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This is a great post, and I think you often tend to see that kind of humility in top competitors -- especially athletes. I remember a guy in my social circle ba
by dvt 6y ago
This is a great post, and I think you often tend to see that kind of humility in top competitors -- especially athletes. I remember a guy in my social circle back at UCLA was an Olympic discus thrower: extremely talented, hard-working, gifted, and intimidating. One of the most humble, respectful, and down-to-earth people. He spoke with great reverence of the sport and his competitors and teammates. My sister's boyfriend was an Olympic-level swimmer and he has the same exact attitude.
From my own experience playing Counter-Strike at world-class levels, I found that, generally speaking, the best players were the most humble and down-to-earth; the ones that talked shit were not only bad teammates, but sub-par players in general. These days, I'm much better than the average Joe at first-person-shooters, but I always point out that I'm actually pretty bad: I'd get easily beaten even by mid-tier semi-pro teams. Interestingly, this is a side-effect of our human brain not quite grasping exponential growth (or log scales). Going from the 95th to the 96th percentile is much harder than going from the 50th to the 85th.
- anonymousDan 6y agoOn the other hand I've just been watching the last dance on Netflix and Jordan talked shit non-stop :)
- selestify 6y agoWhy do you think this correlation between top-tier skill and humility exists?
- abcc8 6y agoIt may be that those who would trash talk or incessantly complain aren't focusing as much on how they can improve their performance?
- dvt 6y agoI think that those highly skilled communities tend to be very small and very tight-knit. So there's quite a bit of self-selection that happens: no one wants to train with someone that constantly talks trash or complains.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- toss1 6y agoI'd say there's several factors working in the same direction At the very top levels, everyone has very close to the same level of preparation in terms of physical training, equipment, and mental preparation. A lot of the result comes down to your mental edge on a particular day, and some luck. The mental edge is the most fickle and difficult part of the skill set, yet it is virtually everything at the top. So, everyone recognizes that they may have an on or an off day. Recognition that just in general, a position at the top is fragile, and it is not about your previous result, but your next result, which is uncertain. Recognition that your competitors are also extremely good and prepared, and respect for them also leads to humility. Then, even if they've got multiple world championship seasons under their belt, they see the context of the other greats in their sport (or similar in their field). The post-qualifying and post-race interviews in Formula 1 auto racing often provide great examples. The top qualifiers will almost always say something like: "we qualified well, we think we're prepared, and hope for a good result tomorrow.". And after winning the race, it's about the team effort and the way things fell into place to make the win. I can't recall hearing anything resembling trash-talk in that environment.
- boring_twenties 6y agoIs it even possible to achieve top-tier skill without humility? To improve in the skill, you first need to know and accept that there is an improvement to be had, i.e. that you haven't already mastered it.