Frustrated while cubing?

Do you get frustrated when you get bad times consistently?

  • Yes

    Votes: 93 62.4%

  • No

    Votes: 16 10.7%

  • Sort of

    Votes: 40 26.8%
  • Total voters
    149
Yes, but I only get bad times if there is lots of noise around me, like yesterday. :mad::mad::mad:

1. I start off, everything goes okay. If there is noise, go to 2. No noise, go to 1.
2. After 5 solves, I can't concentrate anymore cause of the sound
3. I see my average shooting up faster than fireworks
4. I get mad at both the bad times and the noise
5. I toss the cube aside and solve another puzzle (that I don't speedsolve)
6. I'm calm again, go to 1
 
I try to fight my frustration. I guess I feel that learning how to control your frustration will ultimately let you win out (with anything, not specifically cubing). Learning how to perform under all types of pressure is an essential tool, for all aspects of life. I only wish I could be so focused when I get frustrated at other things, it's just that with cubing I know it's 95% mental and 5% physical (as to the solve), so I like to think I can overcome it.
 
If I get frustrated at how my speedsolves are going I stop and practice blindfold. If I get frustrated at how my blindfolded solves are going I stop and practice speedsolving. If I'm frustrated at both I tend to just stop cubing for a while, or the rest of that day.

@James: I completely agree with you about training under pressure. When practicing around friends or family, I ask them to try to distract me. I know that my times will suck when this happens, I am simply trying to train my ability to handle the pressure. I also sometimes practice blindfolded solving at a local coffee shop like a starbucks. It helps me to be really nervous knowing that people are looking at me and wondering who the heck this weirdo is wearing a blindfold and turning a cube. If you can solve under pressure as the "who is that weird guy?" then you can certainly solve under the normal competition pressure.
 
cmhardw said:
I also sometimes practice blindfolded solving at a local coffee shop like a starbucks. It helps me to be really nervous knowing that people are looking at me and wondering who the heck this weirdo is wearing a blindfold and turning a cube. If you can solve under pressure as the "who is that weird guy?" then you can certainly solve under the normal competition pressure.
Click to expand...
I've started doing this (well...not exactly this) recently. I don't really like to cube in public, I don't want the noise to annoy people and I don't like the idea that people around me think I'm trying to show off or something. Unfortunately, now when my friends (inevitably) demand I show their other friends my mean skillz I'm very aware that people are watching me.

As you say, the only way around this is to suck it up and cube in front of as many people as possible. Tomorrow I'm going to stand in the middle of Oxford St wearing Speedo's and cube. I know the Speedo's aren't really necessary, but the chicks dig them.


On Topic: I'm a pretty chilled out person. I do get frustrated, but I take a breath, clear my mind, and go again. I don't like to leave things on a bad note so I'll usually wait until I get a good solve to finish on.
 
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Chris, that's my exact thought! The only difference is that I try to carry that with me throughout other interests (gaming, job related tasks, etc), although I hate the feeling of pressure (which is precisely why it's needed). I don't know how others are, but when I get into a "scary situation" (such as being chased by a girl's drunken father wielding a baseball bat) I tend to stay calm and then get a realization of what could have just happened after I get out of the situation. I wish I could do the same with high pressure situations. I'd say Mike Hughey is really good at solving BLD under pressure, he just had 20+ people watching him the other day at our meetup and got a 1:16.xy solve bld, it was outstanding!

I appreciate you calling me by my actual name instead of my screenname here. How'd you know it? WCA Profile? I don't think we've ever talked one on one, and I'm by no means a popular name. However, I'm sure you'd appreciate hearing I learned 4x4 reduction from you and almost attempted a speedbld due to your 18.05 first bld attempt (or something similar, been awhile since I've been to "Chris Hardwick's Corner," quite a few years to say the least).

