# Do you get angry/self-frustrated while cubing? why not?



## 5BLD (Sep 28, 2012)

Please vote in either 1 or 2, AND either 3 or 4.

Do you continue and try to calm or just take a long break and hope you don't continue to suck?

I'd just like to see if you get angry while cubing and by how much, because lately i have gotten very self-frustrated easily. It is weird because when I am frustrated, I know I need to calm down but I can't. I've found the cause of extreme anger in a short period of time is when I find myself not concentrating on the cube, but on mental chatter (don't tell me I am mad... everyone has this, don't lie). I find my mind wandering, and get irritated at myself for doing it. The more I try to stop the mental thingies, the more I start mentally chatting about trying to stop mentally chatting. Meditation works, but when I am frustrated I feel it is a waste of time to do so.

Don't dismiss my question as, "pah, you just need to learn to control your emotions" because everyone knows that it is not as easy as that. If to you it is, elaborate. Please don't say "cubing is for fun" etc etc, because, frankly, I know it is, but since we are pushing boundaries we are bound to hit some point of frustration. The main thing with me though is that I get worse when I'm angry, so it becomes a cycle until I somehow calm down again. In fact I am not good whenever I am other than calm and not thinking about anything. 

If this seems like a useless topic to you, report the post and stuff and I'm sure the mods will be eager to remove it as quickly as possible. 
(nb: a wee bit o' sarcasm; if its too much visitor message me and ill remove)


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## MaeLSTRoM (Sep 28, 2012)

Although I don't get angry while cubing, I find it difficult to solve while angry at other things, so I went for 'When you get angry you stop'

On the subject of mental wandering, I actually find it to be a big help while cubing. Especially during megaminx, I find that I can over focus and slow down by trying to find everything and not solving properly. Maybe you could see if there is any events in which this helps you, and change to that if it starts up, then go back to 3x3 after it calms down a bit, or you re-focus.


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## chrissyD (Sep 28, 2012)

I just put the cube down, do something else and come back to it later.


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## teller (Sep 28, 2012)

I definitely do get frustrated, and usually I'll walk away from it for a little while when this happens. Pushing the boundary is difficult, but at the bleeding edge I expect a certain amount of failure and this isn't usually what sets me off. It's when I can't even hit my "normal" level of performance. I don't just have an "off day," I find that my performance is completely unpredictable sometimes. Currently, I have made a project out of certain dietary changes that support brain health, along with some other wacky things designed to make my cubing feel 20 years younger. We'll see...


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## CHJ (Sep 28, 2012)

oh yes i rage alright, i live on rage and caffeine, usually when i suck at something like my 3x3, i just keep going and see if i can get better times with the rage, if not and i'm on the verge of destroying my cube i switch to another puzzle/event and try that as a calm down yet keeping the adrenaline which usually leads me to breaking PB's. Sometimes i find anger helps because i switch to OH since it's one of my favourite events i just keep getting faster at it that i'm getting close to my two handed times (although at the moment my OH sucks and im now wrecking my 4-5BLD times).


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## applemobile (Sep 28, 2012)

I'm ok when cubing, I just put it down and do something else. On Xbox I'm a different animal though, I start team killing, nade spamming and host dropping. I think the difference is that when cubing it only effects me, so I have no benefit from getting irritated. On Xbox i can ruin everyone else's time, and that makes me feel better.


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## Hunter (Sep 28, 2012)

I used to get frustrated, but nowadays I just don't care.


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## 5BLD (Sep 28, 2012)

Ooh some very different replies... Interesting. Yeah MLSTRM, I see how it'd work for mega, but for 3x3 for me I find because its so fast paced a clear focused mind is better than a wandering mind... Especially because a few seconds the mind won't go far anyway.

Callum, anger fuels you? That'd nver work for roux lol, efficiency would become non existent and for me I'd constantly pop my cube...

Yeah, teller I also get angry when not hitting my normal standard. Like when I can't even get sub-8. I find the huge drawback is not analysing solves but rather spending the time being angry and quite literally _hoping_ the next will be good, with fear or becoming more angry if that makes sense.


