Hey Diaphone, this is random but I'm the person you played a bunch of stepmania with a Frosty's. To keep it short I wasn't having the best time there but the long stepmania set was one of the big highlights of the weekend for me. You slay at that game and Keep up the great content!

Apply the Marriage Buff, Career Buff, Health Buff, Mental Buff, and you can beat the NEET Tier characters

As a 16 year old who competes at a high level in strive, while also dealing with harder classes in school, I felt that I improved much more when I played strive after finishing any work, rather than before, since I no longer had the thought of doing it anymore. I had way too much free time, and would usually grind right as I got back from school, but I got burned out really quickly cause half the times I played I felt no reason or purpose for me playing at the time. I think another important thing is knowing when you should play, for me, if im not having fun or not motivated anymore, I just instantly hop off This is just a bit of my experience tho! you pointed out a lot of things that I used to do in the past lol

I have a job, I'm going to college for a STEM degree and I have a girlfriend. I think I play Strive like once a week for a solid two hours. I don't get much practice but I feel better playing the game. During the summer when I would play a lot more, I realized I was very flowcharty and reluctant to try new things because I just wanted to win. Now I'm always trying new combos, and set ups I've never done before. I may not be winning as much, but I'm doing cooler things during the match that makes me feel like I'm still getting better.

Excellent video. I'm 39 with a wife and kid and it's definitely tricky to put a good amount of time in . It certainly doesn't help that Strive is the first game I've gotten serious about playing against other people with XD. It's definitely been a bit of an unpleasant realisation that the time I put into FGs before (Which wasn't massive anyway due to fluctuating interests, etc) wasn't really that useful since I was mostly just playing against the AI, etc (Which is not to say I didn't have fun but it's only when I started getting more serious with Strive that I realised how little I knew).

This is such a good video. I'm 27, with a full time job, studying programming and japanese and oh boy it's difficult to balance all that while trying to make new habits like exercise and playing fighting games (I really love FG but here in Argentina the scene is non existent). The point is: your video really helped understand that I'm not the only one busy doing many things and you showed me that even whit all the things you do, you still achieve top places in tournament, and that's really inspiring! Hope you have a great day man, keep doing what you do.

I am 29 with a career in Information Technology. I work 9-5 (M-F). I work out Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I don't compete too often, but yeah I love this video. Because it touches on other areas of your life, if your happy in other areas your mental will be healthier in whatever avenue you pursue.

Hi Mr. Phone. This video really talks to my soul right now. I've been struggling to build my own channel between my job and college, only really grinding during the breaks between semesters. I'm realizing that I'm expecting the wrong type of pace from myself when it comes to my hobbies. Hearing you say you only play FGs for an hour a day makes it feel like I could condense my time in my games and video essay writing in that way too. It feels good that you didn't lean into that motivation aspect, the "if you want it you gotta go do it!!" spiel that I think gets thrown around too much. You're really down to earth about it and I'll try to remember that as I consider how I want to spend my time.

mr diaphone this is a lifesaver for me. thank you so much.

It’s important knowing in a sense the game doesn’t end when you turn it off. You gotta do things like you stated and take care of yourself and things outside of the game to be better for it or whatever the case may be. You’re an inspiration and I can only hope to impact others the way you do. Keep up the great work.

Anybody with a job and a life who's trying to excel at just about any skill-based activity outside of work should see this video.

some good life advice in general diaphone! I don't know if i'll compete at all anytime soon (maybe I'll start in SF6) but gonna for sure just remind myself about these for other hobbies and for things like the gym. thanks again for the vid and keep up the great work

My average work day is 10-12 hours 5 days a week . They easily go up to 13-14 Fighting off the fatigue ( I do a labor job ) carving out some time to work out and have another extra hobby (jiu jitsu) I found is so important . Your focus after extremely increased . But it’s doing the irl stuff and still having time to play that I find to be an issue . Also I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone in the fgc reference the Pareto principle before , so that was cool

Amazing video! Even the thumbnail is great “Lofi diaphone combos to study to”🤣

This is an excellent video. It is really nice to hear how a person who competes at a high level who also lives a more "normal" life is able to compete at that level while still doing everything else needed in life. Normal as in not a full time streamer, rich family, unlmited time to game etc.

Hey Diaphone! Like you, I'm also a corporate slave and a competitive fighting game player (albeit not as successful as you). I found you through Strive and are not a big fan of any of the characters you play so far. BUT I am a big fan of you precisely because of how effectively you manage your time and how successful you are juggling them. I've always been really curious as to how you have been doing it because I am still struggling to find that balance and I do want to be successful competitively like you as well. Every time I'm discouraged in improving, I always remembered that there are people like you who managed to find this balance so I kept on going again. Thank you for this video and elaborating on how you juggle all these things. Keep on inspiring and know that you have impacted my life.

Honestly I needed this video. Most people I wanna beat in my local are so ahead of me, I try to get as many games as possible.

Solid and this is really important with improving at anything (art, gaming, coding, whatever). Deliberate practice is the key. Even like former SC2 worldchamp Serral once said that he plays the game about 2 hours a day and SC2 is his career. Very cool to hear your personal situation and how you approach competing and enjoying yourself.

as someone who’s putting this into practice, you truly gave good info. And a lotta people dont realize how irl affects their learning

Love the personal content, more of this is great. The game outside the game matters the most. Cheers and thanks for the motivation, gonna go back to applying to grad school now.

