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Do you have bad solving days? How do you deal with bad times?

cmhardw

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Expect for the worst, hope for the best. Bad session means you probably aren't even in the mood for it.

This reminds me of another thing I've been trying recently that's very similar to this.

I once heard someone say that:
"A Professional at something is someone who can perform well even on a bad day."

Whenever I have a particularly bad day, I try to still do as good as I can, and keep a "bad day" record, or "best worst average" record if that makes sense. So for example, I usually average about 15.5 on 3x3. On a particularly bad day I can get averages of around 17.5. I consider times around 17.5 to be my "best worst averages", meaning that even at my worst I can still average 17.5. I do something similar for BLD solve times and accuracy rates as well.

So turn your bad day into a chance to set a better "best worst average" record, which is a sign that you're improving. This makes the whole experience a positive experience, and brings you one step closer to the particular definition of "professional" that I heard someone say to me in the past (for whatever that's worth ;) )
 

Rpotts

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Yea, the best way for me to avoid bad times is not looking at any of the stats for an extended period of time. You put pressure on yourself by looking at the solve you're rolling off, your current averages, etc. You think, "Well if this solve is subx then my average will be suby, hooray!" *starts solve, makes mistake at very beginning, never recovers*

That's how it is for me.
 

izovire

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at home: I solve a bigger cube a few times... this usually exercises my fingers and mind and seems to work.

at comp. There isn't much I can do except complain to others about how much I suck until I have better times at another comp. A lot of people do this.
 

Jungleterrain

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If I get a long succession of bad times (as in, higher than my usual average) at home, I usually stop timing myself and go somewhere else where the environment is more relaxing or quieter, and I solve there until I get my "rhythm" back. Then I feel confident in myself and in correcting my sloppiness and continue to time myself, unless it gets too late :p
 
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For me, it's all been said; at home:

If I get a long succession of bad times (as in, higher than my usual average) at home, I usually stop timing myself and go somewhere else where the environment is more relaxing or quieter, and I solve there until I get my "rhythm" back. Then I feel confident in myself and in correcting my sloppiness and continue to time myself, unless it gets too late :p

^ This; if it's just a single solve, then just... "Meh," and move on.

At competition:

There isn't much I can do except complain to others about how much I suck until I have better times at another comp. A lot of people do this.

^ This. I suck at comp. I average 13 at home and 16 at comp. >.>
I don't really do anything particular about it, though...

That being said, I don't care an awful lot. It's frustrating at times when I repetitively get what I consider horrible times, but otherwise I just shrug it off...
 
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CyanSandwich

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Abnormal average

I'm hoping this is the right forum.

So I normally average 23-24 seconds, with my previous ao5 PB being 20.24 and ao12 being 21.xx (normally get about 5 sub 20 singles in an ao100)

Then I get a 17.19 ao5 and 18.53 ao12, without any skips. (Unless you count skipping half of 2-look OLL for some of them)
After that it was back to normal, or slightly worse. I mean, it's not that amazing, but it's a significant jump.

Anyone else had something similar happen and figure out the cause?
It could've been that I had easy cases, but it seems unlikely that many times in a row. Maybe I just got pumped from getting a few good solves in a row.
 
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