How to be Awesome!

Look around you. Whether it is your workplace, the hawker center, the World of Warcraft, how often have you encountered people that are mindblowingly awesome? By awesome, I mean they are so absolutely breathtakingly amazing that you wonder how they achieved their level of skill. This could be the hawker that produces amazing world class char kuey teow, your coworker who seems to have infinite energy and can do the work of five men, or your healer that can keep everyone alive even despite overwhelming odds.

Today, I am going to focus on just one specific topic: How to be Awesome in the World of Warcraft. Most average raiders do the following: they read guides online, then they practice them in raids. This is a technique that gives you okay and decent performance. If you are happy with being average, then by all means, carry on with whatever you are already doing. But it probably will not make you into a super awesome raider. Why do I say that? Let's use an example that many of us can relate to better. 

Maria Sharapova is one of the best tennis players in the world. Now, can you imagine her reaction when her coach tells her this. Okay, I have a new technique to teach you. I will tell you how to do it now, and you will immediately use it tomorrow during your big match. 

It would be suicide for her to attempt to master and use a new technique immediately in an important match. She will probably practice a technique thousands of times before considering using it in an actual match. 

Now, let's talk about World of Warcraft. Raids are chaotic and messy, especially when you are trying them out for the first time. In a raid, raiders are often so preoccupied with sooooo many other things that they seldom have to chance to truly focus on their dps rotation. Furthermore, raids are rather random, in that boss abilities target different people every pull. This means that it is hard for you to really practice a dps rotation because the situation changes almost every time. 

In order to get better at something, you have to practice it in a controlled environment and you have to do it again and again. Repetition is the mother of skill. Only when you have internalised a technique (through lots of practice), can you truly use it effectively in a real raid. 

To get better, you have to do three things: 

1.) Practice the skill in an isolated and controlled environment (target dummy) 

2.) You have to repeat it again and again until you get it right. You must know the skill so well that you no longer have to think consciously about it (just like driving, for example)

Trying to "practice" in a raid is a bad idea because you cannot focus with fire flying all around you. Mostly likely, you will get it wrong in an actual raid if you are doing it for the first time. In other words, raiders that "practice" in a raid are practicing how to fail. 

3.) 

It's not enough to practice until you get it right. 
Practice until you can't get it wrong.