osu is really just a brain trainer. It teaches you about failure, pressure, jealousy, self-doubt, and self-discipline. I've learned so much about myself by clicking circles.

A big tip I can give people is to not focus on results. Improvement is most of the time slow, and humans are not perfect. If you focus on how bad you are playing one day, it can lead to anger, disappointment, or loss of motivation. If your goal is to only FC or play extremely well every single time you log onto osu, you are overestimating your own skills. Instead you should focus on playing maps that will help you IMPROVE your skillset. When you focus on improvement (not focus on rank, misses, sliderbreaks, or just being bad) you now understand that you CAN improve. You will be a lot less angry at the game because if you focus on improving your aim, tapping, stamina or whatever, then accuracy and misses are just numbers to you. And that’s how osu should be. A fun rhythm game. So don’t be too hard on yourself, and focus on playing maps that will challenge your skillsets (jump aim, flow aim, tapping streams, stamina, speed etc.) If you want to be less angry when playing then don’t be hard on yourself and also don’t bash yourself if you are playing bad some days because it happens.

tbh this is exactly what ive been needing and i have been trying to improve my mindset not really knowing where to start so i hope this helps thank you

woah. that lowering your standards to top 100 plays everyday is singlehandedly gonna revive my osu carreer. i love you polars, you're the best osu improvement content out there currently

This video really did make me realise that I was setting the bar way too high for myself. Always trying to get a top 10 every session, which like said in the video is really not something to be worried about. Really helpful video!

For me, taking a break was really helpful in resetting my mindset. After I came back from the break I started playing longer maps with streams (something I never did before regurarly), and the improvement was really big, even with like 300 plays a month still, I'm getting some really good scores on long maps, almost top play level stuff. (To clarify, around 90% of my top 100 is TV size farm.)

usually the little things are ignored when talking about improvement like how you're feeling, how sleep deprived are you, how hydrated you are and so on, everything plays it's own role. Always try to be in a certain "state" before playing osu. Taking myself as an example, I always wash my hands before playing the game, having something like a routine also puts you into the proper mindset where your body just knows that it's time to click some circles

The high standard one is so true. I only looked to fc maps that would be my new top play and dropping that mindset helped my consistency a TON. Thanks for the video 👍

Man this helped me a lot, love you

I recently kinda had that where I felt kinda stuck for a bit, and then had to stop playing for ranks for about 2 weeks because I was close to getting screened of a tourney. Once the screening ended, I literally set a new top 3 and top 1 not even 2h after the screening ended and it felt extremely good, after just practicing random stuff for a while, finally going into maps with a positive mindset let me set some really crazy scores that I never though I'd be able to do before.

This video made me realize that I've been doing everything in this video subconsciously like the "want to fc" collection. I have a few like that where I have choked scores or just maps I think would be really cool to fc but don't think I can achieve any time soon. Just recently I've been playing longer maps too and I also got my top play on a 5 minute map. Thanks for making this video, it's made me realize how fun this game is to play and know I'm not plateuing and I really can inprove even if it's one top 70 or something score at a time.

this video literally gave me the confidence to start playing the maps i would of gained pp on. then about 30 mins into the session i broke a year long curse where i was mindblocked on almost most of the map. not saying the video is magic just saying the video explains very well how to get out of a slump and if not alr in a slump, how to avoid it. thanks man i feel ready af to set some crazy plays

I've been plateauing recently and have just started improving ranks again after focusing more on specifics as well as changing my mindset to a more positive one, defo good advice, thanks alot

this is a really good video, it really emphasizes the importance of mindset and more people have to hear this, really. the fact that mindset is so crucial to your progression is something that i've noticed quite some time ago already, and i can give a simple example. most of the time i suck at stamina, can barely do longer 180bpm streams because my hands are so stiff and slow, but whenever i get warmed up well enough and have a good day i can just feel and believe that i am way better than that in reality. thats really all i need, a good warmup, a good day and a good mindset as a result of those two factors. that allows me to play maps such as cinderella syndrome, with a lot of fast 200bpm bursts and patterns, or chocolate heaven with a bunch of fast 190bpm gameplay with ease, absolutely no problem. i can send replays of those on discord for u guys to see, the thing that made it possible for me to pull off such impressive plays to me was exactly mindset, the topic of this video. its tremendously important to draw peoples attention to the significance of mindset, as its one of the most crucial factors of progression in the game

nice chill video with good tips, I personally see the same things were the ones that kept me improving. also respect for keeping it real, mentioning all the factors that go into improvement! keep up the grind king

i’ve noticed that i can relate to your advice which shows me that my mindset has changed which is critical for my improvement

thank you just thank you, I've needed to hear this video today. I play osu! and a lot more of rocket league and I'm to the point where I keep telling myself that I suck and just disappoint people and myself. playing something like osu! and even more so rocket league, you kind of need to focus and need to have a good mental and this video honestly just help so much, thank you.

