{"id":1722441,"date":"2022-02-03T13:28:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T18:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/?post_type=station&p=1722441"},"modified":"2022-06-05T07:52:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-05T11:52:11","slug":"how-to-increase-your-esports-wellbeing-using-the-perma-model","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/how-to-increase-your-esports-wellbeing-using-the-perma-model\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Increase Your Esports Wellbeing using the PERMA Model"},"content":{"rendered":"
The integration of a positive psychology framework, such as PERMA, in professional esports teams and in your daily life can support in increasing your motivation for engaging in more healthy lifestyle behaviours and lead to a higher level of wellbeing and flourishing. The awareness of the elements of PERMA is a great starting point to develop you or your team\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n
It is also important to point out that the PERMA model has had plenty of research on its ability to help increase subjective wellbeing3<\/sup>. When looking slightly past PERMA for fully holistic wellbeing, other elements such as physical health, mindset, environment, and economic security3<\/sup> are also very important to consider and professional esports teams need to incorporate these elements as well.<\/p>\n However, to keep things simple we\u2019ll just explore how using PERMA can support your wellbeing in esports. Building a solid foundation of habits that aid wellbeing is the key starting step, so keep an eye on future blogs to find out more information on how to build up a more holistic view of wellbeing once you put the initial steps into practice.<\/p>\n How to Use PERMA to Enhance Wellbeing in Esports<\/u><\/p>\n So now we have a basic awareness of the PERMA model, but how do we incorporate it into esports and everyday life? Remember that using PERMA in everyday life is a way of building the foundations for overall wellbeing. Wellbeing is a multifaceted and personal area that combines many different elements, not least of all personal circumstances as described above.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s break down each element for you and show how you can use these to enhance your wellbeing.<\/p>\n Positive Emotion<\/em><\/p>\n In more casual gamers there has been an increase in research that links moderate game play with positive emotions4<\/sup> and has also been associated with a means of relaxation and stress reduction5<\/sup>. In traditional sport and physical activity it\u2019s been found to provide people with numerous different positive emotions, such as joy of winning and achieving goals, excitement, or appreciation of excellence in oneself and others13<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Some of the benefits of increasing your positive emotion are an association with broadened cognition, enhanced awareness and the ability to solve problems more effectively14,15<\/sup>, which are all massively important for esports performance. They can also support in building resilience and helping you to bounce back from negative emotional experiences14,15<\/sup>. Positive emotions can also predict success in sports16<\/sup> and support in creating a thriving performance environment17<\/sup>, something esports teams should be striving for.<\/p>\n Here’s three ways you can increase your positive emotions in esports:<\/p>\n Engagement<\/em><\/p>\n Engagement in esports can be seen as dedication and concentration with the opportunity to use and develop your strengths. The holy grail of engagement is the feeling of \u201cflow\u201d or being \u201cin the zone\u201d and this is typically experienced in clearly structured activities in which the level of challenge and skill can be varied and controlled, such as esports. The benefits of flow are well researched18<\/sup>, but most importantly it\u2019s associated with peak performance18<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Here’s three ways you can increase your engagement in esports:<\/p>\n Relationships<\/em><\/p>\n Most esports games are a team game, and within traditional team sports collaboration and mutual support can have a positive effect on an individual\u2019s performance13<\/sup>. This is no different in esports.<\/p>\n The relationships and interactions that takes place in social environments hugely affects someone\u2019s perception of themselves and their growth and development17,19<\/sup>. And, not surprisingly, people who form and maintain satisfactory relationships in these environments seem to be happier than those who don\u2019t19<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Developing strong relationships within your team is essential. For more casual players, esports has an incredible community to engage with and develop relationships in. Esports Wales have a diverse and friendly Discord chat where if you can talk with fellow gamers about any game, and this isn\u2019t the only group you can join, there are literally hundreds!<\/p>\n Here’s three ways you can foster your relationships in esports:<\/p>\n Meaning<\/em><\/p>\n People with have many different reasons for wanting to engage in esports, and not just as a gamer, but as an events manager, developer, coach, etc. Whatever the reason is, finding esports meaningful is crucial to wellbeing.<\/p>\n Understanding and using your strengths is fundamental to your identity and when you\u2019re confident in using them within the esports industry, you can feel able to be your true self 22<\/sup>, further deepening your sense of meaning in esports and life23<\/sup>. The good thing is these strengths are positive and teachable and they are considered to be sources of satisfaction, happiness, and success in life21<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Here’s three ways you can increase your meaning in esports:<\/p>\n Accomplishment<\/em><\/p>\n Achieving goals in general is important for our wellbeing. The gaming industry is an industry that knows how achieving goals will keep you playing, just look at Xbox\u2019s Achievements, Playstation\u2019s Trophies and Steam\u2019s Achievements and granted these probably weren\u2019t intended to increase your wellbeing. But it does feel good when you get an achievement!<\/p>\n Developing meaningful and appropriately challenging short and long-term goals for you to achieve is essential for wellbeing. Again, in the esports industry this doesn\u2019t have to mean just with gaming. As an esports events manager it might be to get 200 people to an event you\u2019re setting up, or as an esports streamer it may be to get your first 50 views. There is a lot to talk about with goal-setting and understanding process and outcome goals which I\u2019ll write about in a future blog, but for now, just concentrate on developing goals that are based on your strengths and values as a person.<\/p>\n Within esports teams it is crucial to provide your athletes with concrete means of achieving their goals as well as constant personal support and feedback about performances25<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Here’s three ways you can develop your accomplishments in esports:<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/u><\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of information in this blog to digest, but what\u2019s important is that use try and use some of it as a building block for your wellbeing. To start with you could just pick one of the elements of the model and work on increasing that area of your wellbeing. This will actually help you in achieving the other areas later on down the line. Start with small steps and you\u2019ll start to see the difference in your wellbeing.<\/p>\n If you an esports coach then integrating the PERMA model into coaching philosophy is an area that is increasing in interest12<\/sup>. If an esports coach wants to use a more positive method and practice to coach their players, then incorporating PERMA can be a way of doing this12<\/sup>. It\u2019s an interesting area of coaching philosophy that could bring with it many benefits if applied right.<\/p>\n Written by Rob Davies<\/a><\/p>\n Website: https:\/\/www.altaperformancepsychology.com\/esports<\/a><\/p>\n Twitter: @Robs_Davies92<\/a> Rob is an Elite Athlete and eSports Wellbeing Coach with multiple years of experience coaching professional athletes around the world in strength and conditioning. He is now a qualified athlete wellbeing coach and training as a sports psychologist, he supports athletes holistically to manage the stressors of sport. Within eSports he uses his strength and conditioning, wellbeing, and sport psychology background to support eSports athletes on all physical and mental aspects to help them reach their performance goals and have a healthier lifestyle as they do it.<\/p>\n References<\/u><\/p>\n\n
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Instagram: @AltaPerformancePsychology<\/a><\/p>\n\n