[WR] Oliver Frost 4x4x4 Blindfolded 2:18.65

IRNjuggle28 said:
I have a question that sounds a bit silly, but I mean it seriously. Do you recommend investing enough time in BLD to get good at it? A ridiculously high percentage of people who invest a lot of time and energy in BLD appear to just get burnt out on it. They/you seem to have much more of a problem with it than speedsolvers. In your opinion, is BLD too difficult, frustrating, or mentally taxing to be sustainably fun? Daniel Sheppard, Roman, Marcell, now you, and other great solvers that predate my time in the cubing community or that I haven't heard of have simply quit. I'm interested in BLD. It seems to me like something that's a great challenge, and something that I could get good at, but I don't want to do it if I'm likely to destroy my interest in cubing by doing so. I have no qualms about learning to solve a cube blindfolded; that's a pretty small committment, and would be satisfying. But practicing BLD a lot seems different. I've done some mental calculation, and it's exhausting, and the only reason I enjoy it is because I'm decent at it. I can imagine BLD being very similar in that regard. Assuming that I'm correctly interpreting the reasons for a bunch of BLD solvers quitting, do you think it's worth it?
Click to expand...

Although I'm not a top BLDer, I have dabbled in BigBLD and I can tell you that the failures get pretty exhausting. You really need a strong motivation and work ethic to do it at first. I started doing 4 and 5BLD attempts when the best multi I had ever done was 2/3, and I can't really say my memory system was developed enough to properly do that. I still haven't gotten a success, and sometimes it's pretty disheartening. Spending a half hour (or less) memorizing a 4BLD then executing and not getting it takes some time out of your life. Same with 5BLD, my first attempt was really close, (3 cycle of midges and 2 T centers) and I spent over an hour on it. But the main reason why I got burnt out on BLD is because I put too much pressure on myself to do well at it, because I wanted to get a result in every event at US nationals. I think for 3BLD it's okay to take it faster, but just realize that putting pressure on yourelsef to get a success doesn't help. For bigBLD, at least for me, taking it slowly is the best thing to do. If you devote a lot of your time to it, it just amplifies the effect of the failures. What I should have done is "put it on the back burner" so to speak, and work on it when I could.

tl;dr
bigBLD can be stressful, but don't think of purple elephants!
 
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IRNjuggle28 said:
I have a question that sounds a bit silly, but I mean it seriously. Do you recommend investing enough time in BLD to get good at it? A ridiculously high percentage of people who invest a lot of time and energy in BLD appear to just get burnt out on it. They/you seem to have much more of a problem with it than speedsolvers. In your opinion, is BLD too difficult, frustrating, or mentally taxing to be sustainably fun? Daniel Sheppard, Roman, Marcell, now you, and other great solvers that predate my time in the cubing community or that I haven't heard of have simply quit. I'm interested in BLD. It seems to me like something that's a great challenge, and something that I could get good at, but I don't want to do it if I'm likely to destroy my interest in cubing by doing so. I have no qualms about learning to solve a cube blindfolded; that's a pretty small committment, and would be satisfying. But practicing BLD a lot seems different. I've done some mental calculation, and it's exhausting, and the only reason I enjoy it is because I'm decent at it. I can imagine BLD being very similar in that regard. Assuming that I'm correctly interpreting the reasons for a bunch of BLD solvers quitting, do you think it's worth it?
Click to expand...

I replied to this post here.
 
cmhardw said:
That was a very good first post! I'm excited about your project and your research. Will you be publishing your results?
Click to expand...

Thank you very much :) And yes, hopefully. My supervisor believes it's a novel idea which provoke some discussion (plus I think journals might find it interesting) but either way I will be posting the results here!
 
Tried to post on your blog but I don't think it worked.

I love how you presented your memorisation. You make it look easy. I'm interested in your dissertation. While I doubt there are many situations where solving skills can be put to direct use I'd encourage any employer to consider the hard work, dedication and acuity of a speedsolver. Plus, your mix of imagination and technical ability has to be an asset.
 
Ollie said:
I would still recommend big BLD to people, since I enjoyed practicing a lot more when I was getting faster, which is the main thing :) You might also be an exception and continue to love it like Chris Hardwick does, he's a shining example of a top BLDer!

Plus, I don't think it'll destroy your interest in cubing if there are other events to fall back on. One of the reasons I became disheartened was because I wasn't very good at anything else, so when I failed in comp I completely failed. Just have back up goals and work on getting PBs!
Click to expand...

I admire your perserverence and mental strength. I can't do BLD right now, but whenever I do a BLD attempt, memo is so hard and I feel exhausted after the attempt. I just want to go to sleep. BLD is so exhausting at first. I don't get physically tired, but my brain feels overloaded and burnt out.
 
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