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## MaeLSTRoM (Sep 28, 2012)

5BLD said:


> Ooh some very different replies... Interesting. Yeah MLSTRM, I see how it'd work for mega, but for 3x3 for me I find because its so fast paced a clear focused mind is better than a wandering mind... Especially because a few seconds the mind won't go far anyway.
> 
> Callum, anger fuels you? That'd nver work for roux lol, efficiency would become non existent and for me I'd constantly pop my cube...



Yeah, I was thinking that the faster the event, the more focus you need. Maybe you should try doing some other events to clear your mind between 3x3 solves?


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## Endgame (Sep 28, 2012)

applemobile said:


> On Xbox i can ruin everyone else's time, and that makes me feel better.



hey we actually share more in common than i initially thought


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## 5BLD (Sep 28, 2012)

MaeLSTRoM said:


> Yeah, I was thinking that the faster the event, the more focus you need. Maybe you should try doing some other events to clear your mind between 3x3 solves?



Yes I was thinking of that (well I was thinking of that after reading these posts!).
In fact I was thinking about a comp environment, and began to wonder if performance could be lowered at home by simply doing so many timed solves in a row without having that break where you have time to clear your mind. The sensation really is a 'building up' sensation of thickness and frustration with it of the mind. 

To 'release' anger. Good or bad? Like punching things or shouting. I think bad, because although you feel relief you still feel it ringing inside. For the latter, i never do.


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## Endgame (Sep 28, 2012)

5BLD said:


> To 'release' anger. Good or bad? Like punching things or shouting. I think bad, because although you feel relief you still feel it ringing inside. For the latter, i never do because my parents don't like it.



I used to shout when I got frustrated, until my parents got pretty damn annoyed by it. It does work quite well I must say. But I digress: releasing your anger is good when it doesn't affect anybody around you really.


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## tx789 (Sep 28, 2012)

I hate when I stuff up a parity alg on 4x4 or 6x6 or when looking for a egde piece on megaminx and it one move away from where I need to put it. Stuff like that I hate


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## CHJ (Sep 28, 2012)

5BLD said:


> Callum, anger fuels you? That'd nver work for roux lol, efficiency would become non existent and for me I'd constantly pop my cube...



well i've given up learning roux for now, even with the tutorials and stuff, averaging 1:20 i does not like. i find that when i've had a boring day my times for 3x3 go up to about 18.5, on a good day about 18 but when i get stressed i instantly rage and i hit sub 17's, probably why i had bad times at WSMO for both 3x3 and OH. as for my cube you would be DISGUSTED! i actually prefer my cube unclean and tacky because i can control what i do and feels the cube better instead of what happened when i did clean it and lube i (fell apart, too fast and loose, very bad times, near fist through laptop, etc)


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## BillyRain (Sep 28, 2012)

tx789 said:


> I hate when I stuff up a parity alg on 4x4 or 6x6 or when looking for a egde piece on megaminx and it one move away from where I need to put it. Stuff like that I hate



Augh you are spot on with the minx edges... AUGH IT WAS RIGHT THERE ALL ALONG.... AUGUGUHGHJHGKLFHLGKHG


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## 5BLD (Sep 28, 2012)

Endgame said:


> I used to shout when I got frustrated, until my parents got pretty damn annoyed by it. It does work quite well I must say. But I digress: releasing your anger is good when it *doesn't affect anybody around you really.*



Are you ok? I sense consideration for others somehow in this post...

More seriously, hm. I am not sure if it is good psychologically to release anger. Though the term "release anger" can seem attractive its all in the mind, and possibly releasing anger releases chemicals related to fight or flight stuff in the olden times, still keeping the anger in the background, hammering it in almost. 

Of course half of what I just said is nonsense however I hope you see where I'm coming from. I am very unsure which way is better though psychologically. I will look it up but i feel it is hard to test scientifically... And I will have to check reliability of tests.


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## emolover (Sep 28, 2012)

I do not get mad anymore when I cube. The only time I would get angry from cubing was back when I lied about my times and pretended to be faster than I really was.


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## 5BLD (Sep 28, 2012)

emolover said:


> I do not get mad anymore when I cube. The only time I would get angry from cubing was back when I lied about my times and pretended to be faster than I really was.



Very honest of you to say that. I never lied about my times, however that last sentence especially got me thinking. I do expect a little faster than me 'normal' cubing rate of myself. I expect to get on the 'good end' of my range, not towards the middle-end... And so the thinking starts....