Thank you for this video, I used to be very nervous when I was about to full combo a map that gives me a lot of PP. At some point a good friend of mine noticed this and told me that I shouldn't be nervous about what I could do but that I should just be happy and proud that I almost FC the map, after that I became less and less nervous from time to time and managed to improve quite a bit, this story also shows me how important mindset can be.

This is a good video and the idea for the "want to fc" map folder is something I'll definitely try. Reached like 270k a year ago and have been on the down and down ever since so this is nice. The only thing that I found might have hurt me quite a lot was also being too open to change. Like I would change how I would approach certain things in the game so often that I think I wouldn't actually put due diligence into any of them to see them through. This is mostly technique things (tapping). I think that it could help someone to kind of try to stick to one method that seems to work pretty good for approaching any specific skill rather than constantly trying to find a different one that might be slightly better (min-maxing).

This is really unique video! I think this'll help me and others unaware of them mindblocking themselves. Very cool bro 😼

i am currently having mindset issues, and you actually mentioned a good point that i didn't think about, the fact that when you tell yourself that you can't do it, you can't do it. but now that i think about it, i'm realizing that i actually do this everytime i'm playing (especially on long maps), and that when i "don't care" when playing a map i just pop an fc out of nowhere, even without being warmup etc. i just wanted to thank you about this video even if it's not complete at all, as i think you kind of helped me there!

I mindblocked myself back in 2018 around rank 6.5k and ended up quitting the game because I convinced myself I couldn't get any better. I've finally started playing again a few months ago and honestly this video is what I needed to see back then. For the first few weeks I had the mental of feeling like I'll never be as good as I was back then but eventually my skill came back and then some. Now I feel back to that same roadblock I ran into 4 years ago but I honestly feel like this video has changed my perspective on how I can go about overcoming it, so thank you for sharing :)

this actually helped me, i play beat saber, not osu but during a song when I started to lose stamina I kept thinking to myself "you got this" and I actually started to play better

Nice video, i also feel like this is a topic we need to discuss more in the comunity. Also, amazing thumbnail my man

this is what i need now im am not motivated in the moment for osu because i think that i cant improve and this video gave me new motivation thx

This is a really good eye opener. Every time I doubt or hesitate even a little bit or just ask can I do this, it's like no i'm so much worse than before even though my skill is theoretically able to push through. You learn interesting stuff by clicking circles!

This is a great explanation, I’ve always thought that mindset is important but it is also hard to know what a good mindset is for osu and where to begin

was about to send a long rant but i realised a small one would be better. i havent really thought of the mind set. i think this video will help alot since im still a low 7 digit, i remember when i did my first 4 star and was so happy about it, but now after only 1 week of not playing i couldnt do 4 stars anymore, even 3.9 stars didnt work. after watching this i realised i always had self doubt when playing 4 stars or attempting them, i think this will help alot, like i said. thanks for the video! (i know i know grammar isnt the best)

I watched this video as a 40k at that said "wall". I hope when I implement these tips into my play it'll hopefully bring back that grind mentality or at least bring the fun back into osu! Ty for making such a helpful video.

Great video man, i personally didn't feel it was too rambly. Keep up the good work!

This helped me a lot! This is basically a part of the law of attraction that's special to osu specifically because osu is clicking the circles and it takes skill in some things not just good choices that you can control!

polars: change your mindset and believe you can improve Me: play because I like the music 🎶

The thing about setting plays that are in your top 100 plays actually sounds good I’ll start doing that (thank you)

Good vid, currently in this slump as well. I especially like your idea of creating a collection of Possible Fc maps, def gonna do that when I come back home from vacation (after warming up for a week for the month of inactivity lol)

good video im really glad you uploaded it

Thank you for this video, I found myself in a situation where I just couldn't get any "good" scores and I just slowly started downgrading in skill. When it comes to this game I'm always too hard on myself, sadly I take this game too seriously sometimes it's sad. I thank you for making this video, it gave me that little boost I needed to continue progressing.

