# How do you keep calm at a competition?



## Rubiks560 (Mar 22, 2012)

Hey, just curious, how do you keep calm when under pressure at competitions?
I haven't found a good way to keep calm yet, with people telling me "Hey break WR!" or something similar, it adds a lot of pressure that I don't know how to get rid of. Such as
My hands getting super shaky and making it very difficult to turn fast or accurate


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## Slowpoke22 (Mar 22, 2012)

Anyway, it's probably helpful to cube in public so you get used to that feeling of being watched as you solve (regardless of whether anyone is actually paying attention). While competing, concentrate on your solves more than the timing, and don't start freaking out if you get a bad solve or two. Take a few deep breaths before your solve and slow down a little more than you think you should, because you might naturally try and go too fast (similar to public speaking, when people talk way too fast or become unfocused). Keep the idea of getting a WR out of your mind entirely, even if you think it's attainable. Thinking "this should be WR avg/single (or even PB)" before or during solves will definitely slow you down. That's my $0.02, coming from someone who is much slower than you and equally or more nervous than you are during competition.


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## Hays (Mar 22, 2012)

Really, it's almost impossible to stay completely calm at competitions. The only good advice I would have is never to start your solves before you are ready. Even if you think you're taking up too much time, starting early could ruin your solve.

Other than that, only experience helps really. And once you have a WR or whatever you are trying to get, it's way easier to stay calm.


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## emolover (Mar 22, 2012)

I do not get very nervous during competitions but what I use to do the first competitions is block out everything during my solves. I literally don't even register the sound of the competition and mostly just see the cube and the timer. This also happens to me during my races for XC and Track.

But I don't have the weight of potential WR resting on my shoulders. The closest I have is 7x7 and I am still 50-60 seconds off of that.


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## AJ Blair (Mar 22, 2012)

I see cubing as a hobby, as something that I enjoy doing. I'm not doing it to impress others or to achieve certain goals. This is the reason that I don't get nervous at competitions, because even though I may have spent money to get to the competition, I'm doing something I love. By just viewing cubing as something that you happen to be good at, but something that you love doing, you won't be as nervous, and you will focus on what's really important, HAVING FUN!


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## Bob (Mar 22, 2012)

I just don't care.  When you've competed 89 times, you don't get nervous.


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## teller (Mar 22, 2012)

Bob said:


> I just don't care.  When you've competed 89 times, you don't get nervous.


 
This is the right idea...the trick is not to care even if you've only been to a handful of comps. Attention on the importance of a given solve is attention not spent on actually solving.


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## Escher (Mar 22, 2012)

It's something I've been thinking about (and getting annoyed about) for a very long time... 
I once asked Daniel (Sheppz) how he could be so close to his solve times at home in every event and he said 'Why, what other speed am I supposed to be?'.

I think this says an awful lot about the attitude good competitors have which you see in a lot of sports - don't doubt yourself too much, don't think 'because it's a competition I'll do x thing differently', don't think anything more than just 'lolk solve time now'. 

Putting that into practise is another thing entirely, however...


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## JianhanC (Mar 22, 2012)

Breathe, and imagining yourself seeing the pieces (my mindset: it's only 4 pairs of F2L) and solve as though no one is looking at you. That's what I did for Megaminx, at least :/


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## cmhardw (Mar 22, 2012)

Wow, fun topic  I like reading people's responses so far.

For me I would say that I:
1) Practice a lot beforehand so that everything about your solving becomes muscle memory. This will help you be able to know what to do even when you're under pressure.

2) Practice some in public before the competition (at a coffee shop, in the mall) to get used to the nervous feeling of cubing in front of others. Don't worry about your times when you do this, you're practicing cubing in PUBLIC, not cubing FAST in public.

3) At the competition on the day of, try not to talk to people between solves. It's nice to talk to people yes, but if you talk to people between solves you lose your focus. Put on your blindfold/earmuffs/headphones etc. to make it obvious that you're concentrating right now and don't want to talk to anyone.

4) Remember a time in competition that you got really, really nervous and did not perform well - then don't do that this time. I know this sounds a little weird, but it helps me. My worst ever solve was my second solve in the 4x4x4 round at the 2003 world competition. My mind completely froze up blank and I felt like I completely forgot how to pair edges (I didn't have the procedure down as muscle memory, see #1). My solve time was literally almost double my usual times because once I realized that I was freezing up I began to panic, and this made me freeze up even more which made me panic even more. Once you know what this feeling feels like, you can recognize the first signs of it again. If you ever feel yourself start to freeze/panic again then just take slow deep breaths and allow yourself to calm down. Don't let yourself get into "red zone", allow yourself to calm down.

5) Compete inwardly, NOT outwardly.

Competing inwardly means to compete such as to beat your own personal goals, as they relate to your times only. Try to beat the result you got at the last competition (beat the time you got, NOT your placement in the competition). Try to beat your pb single or average, etc.

Competing outwardly means "*I* will beat *YOU*". An example is "I will place in the top 10", or "I will podium", or "I will break the WR". Competing outwardly is VERY stressful, but competing inwardly is not as much.

6) Do whatever it takes on competition day to help focus. For me, this now means wearing blinders and earmuffs during most of my solves. It looks crazy/stupid/strange whatever you want to call it, but it helps me focus. If it helps me focus, then I use it. I broke my pb 3x3x3 average record at Worlds 2011, in large part because I could only see the cube in front of me during my solves, which helped me focus. I also got both 5x5x5 BLD solves successfully, and at a large competition with high stakes. I haven't done that since 2006 at US Nationals. In short, yes I look stupid wearing all that crap on my head, but I don't care. It helps me focus, so I use ALL of that stuff.

Find what helps you focus (that is allowable by the WCA regulations of course) and USE it.