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## uberCuber (Sep 28, 2012)

5BLD said:


> Very honest of you to say that. I never lied about my times, however that last sentence especially got me thinking. I do expect a little faster than me 'normal' cubing rate of myself. I expect to get on the 'good end' of my range, not towards the middle-end... And so the thinking starts....



I do this to myself way too often. More often than not, I go into a session with the thoughts of, "my PB avg50 is x, therefore this session should average about x". Doesn't go over very well most of the time.


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## jeff081692 (Sep 28, 2012)

I don't get mad when I cube and I am not the kind of person that cubes just for fun. I am very competitive and having a 14-15 second average makes me a little sad when I compare myself to others but whenever I do worse I just try to accept that there are bad days and I think in terms of where I will be in the long term if I continue to practice rather than the current average of 100 or whatever. So that kind of helps, ignoring the present and thinking about where I will be. Because the road to mastery is often frustrating. Also I think of this quote by Muhammad Ali "I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'"


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## RaresB (Sep 29, 2012)

Oops i forgot to vote for 1 or 2, but i voted for 4 which should imply I would vote for 1. Anyhow whenever I get angry I just tell myself "wow do i really suck this bad," I than continue only to prove my previous statement. In the past I would than get really angry and do something stupid and irrational, now since I don't practice cubing as much as I used to and I'm hopefully more mature than I was 2 years ago, I dont get angry to start with and I just say "oh well we all have our bad days" and continue despite my bad times at that moment.


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## PandaCuber (Sep 29, 2012)

i dont get angry, just get annoyed. take a small break, and try again.


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## pdilla (Sep 29, 2012)

Cubing is actually a good stress_ reliever_ for me.


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## qqwref (Sep 29, 2012)

I get really annoyed sometimes when I'm getting terrible times. In that case I stop and go do something else, because honestly there is no way that kind of emotional state is going to make me *faster*...


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## Ickathu (Sep 29, 2012)

Mental conversation  People would die if they spent a day in my mind. Honestly, I think I am slightly insane/delusional, but I can hide it if I need too. But once it comes free... Oh man...

As for the poll: Both and both. How should I vote?


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## Riley (Sep 29, 2012)

I get very frustrated when I get multiple BLD fails in a row. Then I might go slower, get a slow time, and still be mad. Or still get a DNF and rage quit. But for 3x3 speed, when I get slower solves, doing slow consistent turning always helps me get back on the right track.


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## CarlBrannen (Sep 29, 2012)

Okay I guess I do get slightly frustrated when a puzzle explodes and I can't find all the parts quickly.


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## Escher (Sep 29, 2012)

I used to rage incredibly hard at bad performance in cubing, I've probably broken in excess of 50 cubes over a 2 year period (before I learned to control my tilt)... I stopped because I realised how ridiculous it was to be angry at an inanimate object, and instead to concentrate on the reasons behind my poor performance.

My advice for anyone suffering from tilt issues; if you can write a list of things that are wrong with your solving then sure, take a break and start your session again later. If you can't, there is something wrong with your emotional state and you shouldn't be pressurising yourself to perform - better to take a break from cubing itself for a few days and clear your head of whatever it is that is actually frustrating you...


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## ben1996123 (Sep 29, 2012)

sometimes, if I'm doing 2x2 and I keep getting sup 3 averages that feel like normal solves

edit: this is also why I quit magic, because it was really annoying when only 1 in 20 solves were remotely fast, and after maybe 3 good solves it would break again.


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## evogler (Sep 29, 2012)

It's not much of a problem for me. Then again, I'm not trying to set world records, so there's a lot less pressure anyway. I try to approach it with a sense of curiosity. As in, "I wonder how my times will change over time/I wonder where I'll eventually settle/I wonder when the next plateau or surge will come/etc..."
Something I've had bigger emotional issues with that seems related is practicing musical instruments. I used to have huge amounts of anxiety and frustration about my guitar technique. Now I can mostly calm myself by remembering that I have a lifelong commitment to improving. Even if something takes me 5 or 10 years to learn, I know I'll still be practicing then. I don't know if many people feel that way about cubing. As much as I enjoy it now, I don't know if I'll be practicing cubing every day years from now.


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## already1329 (Sep 29, 2012)

I used to get frustrated a lot, but then I switched to Roux.


