’t experience the emotional heartbreak I witness so many young men fall victim to.

The Friend Zone God forbid you consider yourself stuck in the friend zone. The first thing to realize is that you put yourself in the friend zone. This is when a man wants to date a girl, but the girl prefers to just stay friends. Most of the time, the man has yet to explicitly tell the girl how he feels, and is afraid to “ruin the friendship”.

The first step is to ask the girl out explicitly and receive an explicit answer. If you get rejected, then it is imperative you give up on trying to date this woman entirely. Whatever you do, do not choose to remain friends if, by even the slightest sliver, hope to date her one day. An enormous amount of my male peers have fallen into this trap, where their infatuation for a woman keeps them in a friendship in hopes that one day she will change her mind. There are countless movies and TV shows where the beautiful woman cries to her male best friend, “how come all the guys I meet are assholes, I just wish I could date a decent guy for once”, while you’re watching in the audience thinking, “he’s the perfect guy right there!”. That is the exact scenario I see time and time again in real life. The “nice guy” waits, infatuated, hoping one day she will see he is the one for her. Although they often realize he is “the one” at the end of the movie, I have yet to see it happen in real life. If you are friends with a woman who knows you want to be more than friends, she can abuse you extremely easy. Whether she does consciously or subconsciously, it is just too easy to manipulate someone who is strongly attracted to you. This happens to men so often there is an actual term for it. If you are puppy dogging over a girl, waiting around for her to realize you are “the one”, you can consider yourself her orbiter. It is at this stage that you must be totally honest with yourself. If you do not genuinely enjoy the friendship, wake up and realize you are in a one-sided relationship hoping for something that will never happen. If she is dating other guys, complaining to you about them, always turning to you for emotional support, but too busy with other guys when you need her; you are most definitely being used. If you put way more effort into the friendship than she does; that’s a major red flag.

I emphasized getting an explicit answer because manipulative women divert the question so that their orbiter remains hopeful, waiting around as an emotional tampon when needed. If you do not receive an explicit and definitive answer when discussing taking the friendship further, seriously question whether you are being manipulated. “Friends can be just as abusive as an abusive partner you’re dating.” –Wyatt “ADHD” Beekman In the previous chapter, I discussed the importance of choosing good friends. To the surprise of many, this includes friends of the opposite sex. If something doesn’t feel right or fair deep down, listen to your intuition.

Attracting Women – The Strong Male Although both men and women can find many different things attractive in the opposite sex, it cannot be argued that, by nature, some characteristics correspond to attractiveness more than others. A symmetric face, toned abs, and long legs to name a few. Throughout history, women have sought out the strongest men as mates. It dates back to a time where a woman needed protection in the wild to be a mother In the modern era, most women continue to desire strong men. Nowadays, a strong man doesn’t necessitate physical strength. There are many attributes that make up a strong man, without needing arms the size of chillindude’s. Follow your passion, and the women will come For a moment, let us consider a successful man. A successful man is seen as man of strength. As it goes, a successful man will be attractive to women. Following this, even top Smash players attract most women who value that form of success.

For example, have you ever walked into the washroom at a tournament and seen Mang0 talkin’ with a bunch of babes in the shower? Well, I have. And we all see what happens when HugS walks around the venue. Now you don’t need to be the best at something, but my point is, if you are passionate about something, the women will come, so don’t worry too much about the women. All the top Smash players became successful out of passion. There was really no other incentive to become the best Smash Bros. player back then. But what if you don’t consider yourself successful, can women still find you attractive? The answer is, absolutely! Because I have not fully explained why success is attributed to strength. It is in a successful man that a woman, or anyone for that matter, will see hard work, dedication, effort, and a never-giving up attitude; all of which demonstrate great strength. As you can figure, it is the passion behind it that builds the strength. Success is only a means to make your passion visible to the masses. This is not needed, and, perhaps, could be burdensome. Your individual passion will radiate to those around you, and that is more than enough. Whether you’re at the top of your class or not, follow your passion first, and you can find women along the way. Be yourself and be it confidently Have the confidence to be yourself. Every action you take must exude extreme confidence. Take a moment and picture in your head what you would imagine a strong male to be like. Seriously, picture it.