Getting back on topic though, I generally choke pretty hard under pressure, which gets me far beyond frustrated.. I had the pleasure of demonstrating the V-Cube line up at GenCon (yes Chris, while you were with V-Cubes at Nats :P), and since I'm not even sub5 for 5x5 yet, a lot of times I'd do 3x3 to "wow" people. I had so many 25+'s it was ridiculous. I'd get so frustrated, and it was only when people were watching. I remember nailing some 17's and 15's not two minutes after the crowd would walk away. I still get nervous at competitions (only been to two of those though) and know that if I can relax about a solve I can usually sub20 it. I always get anxious and feel pressured, which starts a vicious cycle of getting frustrated because I'm doing bad, which in turn gives more pressure, etc. Moral of the rant/story: Train under your worst conditions, you'll see improvement in both fields (unless you can only perform under stressful situations, then I guess it's best you call your girlfriend and get in some sort of fake fight before you compete :P).
 
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I smash my cube when my mom won't let me do more bld :D
But seriously, I just try to pop my cube as hard as I can when I'm frustrated.
 
Recently, I've been doing well, so I haven't been that frustrated.

However, a few months ago, when I couldn't get a 2x2 sub-5 a12, when my friend (who I was supposed to be faster at 2x2 than) could, even though I was practicing for ages, I got really angry. Throwing my cube against the table, mostly.

I'm pretty sure I have anger management issues. :p
 
cmhardw said:
@James: I completely agree with you about training under pressure. When practicing around friends or family, I ask them to try to distract me. I know that my times will suck when this happens, I am simply trying to train my ability to handle the pressure. I also sometimes practice blindfolded solving at a local coffee shop like a starbucks. It helps me to be really nervous knowing that people are looking at me and wondering who the heck this weirdo is wearing a blindfold and turning a cube. If you can solve under pressure as the "who is that weird guy?" then you can certainly solve under the normal competition pressure.
Click to expand...
That takes guts.



jiggy said:
cmhardw said:
I also sometimes practice blindfolded solving at a local coffee shop like a starbucks. It helps me to be really nervous knowing that people are looking at me and wondering who the heck this weirdo is wearing a blindfold and turning a cube. If you can solve under pressure as the "who is that weird guy?" then you can certainly solve under the normal competition pressure.
Click to expand...
I've started doing this (well...not exactly this) recently. I don't really like to cube in public, I don't want the noise to annoy people and I don't like the idea that people around me think I'm trying to show off or something. Unfortunately, now when my friends (inevitably) demand I show their other friends my mean skillz I'm very aware that people are watching me.

As you say, the only way around this is to suck it up and cube in front of as many people as possible. Tomorrow I'm going to stand in the middle of Oxford St wearing Speedo's and cube. I know the Speedo's aren't really necessary, but the chicks dig them.


On Topic: I'm a pretty chilled out person. I do get frustrated, but I take a breath, clear my mind, and go again. I don't like to leave things on a bad note so I'll usually wait until I get a good solve to finish on.
Click to expand...
Wow. That exactly describes me. Recently, I've been cubing more in public, on college campus. But, very rarely.
 
fatboyxpc said:
Chris, that's my exact thought! The only difference is that I try to carry that with me throughout other interests (gaming, job related tasks, etc), although I hate the feeling of pressure (which is precisely why it's needed). I don't know how others are, but when I get into a "scary situation" (such as being chased by a girl's drunken father wielding a baseball bat) I tend to stay calm and then get a realization of what could have just happened after I get out of the situation. I wish I could do the same with high pressure situations. I'd say Mike Hughey is really good at solving BLD under pressure, he just had 20+ people watching him the other day at our meetup and got a 1:16.xy solve bld, it was outstanding!
Click to expand...

I can see what you're saying about the high pressure situation, but not realizing what could have happened till later. That must be an intense feeling afterward, sort of like a brain dump of the stress or intense energy. Yes, I also wish I knew how Mike Hughey handles himself internally during high pressure BLD situations! I think he is definitely someone we can all learn from when it comes to how to handle this!

fatboyxpc said:
I appreciate you calling me by my actual name instead of my screenname here. How'd you know it? WCA Profile? I don't think we've ever talked one on one, and I'm by no means a popular name. However, I'm sure you'd appreciate hearing I learned 4x4 reduction from you and almost attempted a speedbld due to your 18.05 first bld attempt (or something similar, been awhile since I've been to "Chris Hardwick's Corner," quite a few years to say the least).
Click to expand...

