Comparing yourself to others

[mc]

zac, that video is an absolute treasure and should be watched by every new player joining the game. Thanks for the post.

His one far osis looks really really similar to his far osis today!

David is the king.

[Zac Miley]

Ok, well what I'm saying is, David sucked just like all of us. He played soccer before he started playing hack, which may have helped. He played a lot (A LOT) and got better than everyone else. He does not have the natural ability or body type of Vasek, but he's arguably just as good.

So yeah, you probably won't be as good as David ever, but no one ever expected David to be as good as he is.

And to bring it back around to the actual topic, David compared himself to others and it helped him.

[Matt K]

David is also much harder on himself than any other player I've met. You have to take into consideration what you want out of the sport. If you want to enjoy it more times than not, you have to accept that you're not going to be the best. If you want to be the best, you have to accept that you're rarely going to be satisfied with what you can do.

I think comparing yourself with friends who are close to your level is a fun way to push each other. Like Zac said, we talk about what we can do on a daily basis. Both of us play solo about 90% of the time, and it helps to keep you motivated and give you direction.

[mc]

Comparing yourself to others and letting it inspire and motivate you to get better at what you love is a good thing.

Comparing yourself to others and feeling down about it because you don't think you're good enough is a bad thing.

Comparing yourself to others and feeling down about it because you want to be better, harnessing that negativity, and allowing it to fuel you to work harder is a good thing.

[Corey]

Whoa! Just a flurry of annswers.

Honestly, I am super critical of my game. I doubt David Clavens tops me in that category. I would never compare myself to him. Our games our too different. I was taking moves that I do and comparing them to the best in the world at that move. With that being said I have been playing 7.5 months with a massive injury splitting that time in half. 9 months seperating the two and I think I am at a reasonable level. Dave was not superhuman! Mobius after 6 months is good not godly.(not calling him out just saying but being able to hit mobius on commmand is different) If Vasek hit pdx mirage, butterfly, and osis his first day with no hacky sack then he is superhuman.
In the past 5 days or so I have stopped comparing myself and honestly I have been playing so well. Comparing yourself to others is the worst thing you can do. On the other hand using it for inspiration is awesome. Seeing somebody who has been playing as long as I have post moves is cool. The difference between his atomic and my arctic moves is just massive to make a conparison. Also making a comparison between somebody that did the same moves as you in the past is dumb.

I can go on forever on this but i will stop.

edit 2: Roy, certainly working smart plays a huge part. Milan will probably not have to fix his form because he was taught by Honza and Vasek while somebody else may have to. Certainly Milan put in tons of time but he had an obvious luxury that some kid in Iceland does not have. There are thousands of subtleties like this. Not everything is hard work...but it is most of it.

[PoisonTaffy]

Yep, smart practice definitely is an important factor.
When I studied Aikido, we were a group of people who trained the same way for the same amount of time, and not two people reached the same level. At extreme cases of talent and lack of talent, the difference can be huge. Talent can be thought of as the combination of factors that account for that difference, when all other, easy to spot factors have been counted for.

[abstract]

watching / playing with players who are stronger than yourself is always the greatest way to make strides in your own game.

we learn from the mistakes of others so we do not stumble along an already trodden path. plus, they hit badass shit that i want to see.

playing at your own pace while acknowledging lessons from your peers is the way to roll, imo.

eg. recent session with dante, who is a more talented player than myself--first session with him getting back to kingston. trying to keep up with his intensity, i played far below my ability. our session last night, i took my time with every string & made sure i was playing at my level consistently & had a far more satisfying & progressive session.

segregating my style from my peers gave me a greater appreciation for the unique qualities of their games as well.

[Muffinman]

David is also much harder on himself than any other player I've met.

Have you ever met Jay Boychuk? Just asking....