Honestly this video is a huge eye opener for me. It's pretty obvious in hindsight now that it's out in the open and I know that other players have this issue. Recently though, I've been playing like crap and to be honest nothing ever seems like a good enough score anymore, compared to when I was so excited on hitting 5 digit and I was brimming with confidece and made an amazing sightread play that got me to top 100k. I'll try and keep my mindset in the clear, I know I can set these kinds of scores if I believe. Thanks for the vid homie 🤝👑

This seems like a good video. When I got some of my pop off scores, I just was playing to see what would happen, as opposed to thinking about how I haven't fc'd the map for 8 years and thinking I can't do it.

Osu is 99% mental. My graph/consistency is directly linked to my daily mental health

everything u said is essentially how i’ve been progressing the past 3 months after being super stagnant for a while, mindset really is omega important

About 5 months ago I changed how I played the game. I used to play the same maps and never push myself, so when I noticed no improvement it was really demotivating. Now I have a healthy mix between going for scores and pushing my limits whether it be speed, stamina, or aim I'm confident that after a week or two I will see results. Retry spamming was a huge thing holding me back as well. Every session I would get tilted and stop playing, and sometimes I kept trying until I mind blocked myself. I think setting high expectations for yourself is good, but it is important to keep them realistic. Anyways great video

I have noticed my downfall was when my general mindset became negative. some days i feel good and do see my plays are better. Keep your heads up.

Honestly I'm experiencing exactly what is described in the video. I am a top 400k and lately I just couldn't perform like I used to and I keep having self doubt after self doubt. My mind is just full of negative things and honestly this video made me realize how important mindset is for anybody. Not only for osu but in real life situation as well. Hope that this video helps everybody as well and thanks to polars for making thing video. Appreciate the help.

i’ve experienced a lot about investing time learning and being enthusiast about it so basically i instinctively avoid the mindset problem for long since start but the way i take may not be so practical since i did get stuck at the end i’ve been having a problem since start about my physical abilities, not a disability but i do have really weak arms and hands, since start i have a problem tapping on time due to how weak i am basically struggling for 100bpm 3 notes bursts but in that i do feel confident that i can improve my aim since i did practice my aim a lot in fps games and it pays off greatly by using higher sens for counteracting my weaknesses the tapping faster in the other hand i have no easy way out, so i did not focus improve that part but i did try to from time to times, i just mostly hard focus on aiming and passing higher levels and then the tapping does comes naturally, after a while i start learning alternating which is a huge game changer for me, it got me to way higher star passes, but during that i have not really improved my tapping speed that much, anytime got the streams part i just really can’t, at the end my streaming speed does comes from 100bpm 3 note bursts into 170bpm long streams in my whole career which isn’t that bad imo but it does really stuck there for so long now in summary i did have good mindset improving the part i’m confident at which did well and helped me get to higher levels in aiming but it costed me ignoring the part i cant do which got me hard stuck afterwards because my aim has reached my own ceiling, i’m still slowly practicing my finger speed hoping someday i might come back to this game bruh i did long essays again lmao

I can't really play right now because I'm going on a trip with some friends, but the things you said made sense to me. After watching this, now I believe confidence is one of the major roles of improving at anything, really. It's indeed a subject that my brain tends to skip. I was about to take a break of the game, but I'm going to try once again and practice some more thanks to your video.

This inspired me so much man and also I'd love to see you twitch stream :)

holy quality content. the osu community benefits so much from videos like this

I think the biggest part if mindset is the open minded part. The more you are open to trying things in new ways. The more you will optimize your playstyle and in turn increasing your skill ceiling. At that point improvement comes naturally

I think your tip about saving the map that you might see a chance to FC in the near future is helpful, at least with such a method you train your brain to get used to that sort of hard diff that can do better about it, I'll keep that in mind and put it in action

Even after almost a year I feel like this video was still viable for me, thank you for this!

I agree with you on the graph and stuff + mindset definitely is everything that YOU, dear reader, need to improve (ofc genetics, but we dont talk about that).

