I’ve been playing diablo 3 recently, and I find myself raid leading…. myself. In my solo runs. I also find that raid leading myself makes me perform better.

“Move, move! Dude! What’s taking you so long?!”

“Remember, your cd hasn’t come up yet, so be careful here!”

“A lot of ranged mobs here, don’t stand still or their arrows and fireballs will hit!”

“Ok, you have one cheat death and a potion available right now, go hard”

“Dude, you have to kill something to spawn an oculus rune soon, fire cycle is coming up!”

I literally say these things to myself as I play. Good thing only my cats are at home and they already know I’m crazy.

What is it about actually saying these things aloud that makes me perform better though? I don’t think it’s hearing the words being said, because my reactions have to happen about when I’m saying the words; not after. I think maybe “raid leading” forces me to be more aware of what’s going on, maybe? When I’m silent, I think perhaps my level of focus isn’t as high, and I’m more likely to just react to what happens instead of realizing what’s going to happen ahead of time and preparing for it.