Does this guy care at all what other people think? Does he second guess himself even for a moment? Does he ever fear of messing up? Will everything that comes out of his mouth sound badass, serious, and assertive? Huge pecs aside, the main characteristic of the strong male you envision will be confidence. If you are ever unsure about your behaviour, ask yourself, what would the strong male you can picture in your head would do. However, the strong male you picture doesn’t lose any strength depending on what he says or does, it is just that he does it confidently. So, for the most part, there is no need to change who you are. Be yourself, and simply let the idea of a strong male give you the courage to do so. An important point to expand upon is that a confident man does not fear failure. When you have the confidence to do anything, you actually can do anything. When you can do anything, you become a competent man, and competency is a trait desirable to all. Even if you do fail, you are able to effectively learn from failure, and courageously take failure. Not only is extreme confidence one of the most attractive things you can carry, but also gives you freedom you never thought you could have. If you give no f*cks, there is little to worry about. “I envy my dog's ability to not give a f*ck about anything. I personally wouldn't be able to live with the shame of everyone knowing I shit in the living room. –Michael “Mike Haze” Pulido Fake it ‘til you make it

Don’t think you’re strong enough? Fake it. Fake it ‘til you god damn make it. I remember I was scared as hell seeing a horror movie on a late Halloween. But I faked being not frightened by any means. The whole movie I was “pretending” to be brave. And then, it ended. I realized I hadn’t just pretended to be brave, but I was brave. That is how you become the strong person you never thought you could be. Be mysterious A man with a mysterious allure effectively holds a woman’s interest, or anyone’s interest, by not revealing all his cards at once. A mysterious male leaves the minds of others to wander. What is there to be interested in someone if you know everything about them? You want others to remain curious about you. A mysterious man often takes his time to reply, ideally because he is following other advice given and focusing on his passion. Either way, a woman interested in such a man will believe he is busy with something he considers more important than she is. Fellas, that is a good thing. If a woman, or your official partner (not talkin’ Brawl doubles), understands that she is not your main priority, it actually raises your value as a man. If she was your absolute priority, that would clearly indicate you have no passion, no nothing, going for yourself but her. You would be dependent on her for your well-being and it would show. No person wants a relationship with someone who depends their life on them. Perhaps “romantic” initially, as you spend all your resources trying to impress her, but with no passion or mystery to allure, interest is sure to fade. Although it goes against everything we are taught about love, your partner should not be your everything. It is just a woman. You

need to be okay on your own, because if she leaves you, and don’t think it’s a fairy tale where it always ends happily ever after, you need be able to move on. This goes for women as well. No man should be your life purpose. Continuing on, I recommend being mysterious, but not to lie. There is a difference between being mysterious and being a liar. Getting caught in a lie will quickly expose weakness. For example, do not hide the fact that you are a smasher as if you are ashamed. Be confident in that you are a gamer. Furthermore, I believe honesty is very important for both parties in a relationship. Being mysterious is best used to build continuous attraction and interest. Humans are naturally curious. Keep tricks up your sleeve. Leave gaps open for their mind to wander, and fill them slowly. Desperation is the most unattractive thing you can do Everyone tends to want what they do not have. It’s human nature. It is extremely apparent in children when one has something the other does not, even if it is utterly mundane. Or when we no longer have PPMD. Once you show desperation, or give too much attention, you show her she has you completely, if she wanted. But now, she doesn’t want you, because, with all people, she wants what she cannot have. Once you give too much attention, you can never attain her. You have given up your power, demonstrated your weakness, and she will always see a weak interior no matter how strong a man you can become. Once you give too much attention and get rejected, all hope is lost, and you must move on. Again, you are demonstrating to her that she is your main priority. What kind of gal wants a man who has nothing going for him, and needs a woman to give his life meaning?

Desperation is the ultimate form of weakness. And if women desire strength, they are certainly repelled by weakness. Once you are confidently okay on your own, you will no longer fear to lose a woman. It is this common fear that will cause a man to become needy, constantly worried, and ultimately, display great weakness. Weak men feel insecure without a woman, which is their driving force to seek out a partner in the first place. Even if they manage to attain a partner, the man’s insecurities are bound to drive her away, resulting in much heartbreak for the man, and the self-destructive cycle repeats itself. These concepts in modern attraction are very real, and result in both parties unwilling to reveal their cards or show desperation, causing men and women over the world to communicate with the most intricate and complex plans, maneuvers and professionally timed and written text messages. But, if you are confident on your own, and stay busy following your passion, you never have to play the ridiculous texting game. If you follow the guidance in this book, you will understand how to be a strong man, who doesn’t need a woman for fulfillment. It is with this strength that women are more likely to be drawn to you, and may explain why focusing on women, instead of yourself, has yet to result in long-term success.

Picking Up Women If you are seriously interested in learning the ways of a pick-up artist, definitely check out The Game, by Neil Strauss. However, I do have some personal pointers I’d like to share for trying to meet women who catch your interest.

