So a short story. I'm at Player's Club March 2018 and I'm on the grind trying to play the best players I can. I see 2 guys playing some real high level Melee right in front of me. I stop and think: "Ok time to get my ass beat and try to learn something." In the end, I take stocks but they could probably 4 stock me if they really wanted, afterwards they get ready to leave the setup and I ask "So what am I doing wrong?" A young man with a Pikachu hat (turned sideways I gotta add) looks at me and says the quote above. At the time I had been incredibly confused on what he meant. I'm sure he could see how hard I was trying to understand what heck he was trying to say. I went on to choke all my regular bracket sets and losing to a Puff in the redemption bracket after finally waking up and beating an Icies player and some other dude I can't remember right now. It took me a while to realize what I'M doing wrong and why I can't perform.
So what happens when you don't have a plan? Not just in Melee, just in life in general. Everything goes to shit. Pretty much that's what happens everytime you go into a MU you have no practice in, you're just taking shots in the dark. To be honest, my thought process has always been this way, so when I had been studying MUs I started at the bottom of the tierlist. I wanted to know some of the obscure things about the games (like why all Kirbys roll in and then up-tilt or why Ness can make the whole screen a hitbox). I thought about what he said and I realized that was probably the dumbest idea I ever had and that I need to start with the more important MUs first. Obviously top 14 are more likely than the rest so I should go down the line and figure out what I should be doing. Also I need to keep my head in the tapes and the books and soak up more knowledge.
tl;dr I'm an idiot and I should refine my practice/study sessions methods so I can be more comfortable when playing against people.