Aim trainers weren't helping, but changing my mouse pad improved my FPS gameplay overnight

An XL SteelSeries QCK Performance mouse mat with a keyboard and mouse on top of it.

I only became a full-time PC gamer a few years ago, and in that time, I've slowly been developing my mouse aim in all the competitive FPS games I enjoy. I've used aimtrainers, I've mucked around with DPI settings and mouse weight, but I made a fatal error. I ignored my mouse pad.

I've played thousands of hours of Hunt: Showdown at this point, and even if I have a 5-star rating (out of a possible six), I'm still looking to improve so I win more firefights and land slicker headshots. When I hit a plateau recently, I had no idea that a $50 mouse pad at Amazon was all I needed to take me to the next level.