Thank you for this video! I work between 10 and 12h every day and sometimes it's so difficult to find the time to play and enjoy fgs as well as try making videos for them. I was trying to juggle a billion things at once and found myself sleeping between 3~5 hours (including weekends) cause I was trying to cram as much stuff as possible into every day. It eventually caught up to me and everything took a hit. I remember when I first started playing FGs about 10 years ago, I barely had any time due to school and I played about 1h every day at most, but I still managed to improve, catch up and reach "tournament level" at my main game at the time (SF4) Learning to take it slower is surprisingly difficult but hearing you say that sorting out irl stuff is important helps. Anyways, I'm rambling now, love your stuff Diaphone, wishing you the best!

this is SUCH valuable info, everyone in the FGC should watch this!! thank you for sharing this perspective. gonna apply this asap!

Hey Diaphone! I'm currently working to become an accountant and I'm pretty new to fighting games! I appreciate the insight. I've had a few times where I've second guessed the characters I play because I felt like I'm not good enough to perform but seeing you perform well as I-No in the past and Bridget now have been very encouraging. My work-life balance is very important to me and it has been hard lately because schoolwork has sort of taken over but I'm starting to bounce back! Thank you for this video, I'm going to keep working and I'm hoping to attend my first in-person fighting game tournament later this year. Rock on!

needed to hear this, will take this knowledge going forward thank you for this 🤝

FINALLY finished watching this. Great video and great points. We follow a lot of the same practices with the work life balance and decompressing

This is great advice, thanks for making it!

seriously tho mr diagonal phone this video has been super helpful i'm in an odd situation where i'm living off of mobile data, and we all know fighting games over that is pain. i got about 2-3 days of the week i can grind in strive. but now u made me realize i gotta pareto principle the crap out of the time i'm in strive so even without neet-level hour dumping i can still semi improve. it isn't help that i'm trying to transition away from hitbox to dpads, but if i identify what specifically i need to target and improve, then i can do that even with limited time. thank you again mr phone

4:39 this is my main takeaway for me. I learned that "grinding", in a sense that playing too much without clear goals in mind is not going to yield the optimal result, and usually going on your own pace with a set of goals and consistent schedule (although lesser game time each day) is more effective. You get to do your full-time job/school, avoid burnout and excessive tiredness, and improve your life quality altogether. It's changed my life and I hope more people would realize this as well.

This was nice to listen to. Thanks for sharing!

Going from college to fulltime job cut my daily play from around 5 hours to 2 hours. Somehow though in 2023 my improvement was lowkey cracked. I never got burnt out, had more confidence, and was deliberate with my time.

Super solid video, some of the tips regarding time management may seem obvious at a glance but I resonate too much with issues of not having a steady schedule and getting heavily invested with whatever thing I’m currently doing only to drop it not long after. I do think it ultimately comes down to if you’re able to steadily adopt that mindset rather than there really being any secret tricks, and this video has really helped to reinforce my own. Hoping I can do the same with my own content creation!

This was really great to listen to and hear

Dude, I'm shocked you said you struggled with presentations. All your videos are clear, concise, and way more professional than others, I feel. Great video and hope you make more like this!

Amazing video. I kinda fell of in cardio and have just been lifting and getting fat since I started playing fighting games last year. This video has motivated me to run more than any workout motivation video.

Lovely life advice. Much love

Exercise and sleep are really so huge for FG success!

This is a cool idea for a video, fgc needs more of this stuff instead of just zoomed in faces over replays

Thanks for putting this out here. My IRL is in a great place.

100% agree with everything your saying here. Keeping your priorities straight and knowing how to make use of deliberate/intense practice is much better then mindless grinding hours of games.

Great content, keep it up man 👍

I think my biggest barrier is that I'm not sure if I want to commit to really getting good at fighting games. I'm good enough to win a few matches in tournament against very competent players, but not sure if I'm really willing to commit the effort it takes to reaching that next level, especially since I'm also working on my master's as well as other interests (and trying to get a semblance of exercise back into my life) Perhaps I'll make myself to a routine and see how far that takes me

felt a little called out when Diaphone said how many people use video games to procrastinate when doing assignments but I have been trying to manage my time to make more time to practice Fighting games, but this video did have some good tips/points really liked it, helped me sort some things out.

rich, adult diaphone giving rich, adult advice ya love to see it

banger video diaphone!

My man lord dia just SPITTING truth

I always tell people, it is a hobby. You can go hard in it but make sure to have your life in order

this is an amazing video

insane grindset

This is a great video

fun video diaphone!

Tbh I started playing fighting games only like 2 months ago and although i've been doing fairly well in university, it taught me a few things on grit and keeping morale up when tasks get exponentially difficult. I've been able to apply these lessons to most areas of my life for the better i think. I also learned to look back in the past and see that i still suck but damn do i suck less than i used to LOL

Saw the thumbnail and immediately thought "what did the lowfi beat girl do to make diaphone want to throw hands"

interesting vid topic man

W content

my goat

Goat

Having turned 30 last year, this is. Uh. Yeah. This is a good fucking video.

TIMER MANAGEMENT

Me everytime i try to practice a fighting game and try to learn i have a friend who play mostly fighting soon as he see me on tryna practice it’s let’s play and i get wreck everytime which leads me to stay away from fighting games for a min

For a frame of reference - May I ask/does anyone know how old Diaphone is? This video was just what I needed to hear.

I have been trying to do this, but fighting games feel like a 2nd job if you want to play them competitively. I feel like i have to lab and train at all times which kind of ruined the fun of fighting games for me.

Lofi girl pog

a master's in industrial hygiene? no wonder this man washed a whole tourney with Sin

How I balance it is that I procrastinate all my schoolwork and play ladder in strive

Idk how y’all do it. Shit’s impossible

That's amazing that you can really do all these while still having a full-time career. You can still even workout everyday also! you really are my hero! However, I know exactly what you need to sacrifice for all that. A girlfriend.

I feel like wife is definitely easier than gf when it comes to having time but I have no reasons for why and I'm not married lol

Watch owner content