Yes I got your name from the WCA profile, but I have seen your posts on the forum many times before. I tend to try to call people by their actual names on the forum if you list your WCA profile. It just feels more like a community that way to me. Glad that you found the website interesting, and hope the solution was helpful! I badly need to update my site, and will try to get on that as my next project, but I tend to slack in terms of things website related. Glad it was helpful to you so far, though!

fatboyxpc said:
Getting back on topic though, I generally choke pretty hard under pressure, which gets me far beyond frustrated.. I had the pleasure of demonstrating the V-Cube line up at GenCon (yes Chris, while you were with V-Cubes at Nats :P), and since I'm not even sub5 for 5x5 yet, a lot of times I'd do 3x3 to "wow" people. I had so many 25+'s it was ridiculous. I'd get so frustrated, and it was only when people were watching. I remember nailing some 17's and 15's not two minutes after the crowd would walk away. I still get nervous at competitions (only been to two of those though) and know that if I can relax about a solve I can usually sub20 it. I always get anxious and feel pressured, which starts a vicious cycle of getting frustrated because I'm doing bad, which in turn gives more pressure, etc. Moral of the rant/story: Train under your worst conditions, you'll see improvement in both fields (unless you can only perform under stressful situations, then I guess it's best you call your girlfriend and get in some sort of fake fight before you compete :P).
Click to expand...

That's cool that you were at GenCon at the same time! They told me that a cuber was there, but they didn't mention who. As for cubing under pressure, I have found a way that helps for me considerably when it comes to speedsolving. Basically, it is to realize that under pressure there is quite a bit of adrenaline and nervous energy in your body at the time. This forces things like shaky hands, fidgety hands, etc. To avoid these, turn your cube at what seems to you to be maybe 60%-70% speed. Of course the really fast people would probably completely disagree with me on this, and this might be a reason why I am not faster in competitions, but hear me out. If you turn what feels to you to be considerably slower than how you will solve at home, just realize that your adrenaline and nervous energy is actually kicking your body into a higher gear anyway, so if you do this right it should balance out and you will solve at approximately your normal at home speed. Back in the day when I used to be "fast" at speedsolving, this is what I would do in high pressure competitions. I found that I often would do very close to my at home averages when doing this.

Also, when cubing in public, the audience reaction is based entirely on your reaction to the solve. If you solve in a time slower than your average, and give the appearance of being dissatisfied with the solve, then it does not come across well to the audience. Generally people will either think that you are not a very good cuber, despite the fact that they are completely impressed with the solve, or they will think you're arrogantly upset at something so trivial as the solve time when you just achieved the near impossible feat of solving a Roobix Cubix without peeling the stickers off (lol, 'cuz one time I got 5 sides but couldn't get the 6th side, so I just peeled the stickers off! lolomglol) ;)

I generally think of public cubing as a performance. Watching a cuber solve, I think, is actually quite boring to an audience, so I generally make comments to them during the solve about cubing related stuff, or general comments about how I am solving the cube. I tend to look at them and finish PLL without looking at the cube as a WOW factor as well. As far as starting the solve I never inspect the cube (most of the time non-cubers seem to view this as "cheating") and I make them count down a 3-2-1-GO for me to start.

I believe that, in general, non-cubers perceive solve times like this:

1) Times from approximately 1 hour down to maybe just under 10 minutes: You solved it, wow that's totally cool! You know that you can just peel the stickers off, right? lolomglol!

2) Times from just under ten minutes down to 1 minute: Daaaaang, that was fast! You solved it in X minutes, I couldn't do it in X hours! ROFL!!!eleven!!!!