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## waffle=ijm (Sep 29, 2012)

no point in getting angry...they're just cubes :3


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## lcsbiffi (Sep 29, 2012)

I do not get angry. Cubing for me is just a hobby, you can't really get angry while practicing your hobby.


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## Andreaillest (Sep 29, 2012)

Nah, I just get a bit frustrated and annoyed. I either take a break or I just move on to a different cube like 4x4 or something.


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## googlebleh (Sep 29, 2012)

I get pretty pissed if I keep getting solves that are _really_ close to my goal, but I'm not quite there (ex: the other day I kept getting ~61 sec on 4x4, so I got frustrated and sat there for way longer than I meant to until I finally got sub-1)


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## Noahaha (Sep 29, 2012)

pdilla said:


> Cubing is actually a good stress_ reliever_ for me.



Same. Nothing puts me in a good mood after school like doing 20 blindsolves.


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## Uka36 (Sep 29, 2012)

I also get frustrated. And also, when I'm having trouble focusing on cubing I do color neutral solves because then I really have to think harder about what I'm doing to get good times...obviously this wouldn't help those who are already CN though.


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## emolover (Sep 29, 2012)

Noahaha said:


> Same. Nothing puts me in a good mood after school like doing 20 blindsolves.



I swear you are not human. 

---------------------

For you people that get angry, is it really cubing that is making you angry? Or is it something in life that is causing cubing to bring it out? 

Try eliminating all the things that anger you or that stress you out. If you can't eliminate it, make it less bothersome. It will make cubing more enjoyable for you. I have absolutely nothing that stresses me in life and I have noticed that I have never enjoyed cubing quite to the same point as I do now. Grades are fine, getting into collages is going well, nothing wrong with friends or family. But even if I had any stressors, I would try to not let them affect me.


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## Hunter (Sep 29, 2012)

This makes me angry.


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## teller (Sep 29, 2012)

5BLD said:


> More seriously, hm. I am not sure if it is good psychologically to release anger. Though the term "release anger" can seem attractive its all in the mind, and possibly releasing anger releases chemicals related to fight or flight stuff in the olden times, still keeping the anger in the background, hammering it in almost.
> 
> Of course half of what I just said is nonsense however I hope you see where I'm coming from. I am very unsure which way is better though psychologically. I will look it up but i feel it is hard to test scientifically... And I will have to check reliability of tests.


It is better to release it. Once released, it can be examined without the dam being blocked up so to speak. Feel deeply in order to think clearly. It's not that the feelings are rational, but by feeling them they lose their charge and then we can think about them more clearly afterward. Blocked feelings continue to exert an influence on us. This is great if rage helps your times, but not for most of us. Certainly not for me.


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## 5BLD (Sep 29, 2012)

Rowan... You say you've broken 50 cubes. That does make me feel a little better about smashing a few corner stalks and breaking flimsy corner connectors...
It really is irrational yet it happens. It's hard to stop in the moment though for physical violence in this way I've began to stop.


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## RCTACameron (Sep 29, 2012)

MaeLSTRoM said:


> Yeah, I was thinking that the faster the event, the more focus you need.



Hmm... not necessarily. I find I need the most focus for 3x3. For 2x2 (I guess this could have something to do with the sheer number of solves I have done), I find I don't need as much concentration. I 1-look almost every solve now, so I need very little concentration during the actual solve (I just need to figure out AUF), but even during inspection I find my mind can wander and I will still get good times. Often I won't be very focused, then I'll notice that I'm getting good times, so I'll start focusing more, get nervous and fail. 

I am pretty good with other events, but I get really angry when doing 2x2. It annoys me that I can be doing a good session, and be up to 30 or so solves, aiming for a good average of 100, then 1 bad solve, after already getting a bad solve can ruin the average. It's annoying that a really good 2x2 solve is like 1.2, which gets the average down a bit, but then a really bad 2x2 solve will be like 7, which can completely ruin an average. Recently, I got a counting 7 on the 96th solve of a session where I wanted a good average of 100. The session average went up from 2.15 to 2.21 iirc, which was really frustrating. I've been doing heaps and heaps of 2x2 at the moment (like sometimes >1000 solves/day), so it's really frustrating when I'm still not getting good times.

