Introduction

Rating is a great measure of skill and a nice way to observe progress by comparing yourself to your past self and seeing where you stand in the community. As great measure as it is, there are a lot of problems that come with it. They have nothing to do with how the rating system works but rather with how human beings function. In this blog post, I will talk about some of the most pressing personal problems that come up with rating and try to provide some advice on how to solve them, speaking from personal experience and from the experience of a lot of other people I know.

Associating self-worth to rating

This is, in my opinion, the most significant problem people face, and it also pretty much contains all the following problems as a subset. It's extremely easy to fall into this rabbit hole since, as a competitive programmer, it only feels natural to associate our rating with intelligence and, respectively, our intelligence with self-worth. Why is this such a big problem?

• First of all, any rating loss will feel horrible. Around a year ago, I faced the same problem, and after each rating loss, I would have a terrible mood for a few days and, well... feel like I was an idiot. I wouldn't even enjoy the things I used to like doing since I wanted to practice more in order to become smart again! So, I could spend entire weeks just practicing and feeling guilty about doing other things due to not being content with the color of some virtual points next to my name...

• Toxic motivation. Even though it did work as motivation to practice more, it reduced all joy I had in problem-solving, and, in the long run, such "motivation" is only hurtful. In order to really be good at something, we need to enjoy what we are doing and not be motivated by disliking who we are now.

• At some point, even the positive deltas start feeling horrible — "I got just +100, but if I got five more, I would have gotten a new rank! Why couldn't I have gotten the five extra points? Am I too stupid? Why was I so slow on the problems? If I moved a bit faster, I would have gotten the LIFE-CHANGING color!!!" I've been hearing complaints like this after almost every Codeforces round, and doesn't it sound terrible? You actually got the positive delta you wished so much for, and instead of celebrating it, you are complaining about not getting more. Then, what will bring you happiness? Even if you got a new rank, wouldn't you just wish for more after getting used to it? And how would losing it feel?

• Affecting one's confidence. When caring so much about rating, it's easy to feel very unconfident in your abilities after performing poorly in a contest. I also have several times stopped believing in myself after having some consecutive bad performances. But it can happen the other way too. When I first hit expert, I was incredibly happy. I felt like I was a god. Then, I went to school with the idea of showing off how great I was, expecting praise from everyone. Well, no one cared. I wasn't a god. I was the same guy I was yesterday for all my friends. And that's normal, isn't it? Well, for the 10th-grader me, it wasn't. It felt demotivating and made me devastated again, even though I’d actually achieved the long-awaited result.

• Thinking you don't deserve things — "Why are these great people even talking to me? I am just a specialist. Why do I have the respect of a grandmaster, and why do they take out their time in order to talk to me, no-one?". It can even get to this level!

It gets to the point where life gets just sad. It makes you lose the joy in your passion and, pretty much, in life.

Advice/Solution

Thinking about it, what did really change? Wasn't I the same person I was just a day ago, before the rating loss? Why was I smarter back then and stupid now? It really doesn't make sense. I could have only learned more by failing in a contest, so I really could have only improved since then. And why would people not talk to me if I were a specialist and not an LGM? Rating isn't the only thing that defines us, humans. We are much more than that.

But yet, even though we understand all this on a logical level, it's way easier said than done to get rid of this toxic mentality...

If you think you have such a mentality, you are already on the right track! The first step in solving any problem is identifying it! Now, here are my pieces of advice.

• The most important step is to start taking control of your own thoughts. Realize you are much more than your rank. Don't judge yourself solely based on your rating.

• Did you get a negative delta? That means you learned something new, you gained experience, you participated in a contest, and that's what you enjoy, isn’t it? It won't always go your way, and you should realize that. Additionally, the rating loss won't matter after attending a few more competitions. Stop self-deprecating after any rating loss, and stop treating rating as if it was the most important thing in the world. It isn't. No, getting your dream rank won't be the thing that will make you the happiest. It will, of course, feel good, but with such a toxic mentality, it won't last long.

