An Elephant's Guide to Systematic Improvement

Let me preface this thread by saying it is not a "follow these steps and you'll be gold in no time!" kind of thread. I will outline the key ways to improve your game play through introspection and self evaluation.

edit: there is a tl;dr down at the bottom

We all have flaws, that is part of us being human. In order to improve yourself, you need to target what things are being done optimally, and what things aren't. be prepared for a small book. A good take away from all this is that improvement isn't you getting better at something, it is you correcting your own sub-optimal behavior.

The System----------------------------------------------------------------

Identify- Every minute of every game you've ever played, your brain follows a set order of operations to direct you and more directly, your champion. This being said, the first step is identifying elements, everything from who is playing what to the smallest particle. You identify simply by having your attention being focused to something. This concept sounds simple enough, but our brain has a way of becoming blind to information like this due to the sheer volume of information being thrown at us. A great example of this is during team fights. One of the most critical points in a game is also the one people tend to be the most blind to. When there are 10 champions, all acting independently, it gets overwhelming to many players because their brain does not comprehend the information being provided fast enough to make educated choices in the moment.

The reason this is important, and how to use this information:

Everyone, no matter what rank, should recognize that improving their ability to comprehend information during the game is a great way to be slightly better, and make slightly better decisions. That being said, I have found that I have improved this by being deliberate in the information that I choose to take in. What this nonsensical garble means is that I actively look for pieces of information to pay attention to. This keeps your brain actively engaged in the game and processing the information at a slightly better rate the longer you practice this. For example, when I adc, I don't just zone out, cs, and look for openings to all in. I have decided to regularly and specifically look at pieces of information while laning, and as a result, I have gotten a little better. I look at enemy hp, both current and max values, I look at their level, their cs, kda, and even their mana. every piece of this tells me something useful. their cs is high "better focus on farm, they might be mechanically better than me" look at their mana "oh hey! they have very low mana! if we engage right now we'll definitely win a trade!" the list goes on, and it is obvious information, but if you don't look at it and identify it, then there is no way you can make any conclusions or decisions about it.

The next step:

processing the information- With this mountain of information now coming in, the next part of the system is to take it and make sense of it. It is by far the most subjective portion of this system, but simply understanding the fundamentals of how people deal with information and make decisions allows you to more directly correct bad behavior and as a result, get better. We process information in LoL the same way we do in life. We look for any result to be more beneficial than another, and make choices based on what we want and expect the outcome to be.

how to make sense of this (or process it ;D):

This step is the hardest to improve, simply because people generally don't think about how they are thinking, however idiotic that sounds. Just as teeth can't bite themselves, brains tend to avoid self-awareness due to what is called (if I remember right..?) cognitive dissonance, where what we believe to happen and what actually happens are in conflict. Your brain doesn't want to think it is incorrect, but in order to improve your processing, you need to accept that what you believe to be true... very well might not be. Many people associate this concept with peoples' egos getting in the way, and in a sense, that is exactly what is happening, but on a subconscious level. Even when trying to analyze what went wrong, you have to ask yourself, did what I believe at the time end up being correct? A great application of this is when you die. It happens to everyone, so take the time during your death to retrace your steps and identify what led you to the situation where you died, and identify why you died. No one aside from trolls want to die, so why did you believe what you were doing wouldn't lead your to death? Living and not getting a kill is almost ALWAYS more beneficial than dying and getting a kill. Minimizing your deaths through post-death analysis of your less than ideal decision making will help you make more informed decisions in the future.

The final step:

Executing your decisions:

After you take the time to identify as much as you can, as fast as you can, and then deciding what would lead to the best outcome through processing that information, it is time to execute your decisions. The reason this is important on more than just a mechanical standpoint is pretty simple. If you can't take a lot of information in, and you only process it a little bit, you'll make ill informed decisions that may or may not pan out. A great example of this can be found in bronze players, (and people in silver V, i know, I am silver V, i'm no god) Many people in bronze throw simply because they try to identify, process and execute in a quick time frame when their ability to do so is not good enough. For example, johnny is playing garen top against teemo, and johnny sees teemo's hp is low, he then decides, I better kill him quick before he escapes! he then chases teemo too far, takes some turret damage, and dies to poison and hidden mushrooms when trying to retreat to the bushes. I could think of 100 more examples, but in this scenario, the garen only took into account the hp of the enemy, because he felt pressured to decide before he had gathered enough information to make a sound decision.

how to improve your execution:

this step is simply the end result of what you put into making your decisions as well as the ability to make what you want to happen, happen. I have found that people in this game tend to rush into the execute phase FAR too quickly, and a a result, they make MANY MANY mistakes. I have since taken this to heart and made a concerted effort to slow down my decision making time in order to take more information in prior to making a decision. A great way to do this is during laning phase. You have hundreds of bits of information at your disposal, and you should use every bit that you can to your advantage. During laning phase, things should happen at a more manageable pace, and because of this, you will be able to exploit more advantages and get ahead. What I have been doing recently is paying attention to minions more, they are very useful to force a favorable trade, and also good information to avoid bad trades. This is why excessive all-ining can lead to such a detriment, because you didn't realize 250 of the damage done to you was caused by minions. I slowly acquire information about the current status of everything in lane, and then I process the best way to get ahead in this situation, and then finally, I wait for the opportune moment to execute my plan.

Think of execution kind of like the strike of a golf ball after a wind-up. Yes the moment that the head of the driver makes contact with the ball is important, but the factors leading up to that point truly determine the outcome of the event.

you can hit a golf ball square on the face of the driver, but if your wind up and follow through are super wonky, you are definitely not going to hit a very good shot.

TL;DR- though you should read all of this, I will make a summary for you guys.

identify- pay attention to as much as possible and deliberately try to identify information process- use that information to make a decision as to what the best result would be, you can and will be wrong sometimes, so admit it and try to improve yourself for next time. execution- take your time with the first 2 steps in order to maximize your end result. People tend to act before they think, and even if they execute their decision mechanically perfect, it can go wrong because not every key factor was considered.

I live by the philosophy of "work smart, not hard" because it always makes you try to choose the best way of doing things before you do them. This should be applied to league "play smart, not hard"

I hope this mega long thread helps at least one person.....