I don't really know if this would help anyone out there, but playing for the music is also a good way to help with your mindset, from the very first time I opened this game I have always had my song folder organize itself through song title rather than star difficulty, and it really helps me not focus on playing the game for the music rather than the pp

heres my small adition to the video, im a rank 5k tournament player, but anytime that I want to truly play my heart out on a map, I find that if I just tell myself something along the lines of "I'm capable of being 3 digit and a 3 digit can fc this" when playing it, I play at my absolute best. basing your mindset on ranks and numbers like this sometimes isnt the best, but it works wonders for me

one thing i found really helps with fcing maps in osu is to always play the map all the way through even if you miss

I don't play Osu!, but I do play a lot of 4k Mania. I've been stuck at the 4.5* barrier for over a year now, and this video is exactly what I needed to hear to get back to improving. Hopefully I can shed the mental barriers and learn to enjoy the game again

Even though I'm a mania player,what you are saying was correct. Ialways putting my mindset that I will be able to reach a score that seems impossible today but maybe later the next day I could, I always seperate my farming session and improving session so I could keep improving and seeing my rank progression over time.

Thank you, you're the psychologist I needed :3

i just made a video about how to play more and was thinking about making one about mindset but you took the words right out of my mouth tbh, good video

I'd also recommend creating a collection of maps you just like playing/think are cool, no matter the difficulty. It's important to have fun as well, only playing for improvement will wear you out eventually Also, setting a cool score on one of those "cool but extremely hard"-maps has the side effect of boosting your confidence +100

Yeah I've had somewhat the same going on for me the start this year. Picked up longer maps, got many good scores which where close to fcs. Then started up on dt and a few weeks later got top plays of that. Generally just had more fun when playing without excepting anything. Then I had to stop playing the game due to unfortunate pain in my wrist which still is going on.. Really sad to not be able to do much at all with my right hand, can't wait to restart osu once my wrist (hopefully soon) healed.

I love Osu! The reason my graph looks like this you presenting is .. life itself. Permanently lack of time. But I'm watching what happens in Osu! community, I am checking Osu! and Lazer updates, and I am updating my maps collection. I'm definitively back someday

confidence is a big factor to get out of a bad mindset. i reached my peak at #4.5k around september 2020 and then decayed all the way down to #7.5k for 1 and a half years. Around that time I played alot of typical TV-sized farm maps with HDHR to gain quick and easy ranks, because I could. When I wasn't able to gain any ranks anymore, I quickly gave up and hyperfocused on not gaining ranks. I spent a long time just playing DT, just going for high star passes or solid passes on (fcable) dt maps. Then I switched to hyperfocusing on learning how to stream, then any high star map and it rotated between these through throughout the decay. At some point I got a random good pass on full sized map, gained a little pp. That gave me all the confidence I needed. I wasn't worse than before. I was just too focused on maps I couldn't actually play. From then on everything just clicked. I was making collections for fcable maps, I was playing a bunch of full sized maps, I was playing many different maps and types of maps ranging from mid 5* to high 7*. I wasn't gaining ranks immediately but I noticed that I was performing much better. Jumps felt more comfortable, streaming became better, good sightread were alot more common, I was feeling good. That little bit of confidence evolved so much and influenced with what mindset I approach maps and whole sessions. Right now my top 100 is getting filled with long maps, most of which were done in under 5 retries in that session. I've been consistently gaining ranks for 3 months, setting good plays almost daily and I'm almost at my peak again. osu! doesn't feel like a chore to get better anymore. I want to get better and gain ranks but I also am enjoying it.

personally ive just had a huge wall of anxiety and nerves, and i've just had such a hard time getting over it i've completely stopped going for fc's and am now focusing just on playing maps slightly outside my skill level because it helps me improve and i can't get nerves if i know i can't fc it

I play to have fun. Nearly a year ago, I went crazy with scores, my rank jumped like crazy and I kept farming SS’s. I didn’t know how far in the hole I was and how much attention it took in that time. Once I broke out of it(mainly from last rework), I realised I don’t really like pouring all that attention into the game. Whenever I play a game, I play to have fun, to have a smile. At that point, I was playing for the grind. Now that I’m out, I’m in the mindset to jump on, play some maps, play relax on maps I can’t tap, but can aim. It’s little to see a person that plays like this. I’ve spoken to a few in the comments of others. Relax seems to be an offset for most, I love it. It’s actually helped me in both aiming and timing of aiming. Now I play to have a smile and have picked up Mania because it’s super fun.

you can improve faster than younger, more talented players when they get stuck in a plateau and you break through one. mindset is everything.

