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[Member Intro] Eyy, how's it going?

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Hello, my name is Tyler.
Today was the day I finally reached a unanimous agreement with myself, my gut, and my instincts to go to my first cubing event; WGC. And so, I figured it was only right to start interacting with the community and meeting people, and stuff. And I'm sure joining this forum wasn't a bad place to start!

Alright, this is an introduction thread so I might as well tell you about my humble beginnings, why not?
The first time I ever picked up a Rubiks Cube was when I was roughly 9 or 10. I got it for a few pennies at a flea market. It was a very cruddy and poorly made cube. Then I gave up trying to solve it, and left it to rot at the bottom of the Toybox. Around three years later, when I was about 12 or 13, I discovered that one tutorial on YouTube which pretty much everyone (who was starting cubing) learned from at the time. So I dug out that cheap cube I had, and finally taught myself how solve the darn thing. Then, I stopped solving it at some point (probably got bored) and forgot about the Rubiks Cube completely.

...Six years later, November 2014, 18 (soon to be 19) year old me buys himself another Rubiks Cube, and re-learns how to solve it, because I completely forgot.

I really wish I could say that this re-introduction to the art of the Cube was brought about by something grand. Like, say, fate calling upon me to fufill my destiny as a champion among cubers, or something equally cool. The truth is a bit more bleak however. At the time, I was suffering from pretty bad clinical depression, I was all but forced to quit University for a year because I was in no state to study or work, and things generally seemed to be in shambles. So I started playing around with a cube, I don't know why. Probably because I watched that one Will Smith movie where he learns to solve it, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It turned out to be a very therepeutic process, and somehow it made me feel pretty good, despite the circumstances. When I was confident I could solve the 3x3 without messing up or getting stuck, I moved onto the 4x4, the 5x5, the Pyraminx, and so on. So yeah, I have a lot to owe to the Rubiks cube for helping me get through a pretty rough time.
Keep in mind though, at this time I wasn't trying to solve anything fast. I just took my time with it. That was until around this Janurary, when I became hypnotized by the video of Mats Valk scoring that WR Single at 5.55, and I thought "hey, I wanna do that" and the next thing you know, I'm trying to learn CFOP and solve fast.

And that pretty much leads me to where I am today.

--

So outside of cubing, I'm sort of in-between being a University student who studies Animation, which is the general field of work I want to go into when I've got all my degrees and I'm done with education. I live in a lovely forrest-y part of England with my folks. My other hobbies include reading literature, sometimes writing it (Though I've never really finished anything, and even if I did, I'd be really shy about letting anyone read it.). I'm also a huge movie buff, I go to the cinema at least once a week, and push myself to watch two other movies I've never seen before at home every week, too. I also casually play a few PC games too. Right now I'm playing through GTA V.

---

Now here's the thing, right now I average (on 3x3) at around 50 seconds (yeah yeah, laugh it up), but have been at this pace for a few months now. I know the reason, and it's because until I considered going to my first Competition at some point this week, I've been really stale when it comes to practice. Because my depression has become much less of a problem these days, I guess solving cubes hasn't been as soothing or "rewarding" as it was not too long ago for me. Would anyone, by any chance, have any little tips on how I could stay motivated for practice, while I'm here?

But yeah, this post is already pretty tl;dr as it is, so I'll leave it at that. I'm sure we'll be great friends!

(By the way, I still have that crappy first cube I got)
 

Oricuber

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Hmm... I really can't help you with staying motivated. It's more of a personal thing, but maybe you could set goals for yourself to try and get to in a certain amount of time. I personally think I was motivated because I had someone else who was faster than me to try and beat. I got down to 50 seconds in a week or so of speedsolving, so I'm not sure I can see where you're at very well.
 

Rocky0701

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Hello Tyler! Welcome to the forums, I am very sorry for the reason that you fell back into cubing, but at least it got you into cubing again! Some tips for motivation would be to just constantly try to break your PBs and learn to tricks and algs. Don't force yourself to cube though, just have fun with it and cube if you want to. If you don't have a speedcube I would recommend getting a Moyu HuaLong. Yeah just try to see if you can break a PB every day until you get really fast. If you get bored with cubing, try another event too. I like big cubes personally, but there are a lot to choose from. Good luck and PM me if you have any questions regarding cubing or the forums, or just wanna talk.

OOps, you Ninja'd. AoLong v2s are really good too.
 
