Getting Stressed Mid-Solve

[IAmAPerson]

Okay, so I've been practicing my solves, and I do good. Until you put a timer in front of me. Then I tend to get stressed, angered easily, and make mistakes. Any tips? Also, I'd be happy to receive tips on quickly finding pieces on the cube. I often need to find a piece but always overlook it. So, any tips? Have you ever made a terrible mistake mid-solve? I'd like to know I'm not alone.

 

[Ollie]

Try going 80% fast (or less) until you get used to having the timer in front you and starting/stopping it. You don't need to change anything about your solving style, there's no need to get stressed. Once your used to using the timer regularly, move back up to 100%.

 

[Lazy Einstein]

Not looking at the timer helps me. I am the king of stressing in solves. (Proof: Ao1000 = 29.936 Montreal 2014 Ao5 = 40.25)

 

[Rocky0701]

I think this a lot just takes practice getting used to the timer and stuff. Just do some slow solving in front of the timer, and then speed it up, like Ollie said. Also, definitely don't look at the timer, like Lazy Einstein said. What works for me too is not to think about the time that you need to get, for example: if you are doing an average of 5, and you will beat your PB if you get a sub 25 on your last solve, you will almost always mess up. Never think about a time that you need to get to beat a PB, it will wreck your solve. Another thing that helps is, on some timers, you can get the option to hide your time during a solve, this really helps because you won't have any idea what your time is until you press stop, try looking for one of those.

 

[RageCuber]

I have a similar problem that goes something like this - so im trying to get sub-20 ao5 here are my times :
#1 - 16.xx "oh cool, a good solve"
#2 - 17.xx "still pretty good"
#3 - 16.xx "AWESOME! ok, now all i need is 1 or 2 more sub-20 solve"
#4 - 21.xx DNF "uh-oh... ok, just stay calm and solve like normal"
#5 - 30.xx "uhhgg... so close to sub-20 avg"
Sometimes for me just pausing and taking a few deep breaths before inspection helps. also try listening to music.

 

[IRNjuggle28]

I'm the opposite. If I get an 8 second F2L, I freak out a bit during LL, sure, but I solve much better when I time myself. I almost never do untimed speedsolves.

 

[Fawn]

This may sound dumb, but just ignore the timer. I understand that's easier said than done, though. Lazy Einstein made a point by saying not to look at the timer. He's dead right. When you look at the timer, you're missin opportunities to look for the pieces you need. It also just raises stress. You just have to convince yourself that your times aren't important. When you're not timing, go ahead and do some solves with slow turning and pay attention to how certain moves and algorithms affect the rest of the puzzle. Doing that will help you track pieces much more efficiently and can easily boost you look-ahead.

 

[NoobyCuber]

If you use a non-physical timer, like a smartphone, tablet,
computer or something, you can sometimes hide the time while timing. That definitely helps me a lot.

Sometimes for me just pausing and taking a few deep breaths before inspection helps. also try listening to music.

Really? When I'm listening to music, it totally screws up my times.

 

[IAmAPerson]

Thanks guys for all of the responses! After reading this, I tried a few solves, and was definately a lot calmer. I'll try listening to music. Once again, thanks for all of the quick responses!

 

[RageCuber]

Really? When I'm listening to music, it totally screws up my times.

it's different for everyone I guess. Listening to music kinda puts me in the zone, it helps block
everything else out. if you listen to music with a lot of lyrics you'll concentrate on that and not
the cube, so try some instrumental (or dubstep if you're not a music snob ). I don't really
listen to music unless I'm doing a really long average anyway.

 

[DeeDubb]

it's different for everyone I guess. Listening to music kinda puts me in the zone, it helps block
everything else out. if you listen to music with a lot of lyrics you'll concentrate on that and not
the cube, so try some instrumental (or dubstep if you're not a music snob ). I don't really
listen to music unless I'm doing a really long average anyway.

I've gotten really into "Chillstep" while solving. More relaxed Dubstep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGhXjCuucLI

 

[Soren333]

I feel as though when I'm timing my solves I mess up much more easily, since I try to solve much faster than when I do casual, untimed solves.

 

[SnackeyG]

it's different for everyone I guess. Listening to music kinda puts me in the zone, it helps block
everything else out. if you listen to music with a lot of lyrics you'll concentrate on that and not
the cube, so try some instrumental (or dubstep if you're not a music snob ). I don't really
listen to music unless I'm doing a really long average anyway.

Music helps me a lot. Doesn't matter what as long as it's using headphones and my own collection. I tune out my surroundings. I make less mistakes too for some reason.

 

[brian724080]

Really? When I'm listening to music, it totally screws up my times.

Same, whenever I try to listen to music, I focus on the structure of the music instead of the cube.

 

[Furry]

If it's the big numbers going up that's bothering you, most timers have an option to not show anything while timing except (RUNNING), and it will give you your time after you stop the timer. That MIGHT help you, but practice might help you more

 

[sneaklyfox]

Well, say you average 25. So aim for about 32 in your solves. If you get 25, you're going too fast. In other words, aim to go slower. You may be disappointed if you are slower than you think you should be, but you probably won't be disappointed if you are faster than you are trying to be. Besides, this helps you "slow down and look ahead".