3) Any time Sub-Minute: :eek:

I don't think non-cubers really perceive a 20 second solve as really any faster than a 50 second solve. I mean, of course they will see that the 20 second cuber finishes the solve first, but to them it's all sub-minute which is just madness. So don't stress if you get a solve time 10 seconds slower than normal under pressure. Just realize that you are still coming across to them as a super-human Roobix cubix solver, and you didn't even peel teh stickers roflmaololomglol! If they can read your body language of being dissatisfied with that solve time, despite that fact that to them it is total madness, then something just seems "weird" about that to them. That's my opinion at least.

Chris
 
Oh that feeling was weird! I was completely calm while trying to sneak away from the situation, but as soon as I made it back to the car (my buddy made it to the car first and had the engine ready and door cracked open for me) and we drove away I freaked out hardcore lol. We had a real good laugh about it after we got over the "oh wow we almost just got beat to death by a raging drunk guy with a baseball bat" lol. I really like how I stayed calm until it was safe to not be calm though, or maybe that's just how long it took for the adrenaline to kick in? It seems though that in any situation where adrenaline is needed that my body stays calm until I'm out of danger, then it's an all on adrenaline rush.

I'm not sure how Mike does it, to be honest. We were all racing then Mike randomly says "I'm gonna do a blind solve." I think he said that because a crowd had developed by this point. So he memo's in 20-30 seconds or something and as soon as he started solving his hands were shaking quite a bit. He didn't have an insane TPS or anything but I'd say it was 3-4tps the duration of the solve and he finished at 1:16. I was already impressed by the low time (I can't even do a bld solve yet!) and then I realized how much pressure he had to have been under, we had at least 20 people watching lol. That's how Mike got coined "Famous Blindfolded Rubik's Guy," by JT Maupin (jms_gears).

In reference to actual names vs aliases, I do the exact same thing, especially with internet multiplayer games. I like how it feels more personal, I think it has a subconscious effect of drawing people closer. I was on your site sometime before 2005 (I started cubing Aug. 2003) and around 2006 or 2007 finally bought a 4x4 and used your guide :P I've had this idea for awhile, but I didn't know if I should ask about it (and possibly let somebody else do it hah!) or if I should just do it and see if it works out, but do you think a site like a myspace for cubing would be beneficial? I see a lot of random websites on webs.com or 110mb.com, etc and I think a centralized place with common user names might help out. I figure the website would have pre-build modules that people can add, sort of like myspace, but for cubing stuff (tutorials module, algorithms module, etc).

I think I'll try your 60-70% speed idea. I just remember getting really nervous and I couldn't do an R/R' without shaking real bad and inevitably that would cause a lock up when I go for U/D/F/B as my next turn.

I'm not sure if my audience reaction matches yours, but that was also GenCon (a bunch of nerds nerdier than the average user here haha). Every time I solved, everybody was like "OMGWHATJUSTHAPPENEDOMGWOW?!?!?!" It didn't matter how upset I was, in fact, usually when I got a 27 or something people would be like "YOU'RE MAD AT THAT?!?! It'd take me 27 years! (pretty typical for us cubers to hear haha)" I tend to find that the audience who is less impressed each time is the audience that gets to see yo do it daily or weekly, they seem to end up saying something similar to "get a life." In reference to inspection time, I do get called cheating for inspecting, I always laugh to myself and try to explain them it's allowed in official competitions but they just don't care :P

I do however completely agree on how you feel non-cubers see somebody complete a solve. Under a minute is under a minute, regardless. I remember being somewhere with a 50ish solver and myself (I was mid 20's or so at the time) and I'd always beat him by a long shot but they're still in awe from my solve then they see the second solve and it's like a double shocker. They didn't care one bit I was faster, but that we both solved it "so fast."
 
The number of cubes I've broken or disassembled from going into extreme tilt over cubing is hilarious.
To give you a picture: I only currently possess one fully constructed cube. And I've been relatively regularly buying cubes for over 2 years.
 
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