Joined
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Hmm... I really can't help you with staying motivated. It's more of a personal thing, but maybe you could set goals for yourself to try and get to in a certain amount of time. I personally think I was motivated because I had someone else who was faster than me to try and beat. I got down to 50 seconds in a week or so of speedsolving, so I'm not sure I can see where you're at very well.
I see. Yeah, I'll definitely try to set myself some goals. My goal right now is to not hilariously mess up at my first comp, so I've been practicing quite a bit these past few days.

Hello Tyler! Welcome to the forums, I am very sorry for the reason that you fell back into cubing, but at least it got you into cubing again! Some tips for motivation would be to just constantly try to break your PBs and learn to tricks and algs. Don't force yourself to cube though, just have fun with it and cube if you want to. If you don't have a speedcube I would recommend getting a Moyu HuaLong. Yeah just try to see if you can break a PB every day until you get really fast. If you get bored with cubing, try another event too. I like big cubes personally, but there are a lot to choose from. Good luck and PM me if you have any questions regarding cubing or the forums, or just wanna talk.

OOps, you Ninja'd. AoLong v2s are really good too.
Thanks, and don't feel bad. Twisty puzzle kind of came at the right time for me. Like I said, they were very therapeutic. As for the depression itself, well, stuff like that happens. I try not to worry too much about stuff I have no control over. At least not while I'm having one of my episodes.

And thanks for the general advice, I'll keep it in mind.
 

cashis

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Hi!
Might I recommend trying new methods? You said you use CFOP, and that's fine, but I am a thorough believer that everybody should know how to do a few different methods. This is just advice, but maybe look into other methods. Who knows, maybe you'll like one better than CFOP :)
 
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Hi!
Might I recommend trying new methods? You said you use CFOP, and that's fine, but I am a thorough believer that everybody should know how to do a few different methods. This is just advice, but maybe look into other methods. Who knows, maybe you'll like one better than CFOP :)
Hey!
Oh, I'm sure I will at one point, but I wanna wait until I've had a bit more mastery of CFOP before I go trying to learn any different methods. Afterall, My OLLs and a lot of my PLLs are still two-look, and if my 50-something seconds average wasn't already an indication, I'm not the best at F2L either.

Though, I have played around with learning some CLL and ELL algs. But I kinda gave up on that after I decided it wasn't really my thing.

Definitely a good idea. FreeFOP might be a good one to start on, because it's very similar.

FreeFOP? I don't think I've heard of that method before. Hm, I'll go look it up, and get back to you on that.
 
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josh42732

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A few tips I have for you is this:

1. Don't try to get fast too fast.
Right now you are a 50 sec solver, and by trying to become sub-10 by tomorrow will only make you not want to solve it. Set reasonable goals for yourself, and just solve. On days where I don't feel like even thinking about cubing is when I do best. Set goals that are 3-5 seconds faster, and when you are bored, do solves. I know that it doesn't seem like that much fun, but when you fight through the urge to not do any solves, that's when you should solve.

2. Just solve.
Record yourself, and see what you could do better. Find different ways to insert a F2L pair or to solve a cross piece. Don't always do timed solves. Only do timed solves as a "checkpoint" to see if you are getting better. You can only get better by solving it.

Those are the main tips outside of the logistical ways to get faster. Those tips helped me break through the 30 second barrier. Good luck on your long journey, and hope that you enjoy being on the forum!
 

unirox13

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I was in a very similar state about 2 years ago. I found myself unmotivated to keep practicing. What finally kicked me into high gear was new puzzles, and new methods. With CFOP I was barely averaging a minute and couldn't force myself to practice. I got away from 3x3 and started collecting, and learning to solve more complicated puzzles. A couple months later, 3x3 and speed seemed like a lot more fun. After a few CFOP solves I realized, "Holy *******, I really don't like this method!" Two weeks later I had mastered a bare bones Roux solve. A few weeks after that I'd dropped from a minute to around 35 seconds. I currently have full last layer algorithms memorized and I average around 16 seconds. My borderline depression and anxiety disorder have both been declared nearly invisible by two different medical colleges.

I say, your best bet is to find new ways to keep yourself interested, and focused on the puzzles. Whether it be new methods, new puzzles, or simply new algorithms. There's always more in this world to keep it exciting new and fun. Best of luck to you, and I hope that you continue to enjoy twisty puzzles and speed solving.
 

newtonbase

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Welcome. There is such a variety of puzzles I never suffer from lack of motivation, it's more a lack of focus. I've gone from speedsolving 3x3 to 4x4 to simple puzzles then mods then big cubes and now blindsolving. I'd have moved on again if I didn't have a target of a 3BLD success at WGC. Good luck with sticking at it and staying healthy.
 
