Back in my high school years, I used to train in competitive programming intensively. However, I made little progress and eventually failed to realize my dream (of becoming a gold medalist in Chinese NOI). I've done some self-reflections these days and want to give some suggestions to the new CPers in this community.

1. Don't compare yourself to others. Please always choose the training method that fits you best. For example, you may find yourself bad at solving constructive problems (like me lol) while some of your peers can solve them with ease. That's not the end of the world! The difference between you and them is probably just a fair amount of practice. And, you may have some advantages you did not even realize, too. Remember, everyone's way of success is different. Don't lose confidence!

2. Don't always look at the editorials. I used to solve a lot of hard problems (e.g div1EF) in high school. However, I didn't make any improvement at all by doing so. The reason behind this is that I was always impatient and almost never solved any of them by thinking independently. The process of thinking about a problem greatly helps to train your mind and is an indispensable part of training. If you are a new CPer, I would suggest you look at the editorials of the problem only when you don't know about the algorithms/data structures needed.

3. Don't cheat. When I was in high school, I used to discuss problems with others during the contest. I feel deeply ashamed about this even to this day. Bear in mind that rating is just a number, and you are here in this community to LEARN something!

Several months ago, I completely abandoned my old account and started to practice step by step with this new account. After 12 contests, I finally reached purple in last week's div2 contest. I clearly understand that this cannot even be called an "achievement" to some talented programmers. However, I still feel great because I know that I solved every problem in the contest by myself, and that makes me proud! Moreover, I gained confidence because I realized that I can also solve problems that I used to fear just with an appropriate way to practice!

I hope this post will give some insights to new CPers. And finally, about myself, I wish I could just be like my account name: See you guys in the ICPC World Final!