My name is WildfireMicro and I do not like how I acted during my first stint in this league. I was ambitious yes, but I was also what I consider to be toxic. I used to get really mad whenever my team lost and I didn't treat my teammates the way I wish I would have. I also didn't earn as much as I think I could have in my DSFL season but that is another issue. Basically I just didn't act like a good teammate and I ended up going on a self-imposed exile from the league to get my head on straight. I ended up winning a title in another league but the initial hook of the ISFL never left in the end.
So I came back and I was pleasantly surprised that I was welcomed back with open arms. I recreated to get a fresh start and was drafted by the Royals and eventually the Liberty. I was drafted late in the ISFL draft due to my previous attitude but overall I am really happy with how things have turned out because of it. I just feel way more calm and happy then I used to be and I just enjoy the league for what it is. True the Liberty are in a rebuild but I am happy to be helping them to glory.
So why am I telling you all of this? It's simple really. I am trying to tell you all that you can learn from the previous attitude problems. I am trying to tell you all how to stay positive and not be toxic in the league. And not just in this league, in many others as well. If you are toxic in other leagues no one will want you on thier team. So how do you stay positive? Well one way is to realize that sometimes you cannot control what happens in the sim (or in life in general as a matter of fact).
Look sometimes the sim just doesn't like you. Some your QB who hasn't thrown a pick in a while throws a game sealing on in the 4th quarter. But remember that's not his fault. One of the worst things you can do in the league is blame your teammates for losing. I don't mean in a joking way like the Philly Kicker Curse that Jake Fencik seems to have broken I mean straight up blaming them for losing. They don't have any control over what happens ether so they are getting screwed by the sim just the same as you. Blaming them just makes them feel bad and brings the atmosphere of the locker room down all around.
To me one of the quickest ways to kill a rebuild is to have a negative locker room atmosphere. Not only does it make your players not want to be there it also makes free agents not want to come anywhere near there. Locker room reputation spreads quickly among this league along with reputation in general and all of that will get to free agents one way or another. It's why Philly wants to have positive locker room influences as it helps then get players and free agents that actually want to come here and want to hang out in the locker room even if they aren't on the team. It also ties into why I love open locker rooms but that's another subject all together.
A lot of this goes double for ISFL GMs. Remember you guys are a huge influence on your locker room and maybe even the biggest influence. If a GM is a positive happy user and always encouraging his players that trickles down to the rest of the team. Being negative and angry does the same thing. DSFL GMs this goes triple for you. Remember you guys are the first GMs for the new users so try to help them ease into the league and don't try to make them switch positions unless they are 100% open to it or it is absolutely unavoidable.
A good way to stay positive and avoid becoming toxic is to remember that in the end it's not all about you. You and your team are all in this together so try not to just think about yourself and encourage your teammates whenever you can if they have had a bad game or even just a bad day. If you do this I qm sure a lot of people will do to you right back if you are feeling down about league or personal stuff. Let's go back to that QB pick scenario I presented earlier. If your QB is feeling down about it encourage them by telling them that sometimes things in the sim happen that you cannot control.
A lot of ISFL GMs in this league would prefer to draft a user that is low TPE but a great locker room presence then someone who is high TPE but a toxic locker room presence. It's why I was drafted so late in the S27 draft; I was at one point a bad influence and it made GMs wary of drafting me. I love it in Philly though so I am not disappointed by how things turned out in the end but it shows an example of how just being a bad person affects you. It's why people like Pib get picked so early despite being first time users (I believe Pib is a first time user I may be wrong); they are just dedicated and positive users that any GM would want on thier side. Why do you think Arizona gave away so many draft picks to get him?
Look I know sometimes it's hard staying positive. But if you truly feelit's things will never get better in your current team and player situation here is my advice on two things you can do: you can ether test free agency and see if you can into a better situation or do what I did: walk away. Time away from this league can mean time to reflect and maybe time to start over again. In that time maybe you can grow and improve as a person like I did and realize your mistakes and learn how to improve them. You can learn how to be a better user and a better person.