Eye contact As incredulous as it sounds, a huge portion of my successes have begun with not a single word spoken, but only with maintained eye contact. You would be surprised how much can be communicated through only your eyes. Through their eyes, you will quickly be informed if they are interested or not. Interested eyes tell a story. A story of what she wants, when she wants it, and how badly she’s craving it. I recommend doing this on pretty much whoever if you would like some practice. I’ve gotten eyes telling me some pretty kinky things for a lunch lady or an Asian mother with her family at the mall. Hold Frame Women get hit on all the time, but they aren’t interested in the majority of guys who approach them. The reason isn’t because women plainly don’t want to be with men, but because of social pressures. Women slut shame each other, while men are seen as more dominant based on the amount of women they sleep with. Of course, these beliefs should be disregarded, but if their effects sound preposterous, do not doubt the power of social pressures, because they really do encourage men to have sex, and discourage women the same. Considering this, women are more cautious to accept a male’s approach, as they are encouraged “not to be a slut”, which is, of course, ridiculous and unjust to deal with. When anyone is approached by a stranger, defensive walls will come up. Pretend you got a call from a random number. You may try to assess the situation by asking a something like “who are you?”, “what do you want?”, or, “how can I trust you?” in a defensive tone.

Women, when approached by a man for the purpose of attraction, have defensive walls to first ensure you are not some creep, but more so to further assess whether you are a weak male to pass off, or a strong man worth accepting. As weak men easily reveal themselves with little delay, women can effectively filter men. Whether they do this consciously or subconsciously, the purpose is to determine whether or not it is worth investing interest. Unless you are extremely good looking, you will likely be put in a situation where you are assessed for your weakness. Even a man wouldn’t instantly accept a stranger approaching them before getting an idea of who they are. You want to know if you are in danger or in good company. In regards to the dating world, a woman would want to know if she is in weak company or strong company. As a younger guy, after asking for a woman’s number, I’d often get told, “I am too old for you, I’m sorry”. Back then, to me, that was that. There was a time where I would reply, “it’s okay, I understand”, but that was before I understood that women are just as eager to meet men as we are to meet women, and I was the one getting filtered out. The current me holds frame, and doesn’t show weakness so quickly. Here’s the new response. “That’s okay, why don’t you put your number in anyway, for fun. It doesn’t even have to be your real number.” I would hand them the phone, and if you know me, the contact first name is going to say “such beautiful” with cat heart-eyed emojis following. I have yet to receive a fake number. Other “tests” can be more difficult to surpass. Common ones include bringing up age, as exampled, or something like, “I bet you do this to every girl”, or, “how many girls have you hooked up with already?”

If you’re somewhere where people are drinking, a woman will try harder to ensure you aren’t a f*ckboi who gets drunk and tries to hook up with women all the time. Whether or not you are, you must hold frame to show you are a valuable man, and not the low value first impression she would get. Because of this, a woman might insult you, act grossed out, or just be plain rude upon a first approach. Do not fret, and understand that if you hold frame you can change the initial assumption of weakness created by the environment. You can obviously tell when you are being placed under a test when a woman is disrespecting you, but is extremely willing to listen to you. In this case, she is giving you a chance to pass the test. In fact, she wants you to pass the test. She is waiting for the man who proves himself to be strong. Hold frame and you will be okay. Albeit, please do not exceed your boundaries, and be aware of when you really have gotten rejected. A no still means no. Keep trying… again, again, and again Picking up women is a numbers game. Even the best “pick-up artists” get rejected. Overcome the fear of rejection, and just keep trying. If you were to ask every woman on this planet out, I promise one would say yes. There are many other factors, and there is plenty you could do to improve, but there is nothing simpler than playing the numbers game. To further improve your game, practice with women you aren’t even interested in, if not every woman you meet. They don’t need to realize you are practicing on them. Go as far as you need to go to know that you could make it work if you wanted to. For example, the cafeteria lady serving meatloaf was in my hands, though, I wasn’t keen on going forward with that, so I didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong here. I did go forward with the meatloaf, just not with her.

Power By default, women have more power. In the current dating world, women have it easier than men. Women have the abundance of choice. They don’t need to be successful or powerful to attract a mate. Because of social pressures, the burden is placed on men to seek out women, and for women to only let men to come to them. We are placed with the burden of needing to be strong in nature. But men taking on this “burden” do not consider it a burden. It is deeply fulfilling to be a man who puts in the effort and takes responsibility for himself and his own life. The benefit of attracting women is a bonus. Social pressures push men to be strong, however, far too many men are greatly mistaken into believing it is obtaining a woman that demonstrates they are strong, instead of understanding that the strength comes first, within themselves. These men, typically younger and more naïve, put women on such a high pedestal. They need a woman or they feel lonely. They need a woman or they feel insecure. They need a woman to feel meaning, or validation. These feelings are founded on a false belief that having a woman in your life demonstrates strength. In reality, it is the strength that gets the women, not the other way around.