More than just short-term frustration (having a bad day), I have been really frustrated with my long-term lack of improvement in cubing - I'm having a bad _year_ for cubing atm. My 2x2 progress has been bad, and despite almost doubling my practice rate, I haven't been able to beat my average of 100 PB (or even get close to it) in the last 3 months. I only just beat my 8-month old average of 12 PB by 0.01, and the really annoying thing is, even though I've become almost half a second faster since then, I still haven't been able to beat my 2.27 official 2x2 average from _over a year_ ago. Compared to last year, this year has been pretty bad for me for cubing.


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## AJ Blair (Sep 29, 2012)

I get really upset when I don't perform as well as I think others would at my current skill level on cubes other than 3x3. Just the other day I lobbed by 4x4 at the wall and it shattered...I still haven't found all of the pieces.I just keep cubing when I'm mad even though it usually doesn't end well, but I do it anyway. This doesn't happen very often, and when it does I'm not mad at my cubing really...cubing is a great time to lose yourself in thought, and that'll happen to me quite frequently, then I start to get mad about stuff happening in my life, then I start to fumble and slip up in the middle of a solve, then next thing I know I'm considering throwing my cubes off the balcony at my neighbors.


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## uniacto (Sep 29, 2012)

I'm generally very mellow about my times. Either I get a good time or I don't. When I don't, I review my previous solve and see what I can improve on. Maybe it's because I'm slow that I don't care very much. haha


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## MarcelP (Sep 29, 2012)

I never get angry. Sometimes when my averages are waaay off I just stop cubing. I know that lights and mental state (hard day at work or school makes a huge difference) has to be perfect for good averages.


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## FinnGamer (Sep 29, 2012)

I just stop when I start to suck. Even going from 3x3 to 4x4 can make a huge difference


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## ryanj92 (Sep 29, 2012)

teller said:


> It is better to release it. Once released, it can be examined without the dam being blocked up so to speak. Feel deeply in order to think clearly. It's not that the feelings are rational, but by feeling them they lose their charge and then we can think about them more clearly afterward. Blocked feelings continue to exert an influence on us. This is great if rage helps your times, but not for most of us. Certainly not for me.



I've seen one study that discouraged releasing your anger, because over time it can act as a reward mechanism...
It's social science though, so should be taken with a pinch of salt! 

I wouldn't say that I get stressed out from cubing, but I get stressed out from other things and that can impact my cubing in a bad way ^^; I generally just take a break, haha. Or get something to eat, because I can be one moody mf when I'm hungry


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## Andri Maulana (Sep 29, 2012)

When i cubing on perfect condition and got too many lockups, bad solve time, the cube slipped from my hand every solve, usually it makes me angry.

My mind say that the lockups happen due to my rough turning while angry. But i just can't stop solving to get good time, wasting my time...


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## Escher (Sep 29, 2012)

teller said:


> It is better to release it. Once released, it can be examined without the dam being blocked up so to speak. Feel deeply in order to think clearly. It's not that the feelings are rational, but by feeling them they lose their charge and then we can think about them more clearly afterward. Blocked feelings continue to exert an influence on us. This is great if rage helps your times, but not for most of us. Certainly not for me.



If we understand the implications of 'release' the same way, I'll have to disagree with you: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/bbs99.pdf

@5BLD: yeah, there was a while (from when I was about 16s avg til I first broke sub 10) where I was completely desperate to get faster as quickly as possible at the expense of everything else... I think I was grinding about 8 hours a day on average? Sometimes more. It made me quite emotionally unbalanced towards bad performance in cubing


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## jms_gears1 (Sep 29, 2012)

I used to get really angry while cubing. But now I just get depressed, powerful associations with past events and saddening memories and all that. 


As for finding some catharsis, I find that if I dont let anger (and lately other emotions) out, or I guess release them in some way, they just continue to screw with my perception of pretty much everything. Though its more about finding a positive release for the pent up emotion than anything.


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## Ickathu (Sep 29, 2012)

Now that I think about it, Cubing never makes me angry, but if I'm angry then I go to cube and get bad times from angyr turning and that builds up my frustration some. To get emotions "out" I actually kinda keep them in, but I do some memory stuff, whether it's a poem, or cards, or digits, that usually helps. I'll make all my images really violent, gory, and angry, then they'll be really vivid; I'll get a good result, and then I'm usually fine afterwards.
I go somewhere else to memorize though. I don't use my house as the loci, is what I mean. I'll pick some other building, or place I've been, and do it there.