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Ay. Sorry it took me awhile to get around to responding to everyone.

1. Don't try to get fast too fast.
Right now you are a 50 sec solver, and by trying to become sub-10 by tomorrow will only make you not want to solve it. Set reasonable goals for yourself, and just solve. On days where I don't feel like even thinking about cubing is when I do best. Set goals that are 3-5 seconds faster, and when you are bored, do solves. I know that it doesn't seem like that much fun, but when you fight through the urge to not do any solves, that's when you should solve.
Oh aye, I know. I've come to terms with the likelihood that have a long way to go before I average even sub-20. If anything, my problem is more about how I don't feel like I'm pushing myself enogh, I guess.

2. Just solve.
Record yourself, and see what you could do better. Find different ways to insert a F2L pair or to solve a cross piece. Don't always do timed solves. Only do timed solves as a "checkpoint" to see if you are getting better. You can only get better by solving it.

Those are the main tips outside of the logistical ways to get faster. Those tips helped me break through the 30 second barrier. Good luck on your long journey, and hope that you enjoy being on the forum!
I have, in the past, recorded some of my own solves for analytical reasons. They didn't really help me much, other than pointing out how time seems to flow at a different pace when I'm solving a cube, compared to reality. Maybe I'm just unobservant.
I've tried/ am doing the rest of the stuff you mentioned, too.

Though, thank you for the advice and warm welcome!

I was in a very similar state about 2 years ago. I found myself unmotivated to keep practicing. What finally kicked me into high gear was new puzzles, and new methods. With CFOP I was barely averaging a minute and couldn't force myself to practice. I got away from 3x3 and started collecting, and learning to solve more complicated puzzles. A couple months later, 3x3 and speed seemed like a lot more fun. After a few CFOP solves I realized, "Holy *******, I really don't like this method!" Two weeks later I had mastered a bare bones Roux solve. A few weeks after that I'd dropped from a minute to around 35 seconds. I currently have full last layer algorithms memorized and I average around 16 seconds. My borderline depression and anxiety disorder have both been declared nearly invisible by two different medical colleges.

I say, your best bet is to find new ways to keep yourself interested, and focused on the puzzles. Whether it be new methods, new puzzles, or simply new algorithms. There's always more in this world to keep it exciting new and fun. Best of luck to you, and I hope that you continue to enjoy twisty puzzles and speed solving.
I take it that by "decaired nearly invisible", you mean the symptoms have generally been kept at bay, and that it's not really a problem anymore? If so, congrats!
I don't really have many problems with CFOP as a method. I mean ye, it can be hard to learn/ get better at sometimes, but isn't that the same for all methods, really?

Thank you for the advice, see ya around!

Ohai. Welcome, and see you at WGC :)

Woo, I'm looking forward to meeting you!

ocool! where abouts in kent do you live?

Oh, just up the hill, 'round the bend, down the road, y'know?

Welcome. There is such a variety of puzzles I never suffer from lack of motivation, it's more a lack of focus. I've gone from speedsolving 3x3 to 4x4 to simple puzzles then mods then big cubes and now blindsolving. I'd have moved on again if I didn't have a target of a 3BLD success at WGC. Good luck with sticking at it and staying healthy.

Hi, and thanks!
 

ryanj92

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Welcome to the UK community ^^ WGC is sadly the weekend before I hand in my dissertation, so no competition for me this time around... Maybe if you get hooked enough I'll meet you at some point!

As far as motivation goes, I actually find going to competitions helps quite a bit with that for me because I learn a lot of new stuff and pick up inspiration from others, maybe that will help you too :)
 
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Well, just got a PB of 43.07, which was totally a fluke, but wooo!

Welcome to the UK community ^^ WGC is sadly the weekend before I hand in my dissertation, so no competition for me this time around... Maybe if you get hooked enough I'll meet you at some point!

As far as motivation goes, I actually find going to competitions helps quite a bit with that for me because I learn a lot of new stuff and pick up inspiration from others, maybe that will help you too :)

Thanks for the welcome! Yeah, I do hope we cross paths at some point.

And yeah, that was kind of a subconscious goal I had when I decided to sign up for WGC.
 
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