Having a Good B-Game

Your A-Game is the peaks of your performance. It happens at times: weather, nutrition, mental state, stress, and tons of other factors line up for prime performance output. It’s a lovely feeling to be at your best. It’s also incredibly unreliable.

I’ve watched and played too much Counter Strike in my life (do not play the game - it will hurt you) - and I believe there are lessons to be learned in the competitive cesspool that it is. What that game, and many other systems and people value is consistency. You can be judged for your peaks - if you were consistently good enough to show them off. Your troughs and failures frequently even things out. Figuring out how and where to improve is frequently a nightmare infinite task. Whether or not to further focus in on what is already a strong point, or to shore up weaknesses. Depending on the kind of weakness, many are quick to fix, some harder - but generally making less mistakes than your competition will put you in a good spot. Look for the obvious holes in your walls that must be repaired, and repair them - they are frequently just as obvious to your competition.

Your B-game is for when things aren’t working out as planned. You’ve shored up as best you can, but you are competing right now. What can I do that will be impactful, least detrimental, most useful currently while I’m performing at a lower output than normal? Recognizing that things aren’t working, adapting, and doing what you can. The better your B-game is - how well you perform at your worst - the more chances you’ll have for your A game to show.

People frequently focus on the lows and highs. Simple fix: make your lows better.

You will make stupid mistakes. You will get ground up and spat out. You will have to keep fighting and improving, for your own sake if nothing else. And eventually you may notice that your B-game can beat someone else’s A-game. It’s a good feeling.

It’s really easy to tell you to do it. It’s a process!