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## DNFphobia (Sep 29, 2012)

I just finish what ever cube I'm solving and move on to a different one. It keeps me busy thinking and I eventually calm down


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## Dacuba (Sep 29, 2012)

I usually get angry if I can't manage to focus on the cube. Sometimes I calm down (break of like half a minute lol), and sometimes I just stop. Shiity times due the frustration without stopping also happen, but not that often.


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## Speedmaster (Sep 29, 2012)

I can reeeeaaalllyyy understand you
When I'm cubing and I want to get better and my times are really bad, i often get very angry, then my times also get crappy. Most of the time it helps just to stop cubing for a while and then try again. Especially now, when being nearly at sub 10 I often get reeaally angry


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## Edward (Sep 29, 2012)

It's chill brah


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## PeelingStickers (Sep 29, 2012)

lockups. pops. pops when about to break PB. meh.


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## 5BLD (Sep 29, 2012)

What makes a solve bad? Let's come up with a list... If you think of something new and specific so post. I think the main problem of anger is the non-constructive thought that goes on rather than constructive criticism that goes in your head normally.

----
Solving Technique
-fingertricks
--rough turning
--regrips
--getting the right turn speed
-alg memory
-look ahead
--tracking
--inspection
--being able to remember moves
Elements of the actual solve
-efficiency
--movecount
--using multiple algs for a single case
-number of looks
--inspection moves
--PAUSING

Well. Its more of a brainstorm than a list. But whatever, I will leave it there and keep adding as these are specifics to work on individually.
-alg prediction


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## FinnGamer (Sep 29, 2012)

Dropping the cube. It sounds silly put it has screwed my times much too often


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## Hunter (Sep 29, 2012)

When I first started 2x2, I had been used to holding on the edge pieces so every few solves I would throw my cube across the room.


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## jonlin (Sep 30, 2012)

5BLD said:


> Meditation works, but when I am frustrated I feel it is a waste of time to do so.



Btw the main point of meditation is to recieve enlightenment, not relax.


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## a small kitten (Sep 30, 2012)

> Btw the main point of meditation is to recieve enlightenment, not relax.



You sound like you're correcting him or something. He never claimed anything related to the main point of meditation. 

Anyway, I have a pretty horrible temper. It's really tough when you do only one event. Once you get angry, there's no other place to go (like switch event). I just have to keep reminding myself that getting angry isn't productive and goes against my long term goals.


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## Noahaha (Sep 30, 2012)

I put all my anger into practicing for next time.


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## JasonK (Sep 30, 2012)

jonlin said:


> Btw the main point of meditation is to recieve enlightenment, not relax.



The main point of meditation is whatever you get out of meditating. If it's relaxing to him, then the point of it is relaxation.


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## NevinsCPH (Sep 30, 2012)

I am always frustrated for dnfs on big cubes BLD too at home, it feels like lots of time wasted but I think it'll help in experience, when I get angry, I just fail to concentrate on the cube then I would do something else instead of cubing.


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## pdilla (Oct 1, 2012)

Ickathu said:


> People would die if they spent a day in my mind. Honestly, I think I am slightly insane/delusional, but I can hide it if I need too. But once it comes free... Oh man...



I feel you bro. People would need to spend some time in a mental hospital after experiencing a day of my mental life.


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## CHJ (Oct 1, 2012)

pdilla said:


> I feel you bro. People would need to spend some time in a mental hospital after experiencing a day of my mental life.



My mind is full of useless blind memo's, ponies, death metal, and numbers like 43046721^2=1853020188851841 (genuine favourite number), filled to the brim with caffeine and rage, im not necessarily insane but i have a lot of useless stuff that clogs my brain


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## ben1996123 (Oct 2, 2012)

CHJ said:


> 1853020188851841 (genuine favourite number)



why?


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## Owen (Oct 2, 2012)

ben1996123 said:


> why?


I assume it's because it's a perfect square, and a perfect 4th, 8th, 16th, and 32nd power.


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## byliu88 (Oct 2, 2012)

5BLD said:


> I've found the cause of extreme anger in a short period of time is when I find myself not concentrating on the cube, but on mental chatter (don't tell me I am mad... everyone has this, don't lie). I find my mind wandering, and get irritated at myself for doing it. The more I try to stop the mental thingies, the more I start mentally chatting about trying to stop mentally chatting.