Look I not perfect and I doubt this article is ether. But I hope you have at the very least learned something from this article and can apply it to both your sim and personal life. I really hope you guys and gals and everything in between enjoyed and I sincerely hope to see you all on the field!
So I came back and I was pleasantly surprised that I was welcomed back with open arms. I recreated to get a fresh start and was drafted by the Royals and eventually the Liberty. I was drafted late in the ISFL draft due to my previous attitude but overall I am really happy with how things have turned out because of it. I just feel way more calm and happy then I used to be and I just enjoy the league for what it is. True the Liberty are in a rebuild but I am happy to be helping them to glory.
So why am I telling you all of this? It's simple really. I am trying to tell you all that you can learn from the previous attitude problems. I am trying to tell you all how to stay positive and not be toxic in the league. And not just in this league, in many others as well. If you are toxic in other leagues no one will want you on thier team. So how do you stay positive? Well one way is to realize that sometimes you cannot control what happens in the sim (or in life in general as a matter of fact).
Look sometimes the sim just doesn't like you. Some your QB who hasn't thrown a pick in a while throws a game sealing on in the 4th quarter. But remember that's not his fault. One of the worst things you can do in the league is blame your teammates for losing. I don't mean in a joking way like the Philly Kicker Curse that Jake Fencik seems to have broken I mean straight up blaming them for losing. They don't have any control over what happens ether so they are getting screwed by the sim just the same as you. Blaming them just makes them feel bad and brings the atmosphere of the locker room down all around.
To me one of the quickest ways to kill a rebuild is to have a negative locker room atmosphere. Not only does it make your players not want to be there it also makes free agents not want to come anywhere near there. Locker room reputation spreads quickly among this league along with reputation in general and all of that will get to free agents one way or another. It's why Philly wants to have positive locker room influences as it helps then get players and free agents that actually want to come here and want to hang out in the locker room even if they aren't on the team. It also ties into why I love open locker rooms but that's another subject all together.
A lot of this goes double for ISFL GMs. Remember you guys are a huge influence on your locker room and maybe even the biggest influence. If a GM is a positive happy user and always encouraging his players that trickles down to the rest of the team. Being negative and angry does the same thing. DSFL GMs this goes triple for you. Remember you guys are the first GMs for the new users so try to help them ease into the league and don't try to make them switch positions unless they are 100% open to it or it is absolutely unavoidable.
A good way to stay positive and avoid becoming toxic is to remember that in the end it's not all about you. You and your team are all in this together so try not to just think about yourself and encourage your teammates whenever you can if they have had a bad game or even just a bad day. If you do this I qm sure a lot of people will do to you right back if you are feeling down about league or personal stuff. Let's go back to that QB pick scenario I presented earlier. If your QB is feeling down about it encourage them by telling them that sometimes things in the sim happen that you cannot control.
A lot of ISFL GMs in this league would prefer to draft a user that is low TPE but a great locker room presence then someone who is high TPE but a toxic locker room presence. It's why I was drafted so late in the S27 draft; I was at one point a bad influence and it made GMs wary of drafting me. I love it in Philly though so I am not disappointed by how things turned out in the end but it shows an example of how just being a bad person affects you. It's why people like Pib get picked so early despite being first time users (I believe Pib is a first time user I may be wrong); they are just dedicated and positive users that any GM would want on thier side. Why do you think Arizona gave away so many draft picks to get him?
Look I know sometimes it's hard staying positive. But if you truly feelit's things will never get better in your current team and player situation here is my advice on two things you can do: you can ether test free agency and see if you can into a better situation or do what I did: walk away. Time away from this league can mean time to reflect and maybe time to start over again. In that time maybe you can grow and improve as a person like I did and realize your mistakes and learn how to improve them. You can learn how to be a better user and a better person.
Look I not perfect and I doubt this article is ether. But I hope you have at the very least learned something from this article and can apply it to both your sim and personal life. I really hope you guys and gals and everything in between enjoyed and I sincerely hope to see you all on the field!