Winning feels great for a night. Getting better feels good for years.

Two rewards operate on different clocks. A result delivers a short intense payoff and then expires, since the next event resets the scoreboard. Improvement pays smaller and keeps paying, because the thing you built stays with you regardless of outcomes. Chasing only the first produces a cycle of brief highs and long flat stretches.

After the next game or test, ask what got better rather than only what happened. Keep one measure that is yours alone: time, accuracy, how many reps, how calm you stayed. It does not depend on anybody else losing.