I never get angry when I cube, but I totally understand that mental chatter you're talking about. How sometimes I realize that my mind wanders while I'm cubing which is pretty much more mental chatter. That happens A LOT.


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## Pokerizer (Oct 2, 2012)

Cubing is my stress relief, I have 5 kids and one on the way so I try and enjoy the escape. I do get frustrated sometimes when I get to the point I cant seem to ever get my F2L right but after some very informative slow solving vids I've seen I learned to just slow down and relax. It helps my look ahead and my times drop again after just a few solves. Then I just go back to it.


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## CHJ (Oct 2, 2012)

Owen said:


> I assume it's because it's a perfect square, and a perfect 4th, 8th, 16th, and 32nd power.



Correct! Its a lot of fun to mess around with!


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## Kirjava (Oct 2, 2012)

U MAD BRO?


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## sneaklyfox (Oct 2, 2012)

Something else that makes a bad solve... unintentional turns...


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## 5BLD (Oct 2, 2012)

sneaklyfox said:


> Something else that makes a bad solve... unintentional turns...



Indeed. Do you ever do something like u when trying to do an R?


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## 5BLD (Oct 2, 2012)

I jut got angry again and just had to stop. I found the main thought was, "You've gotten 7.4x avg100s! Why the f*** would you struggle to get 7.8s?"

I see the main feeling is just disappointment. It's not helplessness---it's disappointment because something which should be very easy is hard. I am not sure how to deal with this. I am left feeling very unhappy and dissatisfied with myself; I haven't managed to get any avg12s today at all (I reset the session repeatedly) and not even motivated to practise for the rest of today. I know I am tired. But I still am feeling I can do much better than this and will not be happy until I do.

I can look back and see how irrational the anger is yet I know if I start solving now I will suck and get very angry again. The very fact I say "I know I will suck" is another point about psychology. How do I know? I know nothing. Yet it seems to fulfil itself whenever I think it.

--
P.S. My mum always likes to call me "obsessive and compulsive" when I get upset. Not even when I am angry, but just unhappy, and I immediately think "obsessive, perhaps, compulsive I think you don't know what that means". She is constantly firing at me medical terms which don't even make sense in the context, but are just generally 'scary' words; she reads a lot but I am for some reason unsure she knows what she is talking about. I do try to see from her point of view but the best I get is 'delusions' of what the situation appears to be like if this makes sense.

Anyway enough whinging from me. It feels kinda therapeutic to 'confess' everything.


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## Escher (Oct 2, 2012)

If cubing is negatively affecting your emotional state - take a break.

At the end of the day you do this for fun; if you continue to grind cubing you'll reinforce those negative feelings of disappointment even if you do perform well - you'll just dig a deeper emotional trench that you'll remember in later sessions and will literally come back to haunt you next time you're solving badly.

A corollary of this is that next time you sit down to compete you'll be aware of those bad sessions and that you can perform badly even if you try hard - that was/is my main issue with performance in competition.

So yeah, take a break, and take as long as you need - you ought to know that any cubing in that time where you ought to be taking a break will at best be normal, and most likely be sub-standard and reinforce negative associations.


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## Kirjava (Oct 2, 2012)

Sometimes you can just be having a bad day.


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## Noahaha (Oct 3, 2012)

Bad session->different way of practicing works every time.


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## uberCuber (Oct 3, 2012)

Obviously, being tired from the rest of the day or from having a lot of other things to worry about can often negatively affect cubing, but I've found that, for me anyway, the reverse is also often true. Even if I feel fine when I first start, after I start doing badly for awhile, I can feel myself becoming extremely mentally exhausted. It very quickly gets to the point where I feel so tired that there is literally no point in continuing to cube right then, even switching to a different event or whatever, because anything I do would be sluggish, both my turnspeed and thinking speed. Then a couple hours later after taking a long break from cubing (and usually eating something), my mental capacity feels back to normal.

And after typing that I'm not sure what the point was of typing that. I guess it's just a random observation I had


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## Ollie (Oct 3, 2012)

5BLD said:


> P.S. My mum always likes to call me "obsessive and compulsive" when I get upset.