I think the most important part of this video is the possible FC collection. Playing a variety of hard maps that are barely within the possibility of FC and trying your best on them will make you better at the game.

This is in fact true. I used to be very bad at osu and othermore rhythm games, but now i'm noticing/seeing some skill improvements.

Thanks for the helpful tips. I just got like three scores after watching your video. I surprised myself for sure!

Like a few years ago i was always on that mindset mentality (i guess whitecat kinda inspired me) and it helped me out a lot in life in general but i kind of lost that part of myself but after seeing this video i think its time to get that part of me back

I'ce actually stoppee playing for a while because of this to try and reset my mindset, but then I always revert back to the usual

I’ve been trying to switch to tablet for about a month now and I find it more comfortable than mouse, but I haven’t been able to get any good scores with it yet. After watching this I realize it is probably a mindset issue because I am constantly thinking that I can’t rereach my previous peak skill and that feeling keeps getting worse and worse. I’ll work on fixing my mindset now, thanks for the vid!

mindset is the only thing in the whole game that matters imo. I only farm, hyperfocus on my strengths and have a bunch of bad habits but ive always had a good mindset and enjoyed it and ive never seen a wall in improvement which ive always put down to mindset

Bro straight up, mindset is literally part of your skill. A few times I've been able to randomly set a score that's like 50-100 pp greater than my highest play, but then after that I'm able to rapidly improve and get more scores around that range, simply because I've set a score around that before which means that mentally I believed I was able to do so.

Cool video, can agree with having an fc list, I've got an attempting playlist, as well as a 'potential 200pp or above' playlist, given that I'm 78k rank so anything worth above 200 is worth at least an amount of ranks. That being said I have the attempting playlist for any map I think I can get a good score on, regardless of whether it's worth anything, which is important because I enjoy playing a lot of alt/tech maps.

about the part where you said that you put every map you might someday fc or at least get a pass on. i exactly do the same and already have the same mindset about not perse getting a top 10 or 20 score in my PB. it lead me to my personal best score i went from a personal best from 133pp to 177pp and that might not be much but for such low amount of pp it is (at least for me) this mindset really helps you expand your capability's in the long run. oh and i just add good music to my folder in osu nothing more lol.

What helped me most was taking a two week break from the game. It felt so refreshing after I came back 2 weeks later and felt that I could fc anything.

i have sat around 9-10k for almost 3 years and yeah i can safely say it's my mindset that has held me back all this time, all i can think of when im playing a map is "when is the miss coming" and pretty much it always comes.. pretty toxic mindset but im just a realist, i cant convince myself to not doubt myself in this game

Very cool video ! I'm going to get better mindset to get better more and more at the game !

mindset is everything

this video is good. im subbing

im not gonna lie i mostly agree with this cause when i first started playing osu it only took me 2 months to pass a 5 star map and now ive been playing for 9 months (yes im kinda new) i just noticed how i couldnt improve much at all even thou ive been playing atleast 1 hour a day and playing a couple maps that are out of my comfort zone from time to time. But it all changed when i started trying 3-4 star maps with either HDDT or DT and some 5 stars with HDHR or HR and thats when i noticed how i can actually pass most maps with them and i started gaining decent scores even thou at first i couldnt even pass them and ever since that time in the span of 2 months i went from a 968k player to a 611k after testing my skills. Now im currently trying to pass osu favourites, big black, raise my sword and happy song with nomod, freedom dive and juvenile HR fc, team magma and team aqua boss fight theme song with HDDT and been trying GYZE honesty with atleast 80% acc even thou i havent passed it yet but im still gonna try even thou it will take even more months to do it

Thanks for this vid I hope this will help

I experienced exactly the same thing with long maps just recently. When i felt i was more consistent with my aim i just tried and got like 6 scores in my top 100 on long maps (4-5 minutes) and 1000 combo does not feel anymore like something special.

