How League of Legends helped me realize my work ethic

I am not the best League of Legends player. Not by a long shot. I have two accounts in neither of which I have reached level 30. For those that might not know – that is the level cap in League. After that you get to what is the meat of the game. What does that have to do with how I approach work? Quite a lot as it turns out.

I always had issues with how I approached things and how I carried them out. I knew I did but it was a little difficult to take a step back to analyze what it is that I did wrong. However, in League all my stats were tracked and I had a ‘coach’. When I played I always did so in teams. Whether it was on friend or many – I preferred teamwork. But a peculiar type of teamwork at that. I always played as a Carry, someone who carries their team through the game, but I did so in a way where I just supported my friends. In those games I had lackluster results. Starting with me having nothing but the most basic items to such things as having the least amount of kills in the game. But my assist count was off the charts. When I played alone though I found that my results were better. A lot better. But I didn’t enjoy it. So I made small changes to how I played the game when with friends. I took charge and organized how we split minion kills (our main source of income in-game), and how and when we attack. The result was a series of all-around good games. Now, I described how I played the game but what does that have to do with the title of the article?

The result was a series of all-around good games.

I started noticing parallels with how I deal with tasks in real life. I prefer working in groups but when I do I often end up neglecting my own work in favor of bettering theirs. I always choose a role in which I’ll be helping whatever project I’m on move along but I often didn’t see things through to the end. I decided I’ll try and use the practices I used in-game to better my work in real life. As a test I chose to apply my new approach with my university study group. The results were rather astounding – at the end of this year we’ve had the smallest number of drop-outs in the whole course. We did lose a few people. But they were the ones who didn’t bother ever coming to the university. Everyone who became a part of our small group stayed. We helped one another get trough all the difficulties. Many times over I motivated my new friends to put in just a little more effort so that they could carry on. I reminded them that we weren’t too far from victory. And sure enough, we’ve reached our first victory – passing the year and being able to go on to the next. Essentially – winning this ‘game’.

There is something you can take out of this. Look at how you behave in games – examine what choices you make and what paths you choose. If you’re not doing too well just take a step back and see how you can fix whatever’s wrong. Look at a guide or a walktrough. Understand what the issue was. And once all that is said and done – see how you can use whatever you learned to help yourself become better at what is causing you trouble in life. I guarantee – you’ll be able to learn something useful!