I obviously don't know your mum or what tone of voice she uses when she says this to you, but I wouldn't always class those traits as negative. You're obviously a highly motivated, driven person who has a target in mind and will pursue something until it is perfected. This *can* be a brilliant trait to have and with it you have the potential to do some really good things, in whatever you try.

But just to parrot what Rowan says, try pursuing that energy into something else for a while or you'll get stuck in an endless anxious cycle.

And don't go overboard and put too much pressure on yourself! Drive is obviously good, but this is a flaw I possess and it really isn't a good thing IMO.


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## sneaklyfox (Oct 3, 2012)

5BLD said:


> Indeed. Do you ever do something like u when trying to do an R?



Maybe I have before, but more often I'm trying to do R and the D face moves...

I was just thinking how some cubers are happy with their times when they get better than their average. Or rather happy is what I mean. Others are always thinking that it wasn't that good. What would make one cuber say, "Yayyy!!!" would make another cuber say, "Well, ok..." I wonder if this has to do with optimism/pessimism. I'm rather pessimistic so I'm more of the second type. The only time I cheer is when I beat my PB. I don't even cheer when it's close.

And I guess another thing related to what 5BLD was saying about knowing that one will do badly and that prediction fulfilling itself is the Murphy's Law mentality. I also wonder if a pessimist will have more drive to do better. An optimist can already be happy with their times but a pessimist is always thinking it's too slow.


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## WBCube (Oct 5, 2012)

The cubing community is getting so fast. It's far easier to get angry and discouraged about your times when you check your subscriptions box and it's all "sub-10 average of 12" or "New 3x3 single 5.66s" or whatever.


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## Cube-Fu (Oct 5, 2012)

Interesting thread; firstly, don't sweat the small stuff, secondly, everything is small stuff. The human body works best when it's relaxed, tension only makes it worse. In the martial arts, you are learning how to use your body and mind in one of the most stressful circumstances possible, you must learn to trust in your training, and you must govern your fears, so you may clearly see what is happening; too much movement is just as bad as not enough. Then there is improvising, learning to understand the way the body and mind works when under duress, using it as you wish, when you wish. The only way to be able to successfully finish your tasks under such circumstances, is to accept all your emotions and 'mind chatter' trust that you have a place and destiny in this world, and no matter how hard you try, understand you might fail. With this in mind, you should be able to proceed no matter what you're feeling, and eventually, cubing (or martial arts) becomes second nature, each cube (or battle) becomes an interesting play, you get to watch from a detached point of view, and be entirely immersed in at the same time. In other words continue to meditate, learn to find peace in all things, and eventually, if you're allowed, you will be able to break whatever record you wish. Good luck with that.


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## 5BLD (Oct 5, 2012)

WBCube said:


> The cubing community is getting so fast. It's far easier to get angry and discouraged about your times when you check your subscriptions box and it's all "sub-10 average of 12" or "New 3x3 single 5.66s" or whatever.



Oh I don't get discouraged by other people, only myself. In fact wait, I don't think I ever get discouraged; I never feel "oh I'll never be faster", i get annoyed when I just feel that I am falling short of what I think I am able to achieve at this moment in time.


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## WBCube (Oct 6, 2012)

5BLD said:


> i get annoyed when I just feel that I am falling short of what I think I am able to achieve at this moment in time.



There will always be the occasional "bad days", though. It's just an unfortunate trait of the hobby


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## cubacca1972 (Oct 6, 2012)

I never get that frustrated with cubing. On the other hand, my times have never approached anything resembling competitive. I can't even hang with the OH times using both hands. Recreational/Casual cuber is probably the most accurate description I would give myself.

I do spend a lot of time playing the ukulele. Self taught, primitive grasp of music theory, just combing the internet for resources, trying stuff out. I get frustrated at times when I try to work on some song, and my hands fail to do what they are supposed to do. I try to alleviate this by doing one or more of the following:

Do something else. If I am not enjoying what I am doing, I try not to force it.

Try a different song/style/exercise- kinda doing something else, but still related to the initial goal.

Do the same thing, but _slow down_. So I play the song much slower, so I can concentrate on all the technical stuff until my hands do what they are supposed to do, then gradually speed up. I find this _way_ more productive than immediately trying to replay the piece at full tempo with a building sense of anger/tension. Nothing sounds worse than hearing a randomly syncopated song, played vivace con brio.

I suspect that angrily trying to push your average down is not productive.


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