This reminds me of Mr. George Bernard Dantzig. A university student who came late to a statistics class, saw two formulas on the board, wrote them down and solved them because he thought it was homework. What he didn't knew was, that those were examples of "unsolvable" or unproven Problems. He just did it, because he didn't knew it was "impossible".

I did something similar a couple months ago where id hype myself up and say I can get an fc on any give map and surprisingly it worked, idk why I forgot about this but ty for making this video ima try doing this again.

Gonna ramble a bit, but what you said about previous standards being lower was and still is very true for me. I’m lefthanded, but because i got comfortable tapping lefthanded first, i just learned how to hold a pen with my right hand and decided to full send, not looking back. Although i picked up streams and finger control well, my aim was so inconsistent and my grip changed so frequently that i didnt see even a 5 star fc as possible, holding combo was unrealistic for me and hitting a few cool patterns at a time was how i played, even a year into playing. Its now been an extra 6 months and after fc astronomia with dt (first 6 star fc!) and having picked up many more high 5 to low 6 star fcs, i even choked my first 7 star fc with a crap miss and a few on the last stream. Even still, i hardly feel satisfied, despite having accomplished what i thought would just never happen while i grinded out a year of playing. Take the time to recognize how much you’ve progressed and what that’d mean to you in the past, it’s very easy to take that for granted. Hopefully this is helpful to someone!

ive been stuck on the as we call it the wall for years now, and basically just now started to stream 230 consistantly as it was my dream, and all ive been doing is telling myself that I can do it, no matter how difficult it is, if I could, so can you!

dude, thank you a lot. I was playing with bad mindset and rarely trying to farm or set really good scores because i was not believe in myself. 2 days ago i have seen your video and that so much helped me. I just set NEW TOP PLAY TODAY WITH HOW I WAS THINKING BAD PEN. I post it on my chanell. also i set many cool scores on tech and others maps EVEN with setup what i have right now. I just kept telling myself over and over that "I can fc this" AND FCED OR GET A GOOD SCORE. thank you a lot. Mindset is very important

i will mindblock myself from certain parts of a map sometimes. if i think to myself, ugh here comes the hard part, i will almost surely miss. for me, something that has almost always worked is to just stop thinking about whats coming next or what im doing or even what map im playing. ill just tap to the beat on impulse and sing along with the song

Recently ive started setting scores/farming around 1 or 2 in the morning, sure my sleep schedule isn't healthy but my mindset feels so much better as it might be placebo but I think it has something to do with my mind is way more relaxed and tired to have any stress or doubt while playing, I don't recommend this, because I think it might be detrimental to your sleep, I think its just serves as mindset does affect your gameplay.

Great video man

honestly i never realised how much i had to play to really be consistent on 3* maps, to me osu is definitely not just play more but there is a phase that you will come where you literally just have to play more whether it's about hitting the full screen jumps, your tapping and undoubtedly stamina, stamina is probably the only reason why you should play the game very consistently because of how important it is in long term and just fcing maps in general

This actually makes so much sense. Usually when I play a map, I think, “Oh this is way too hard, I can’t do this”, and do exactly that. However, when I see a map that I think is easy, usually short maps or low star maps, I immediately FC and sometimes get a top play. This video really puts it well that mindset can make such a difference while playing. Thank you for making this

This was a big wake up call for me

I’ve been playing for 2 years now and my graph literally never looks like this. It’s a straight line up all the time , baby.

Best mindset: "plz enjoy game"

My peak in osu was 15k and I decayed to 18.5 wondering why! Turns out I’d stopped pushing myself and only played things I was comfy with. So I changed my mindset and FORCED myself to play maps far out of my skill range and now my aim is TREMENDOUSLY better, my streaming is way higher bpm, and my stamina is through the roof. Because I pushed myself, and a combination of believing I can do anything. Maps I had to NF I’m able to pass now, and I think it all comes down to this mindset, and to never stop pushing your limits. After trying all of this I set a new top play, and a 340 yesterday. It’s possible, just believe

I think one thing that you have forget is just playing with friends and challenging them (if they have a similar level). Being more social can improve and just make you have a better experience along the way. Also I think playing what you find fun is also a good idea so experiment thing try tech, try precision, try stream etc...

I fully agree but for me it’s really hard to maintain a positive mindset

You just broke a 6 month curse. I took a break and was super rusty. thank you