On Tilting - What Games Can Teach You About Your Mentality

It is safe to say that we all get angry about our circumstances at some point. This tends to become amplified when we feel like those circumstances are even partially beyond our control. Today we’re going to take a look at the concept of “tilting,” or getting emotional over outcomes you dislike.

The Origin of Tilt

The term “tilt” as it relates to a negative reaction to a bad outcome traces its roots back to Poker. In a game where you can lose vast sums of money in mere seconds, you are bound to get emotional. When a player gets extremely emotional, usually after a loss, they can become tilted.

When this happens, the player becomes more prone to rash, emotion-driven decisions. They may make a decision that is too aggressive, not notice something they normally would have, or any other number of avoidable mistakes. When this happens, they are more likely to lose, which only causes them to tilt further.

Solo Tilt

There is plenty we can learn from the concept of tilting during circumstances that are entirely under our own control. If we continue with the poker analogy, we are talking about a situation in which only we are able to decide how we proceed.

Other things and people can only influence our mindset and choices if we allow them to. This is, of course, easier said than done. But then, we’re not here for easy. We’re here for effective. You have to make the active and consistent choice that, in whatever you undertake, the setbacks, failures, and inconveniences will not tilt you. This can sometimes mean stepping away from the thing for a while until you can re-center yourself. But what about when it’s not just your choices that impact you?

Team Tilt - When You Have to Work With Others

While this concept general refers to team games and leisure activities, it equally applies to any other situation where you must coordinate with others to accomplish something. Your job, your family, or even more generally your social circle, are all excellent examples of this.

When it comes to job-related situations in particular, most people are impacted by the actions of people that cannot control and that are under no obligation to consider their views, desires, or even needs. This can leave you rather tilted in situations where things do not go as you intend. This can particularly be true if you actively sought to prevent the negative outcome and were ignored or over ruled.

When this happens, it is very easy to become tilted, blame those other people, and simply write the whole experience off as not your fault. But is it really that simple? Of course not, or we wouldn’t be here talking about it.

The reality is that while it might not be “fair,” there is a solution, or at the very least a way for you to avoid tilting. As many team games and sports coaches will tell you, you need to “focus on your own game.” This doesn’t mean you ignore your co-workers, friends, family, or whomever it may be. You have to be aware of and react to their actions in order to coordinate with them. You can, however, not focus on how you feel about their decisions. Thoughts like “they should have” or “If they didn’t I wouldn’t have to” and so forth are not only not helpful, they will actively drag you down into tilt.

What you can, should, and need to do is only pay attention to their actions in the context of coordination, and remain detached from the emotional impact of their choices. It does not matter what they SHOULD be doing. They’re not doing it. What does matter is what they ARE doing, and how you will respond.

Once you are able to make this mental shift, you will find that you become more flexible and able to adapt to situations. No, it isn’t fair that you have to do this. What is more likely, however? Other people changing for you, or you deciding to change yourself? This mindset by no means guarantees success, but it certainly makes it more likely than if you allow yourself to tilt.

What Tilts You?

As always, I want to hear from all of you. Tell us about the things, people, and situations that tilt you, and how you deal with them. Have you tried “focusing on your own game”? How did it work out for you?