TsundereMagic's blog

How to overcome post-contest depression?
By TsundereMagic, history, 3 years ago, In English

How do you recover mentally after a terrible contest?

I've seen people suggesting to stop caring about rating, and that rating is simply "meaningless internet points", but it's rather hard to not care when you watch the results of your efforts crumble away due to your own incompetence. Perhaps my performance is shit because I am shit, and I've simply been lucky to have performed better thus far. It sometimes hurts to even look at some contests' problems because of the pain they've inflicted upon me.

How do you deal with these feelings?

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Comments Comments (18)
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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +15 Vote: I do not like it

Hah, Imagine being a Liverpool fan right now.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

Take it as fun

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

this is how i do.

i see my rating graph once in a month. emotion is hard to control but you can control your behavior.

after poor contest, i just analyzes my mistake, weaknesses and do upsolving and hope for improvement.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Care about rating. Use the pain of losing rating to push you to regain it and then gain some more. What you shouldn't think about is single round performance, be that really good or really bad. If you perform really well one round and it's above your actual level, just know next round you'll probably lose some of that rating. Same for performing bad one round, you'll lose a bunch, but quickly regain it. Rating will always follow your skill. Use a bad round as an opportunity to see where you need to improve.

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3 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +33 Vote: I do not like it

Your perspective on rating points seems to me a false dichotomy.

I wouldn't consider them "meaningless internet points", since they certainly are quite a meaningful measure of your performance/abilities, and as such they can serve as a valuable source of feedback. It's pretty fun to try and estimate what your innate/baseline performance is, what effect certain lifestyle factors have on your performance, or how significant and long-lasting the effects of different modes of practice you had tried earlier turn out to be. And of course for you to be able to infer "XYZ seems to be harmful/not very useful" you typically need both peaks and valleys in your rating graph.

On the other hand, it feels counterproductive to consider rating gains as the "result of your efforts". Other valuable results include the fun (and sometimes pride) you experience while solving problems, intellectual stimulation (the benefits of which almost certainly spill over into other areas of life), participation in a community etc.

There is a lot of depth in the evolution of this simple number, and I think it's a good idea to commit to participating in contests, and then to look at the rating change simply to try and realistically understand what it's telling you, and if your expectations clash with reality, you have thus learned something new about yourself and things you have tried.

On a final note, you may feel bad when you lose rating, but if you keep climbing you might feel more and more anxiety every contest, since not only do you have to match your earlier performances, but surpass them.

All in all, it's a matter of perspective — you could just as well be proud of moments of high rating, and rejoice when your rating falls, since it'll be easier to have a positive delta in the next contest. :)

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +9 Vote: I do not like it

    Wow. I can't help but smile while reading this, your insights were completely spot on. Thank you.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -29 Vote: I do not like it

Do CP on 2-3 different websites(CF,CC,AC). Even if you are low on one you'd be good on atleast one. I've fallen from 5* to 3* but was good on CF. Also fallen from 1700 to 1500 on CF but was good on CC.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Just think like that after a terrible contest you have a better chance to raise your rating faster
in the next contest as the same performance will increase the lower-rated person more than a higher rated person. And it has a great taste when you will see you are rising again.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Just think about something else that is worse, for example, the stock portfolio losing half of its value in the last few weeks.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

There is a good video by grandmaster galen_colin : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfUxtnJ0CaY&t=1s

It's really very good. I have watched it only 3-4 times till now and now I never feel demotivated.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

Accumulate your ratings for a set of contests and see whether you have improved man.For example, you might want to take a set of 5 contests always and based on the net increase or decrease you might want to work harder!! Hope it helps.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

if you get depressed just because of doing CP, then stop doing it. It is supposed to be fun.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

have a pre-contest depression instead

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +19 Vote: I do not like it

A friend sent this to me once, and I think it applies here.

Variance

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