Majority of relationships end due to the woman losing interest. At the same time, majority of men have their woman as their ultimate focus in life. If you don’t have a passion, women can still come, but don’t expect them to stay. Your weak nature will reveal itself if it has gone unnoticed. An aside, a long lasting relationship is very rare. The divorce rate has never been higher. A perfect relationship is non-existent. I believe in the sentiment that a pretty good relationship is good enough, if you are seeking something long-term. Though, I cannot argue it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. But damage control is crucial when seeking to love and love again. Whoever is concerned about losing the other the least has the most power Power in relationships is much more relevant than you would think. As men are often in the position of lower power, they are more concerned of losing her than she is of losing him. This results in the man accommodating to her needs more often than she is to his, and is plainly partaking in an unfair relationship. At this point, it can seem as if I am instructing you not to care about your girlfriend, but that is not the intention. I suggest you give your truest, most genuine love and care. So much so, that if she left you, you wouldn’t care, because you were so good to her that you know it is totally her loss. Going about it in this way saves yourself the deep emotional stress most guys will go through at some point in their lives. What I am laying out in this section is the differentiation between being good to someone, and disrespecting yourself for the sake of someone else.

“No point in missing someone who doesn’t miss you at all so don’t waste your energy ” –Wyatt “ADHD” Beekman Not being as concerned of losing her as she is of losing you also means you don’t need to put up with immaturities like the silent treatment. When you have power, you keep her invested. If you fear she will leave you, I can assure you, she will. For this reason, I highly recommend taking a slow pace while emotionally investing yourself into a woman, for the purpose of maintaining the higher balance of power. In this way, you will actually preserve the relationship, as you will be seen as a strong, independent man and desirable mate.

Getting Over Her and Curing Oneitis Oneitis [one-it-is]: A so-called disease that causes men to believe a particular woman is “the one”. You are so much more than just a woman It is delusional to believe, out of all the 7 billion people on this planet, that she is “the one” for you. If you find yourself constantly trying to prove your worth to someone, you have already forgotten your value. Although HugS is embarrassed by his younger self, he had the right attitude. “Oh god, I just remembered I had a MySpace phase where I changed my name to "Better Off Solo" after this girl I liked was

seeing some other dude. Jesus Christ.” –Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez Women should complement your life, not be your life. If you can’t be happy without a woman, you need to do some inner soul searching. Take my advice on focusing on improving yourself. Life is simple; if you are happy, keep going, if you are not, change it. You cannot choose to find happiness in other people, that is not a sustainable way to live. You must love yourself before you can love someone else.

Once It’s Over; It’s Over Once there is a break up, it’s over. Even if you do get back together, it will end the same way, if not worse. You will always be better off placing energy on new women than reverting back to the old that you feel comfortable with. I understand how difficult it will be at first, but deep down I am sure you know it is the best option as well. After any serious hardship in life, just remember, all things with time. A wise friend told me that.

Thank you for reading, and happy smashing ;)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have learned so much from so many. There is not one person in my life whom I haven’t learned something very valuable from. I have so many people and communities to thank. I will try to keep this short and sweet. I would like to thank my good friend Burt, for informing me of the four levels of competence, which I have extracted so much great thought out of. I would like to thank DKwill, for being such a genuine, honorable and outstanding character to have as inspiration. I would like to thank TanTaco, for designing an excellent book cover, and for always being there for me. I would like to thank the following YouTube Channels for keeping me so mindful: Improvement Pill, Entrepreneurs in Cars, Beefy Smash Doods, PragerU, School of Life, and Illacertus. I would like to thank the authors of the following readings for excellently articulating meaningful life matters: Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, Neil Strauss’s The Game, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, Aaron Clarey’s Bachelor Pad Economics, and Rollo Tomasi’s The Rational Male. I would like to thank r/GetMotivated (Reddit) and Momentum (Google Chrome Extension) for sending positivity and encouragement my way on a daily basis. Lastly, I would like to thank you, the Smash community. You have always had my back. I don’t know where I would be without you. I am so thankful for every single person I have met in the Smash community, be it on SmashBoards, All is Brawl, /r/smashbros or in real life. I have a countless amount of fond memories with you all. Here’s to many more.