• But, even though understanding this helps, it doesn't completely solve the problem, at least speaking from personal experience. As a competitive programmer, I surrounded myself with other competitive programmers, and most discussions were on competitive programming. Easy to start caring so much about your performances in competitive programming when it's all you talk and think about, right? It's important to balance your life. Find another activity that's not related to competitive programming at all that you simply enjoy doing, just for fun. Maybe you always wanted to learn how to play the piano or the guitar. Maybe you wanted to learn speed-cubing, get good at chess, or how to yo-yo. Maybe you have a book you always wanted to read and never got to it, or maybe you even want to start writing your own book. Just pick up anything, it will make you happy and a more interesting person to get to know.

• Speak with your friends about other topics. What was the last book they read? What's their favorite tv-series and movie? What do they think of the new song that dropped? Who did they support in the world-cup? Why do they support Ronaldo and not the actual team? Is this more boring to find out compared to what their last performance was in a contest?

• Get to know new people that don't even do competitive programming. What's the first question they ask you? I am sure it won't be what's your rating on Codeforces. You will realize no one really cares about what your rating is when talking in real life (even competitive programmers usually don't).

• Take a small break from competitive programming. It doesn't have to be long. Just go on a holiday for 1-2 days. Go camping with your friends, visit another city or country, or go to the cinema or a restaurant. There is so much that, if you are like how I used to be, you forgot existed in life. Try to remember them.

• Try changing the people around you. It can happen you have this toxic mindset because everyone in your circle also does.

Comparing yourself to others

This is another big problem that almost everyone faces. We are competitive programmers, so we compete. It only feels natural to compare ourselves to the ones around us, trying to become better than them. But, this again has quite a lot of negative side effects.

• Envy becomes a big issue in this case. One can't even feel happy for his friends' success due to getting overpassed in rating or noticing their progress was slower. It happens that it can even make relationships way tenser and way more distant and cold.

• It affects performance. One can't even focus on performing to the best of his abilities due to always worrying about how others are doing. During contests, one can spend more time checking the standings rather than actually solving the problems.

Advice/Solution

When you're trying to perform to the best of your abilities and don’t worry about what others might have solved, results are always better.

-A very wise person.

Just as the quote says, try not to care about others. Focus on yourself. Compare only to your past self. Where were you a year ago, and where are you now? What about two years ago? What about three? You most probably have come a very long way. By not comparing yourself with others, you are also more open to learning new things by collaborating. It's easier to work with others when you aren't jealous of them and don't focus on beating them, isn't it? Additionally, working with others makes learning a much more enjoyable, pleasant, and easier experience.

Being scared of losing rating

Of course, giving so much importance to rating will make one afraid of losing it. So, they will find a way to avoid this.

• Not participating in contests. I know of quite a lot of people who got their desired ranks and just quit participating in contests, but this is detrimental to their further improvement. Contests are a great way to practice in a competitive environment, learn to deal with the competition stress, learn about new topics and just have fun.

• Alting. Alting has pretty much all the downsides of not participating in contests. It's hard to treat contests seriously if it's not your main account on the line. (For legal reasons, this is a part where I am definitely not talking from personal experience).

• Cheating. There are people who actually start cheating in contests due to fear of rating loss, and this is the worst thing one can do. It ruins the whole point of participating in the competition and brings even more sadness and cheating in the future when they won't be able to match the skill of their rating.

Advice/Solution

Really, just change your attitude! Enjoy solving problems and participating in contests; rating will come on its own, and even if you lose it, it will be easier to gain it back in the next contest.

Chasing results

It may sound weird, but chasing results usually only affects the said results in a negative way. The practice will usually be inefficient due to focusing on the end result rather than on the process of actually getting better. Additionally, it will only bring negative emotions when one fails to achieve their desired results, and everyone fails sometimes...

Advice/Solution

Enjoy the process! Improving yourself should always be the main goal. Chasing only results means you will only be based on extrinsic motivation, but the strongest one that really helps one grow is the intrinsic one. You need to aim for getting better, not for getting better results. I already said this multiple times, but I think it's necessary for any competitive programmer: Enjoy problem-solving and competing and let the results come on their own.

Conclusion

These problems aren't merely rating or CP-related. They’re pretty common in any sport. And the process of overcoming the toxic mindset that comes with them isn't easy, but it's necessary for further growth and for living a happy life, in my opinion. Just try working on yourself, making small steps every day, and one day you will realize this mindset was just in the past.

Thanks to keta_tsimakuridze for helping proofread the blog and useful suggestions!