WWWwwelp. I lost. 4-5. I was up 4-1 at one point and then I blew it. I watched the replay. I started deviating from the game plan. In the matches leading up to the end I fell back to bad habits. Random Ex.Peach, not low profiling the drop kick with cr.mk, getting baited into the corner. All that jazz.

We live to fight another day. It’s not about how hard you hit though, it’s about how hard you can take a hit and get back up. So I ask myself these simple questions: How are you going to respond to this? Will you learn this time?

My plan

Cultivate and practice better habits that become second nature to me. What I am currently practicing is not setting me up for how I want to grow as a SFV player at all. So:

• Stop mashing 3 frame buttons to bail me out of situations
• Start being aware of adaptations and develop a new plan (by asking myself questions like how am I taking damage? How am I dealing damage? What will the opponent do in this situation that have already been in?)
• Be patient by avoiding large movements (such as dash up grab/3f) when my health is below 20%.

2 biggest lessons from last night:

• Frame data isn’t everything. But it sure does help.
• Probably the biggest lesson over all though is from the moment I remembered a story in the second round of the game where the score was 4-4, where I’m looking at the opponents 100% health bar versus my 25%:

The Boiling Frog

The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of sinister threats that arise gradually rather than suddenly.

Adaptation and awareness is key. The journey continues!