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## Cheese11 (Mar 22, 2012)

I shake uncontrollably and cry  Let's look forward to my next comp!


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## insane569 (Mar 22, 2012)

The way I think of it, No one there knows me and the only person watching is my mom or other family. They've seen me solve before so its a normal day and a normal solve. If I'm doing BLD I think no one is watching me since their focusing on the "faster" people. And I take deep breathes before a BLD just to make sure I'm getting oxygen.


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## Sillas (Mar 22, 2012)

Keep calm and focus. And have fun.


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## Ninja Storm (Mar 22, 2012)

What I've found really helpful is to completely simulate a competition environment. I sat at my breakfast counter with a piece of paper and my timer, and I pretended to be my own judge, and I timed my inspections. Interestingly, I became extremely nervous during my solves.

However, that died down after a couple of solves. What I'd try and do is borrow a timer from the competition for a little bit, have a friend or whoever drove you there practice being your judge, and just practice under stressful conditions. It lets your brain know what you should and shouldn't be focusing on, and helps you drown out other noises.


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## noobcubefail (Mar 22, 2012)

I've never been to a competition or cubed but I do play piano and go to recitals, competitions (like an upcoming scholarship one and a concerto competition next year where I'm supposed to memorize and play an entire concerto, probably Mozart), etc. You might be calm after going to a couple because you've done it many times, or it might be like this for your first one because you've played around with your cube enough to be calm at all costs (maybe). It happened to me after going to a lot of recitals and such. I don't even find myself nervous. I might get tense every once in a while but it's really easy for me to notice so I just take a second to release the strain from my muscles. Some people take deep breathes, but I can just immediately release the tension. It's like a gift.


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## AvidCuber (Mar 22, 2012)

I've never actually been to a cubing competition, but I've done innumerable competitions and performances for music (all-state auditions, youth symphony auditions, not to mention countless performances), so I don't usually get that nervous for things like that anymore. Sometimes, I do get a little bit nervous, but it's completely natural so I don't worry about it. If I'm feeling shaky or if my breathing is really trembly (a really bad thing for playing a wind instrument), I usually just take a deep breath and tell myself that there will always be more opportunities to play and that I'm just there for the experience of competing/performing, not for dominating the world.

Also, just try not to expect something of yourself. If you're expecting yourself to do an amazing job before the competition, then you'll feel more pressure to do well at the competition and you'll also be more disappointed if you don't do well, whereas if you don't give yourself high expectations, then you can calm down a little bit more.


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## Andrew Ricci (Mar 22, 2012)

I don't. xD

Sometimes I'm calm, sometimes I'm very nervous. It totally depends on factors unknown to me.


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## Rubiks560 (Mar 22, 2012)

Thanks for the input guys! I'll be trying some of these I'm sure. I'm not worried about people watching me, I really couldn't care less about that. I'm just nervous about chocking and then throwing away any chances of doing good at the competition.


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## AJ Blair (Mar 22, 2012)

Rubiks560 said:


> Thanks for the input guys! I'll be trying some of these I'm sure. I'm not worried about people watching me, I really couldn't care less about that. I'm just nervous about chocking and then throwing away any chances of doing good at the competition.


 
The way I've always seen it is...If I don't do well this competition, I'll just try again at my next competition. You basically have unlimited chances to achieve whatever personal goal you have.


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## Quadrescence (Mar 22, 2012)

Rubiks560 said:


> Hey, just curious, how do you keep calm when under pressure at competitions?
> I haven't found a good way to keep calm yet, with people telling me "Hey break WR!" or something similar, it adds a lot of pressure that I don't know how to get rid of. Such as
> My hands getting super shaky and making it very difficult to turn fast or accurate


 
Easy, I just release a visible suspension of typically carbon and other particles into the atmosphere via an exothermic process of an oxidation reaction and then take advantage of the difference in air pressure caused by voluntary musculo-pulmonary actions.


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## Tim Major (Mar 23, 2012)

Don't work out what your next solve needs to be to get NR average 
(whenever I start a Pyraminx average well, I do this. Just look ay my PB averages)


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## Slowpoke22 (Mar 23, 2012)

Another thing I forgot to mention that has been helpful for me in the past is to simulate as closely as possible all of the events you'll be competing in while someone "judges" your solves. So get a piece of paper, write "Super Official Competition Solves that Really Matter" or something that has an official ring to it, do an average of 5 (or mean of 3) for each event, and do this once a day for several days prior to competition. Have your friend scramble, and wait a few minutes between solves. I think that this sort of practice works better than doing larger averages alone at a rapid-fire pace.


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## whauk (Mar 23, 2012)

i do some fun stuff with my timer before solving. (clapping 5 times, stop with your chin/forehead, 2-cycle your left and right hand)
it makes you feel like everything was a joke.


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## Mollerz (Mar 23, 2012)

Escher said:


> It's something I've been thinking about (and getting annoyed about) for a very long time...
> I once asked Daniel (Sheppz) how he could be so close to his solve times at home in every event and he said 'Why, what other speed am I supposed to be?'.
> 
> I think this says an awful lot about the attitude good competitors have which you see in a lot of sports - don't doubt yourself too much, don't think 'because it's a competition I'll do x thing differently', don't think anything more than just 'lolk solve time now'.
> ...


 
I lol'd at Dsheppz. He was so nervous before his first 4BLD WR.

Time seems to go much slower in competitions for me, I just completely phase out of everything and get into some comfortable zone. I tend to actually do pretty well, in the things I don't care about at least. I've taken that into account and I just practice for speed at home but I try my best to have fun in competition and not think about the results or anything. I tend to do a bit better at competitions than at home.


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## Daniel Wu (Mar 23, 2012)

Breathe. Take a deep breath before starting. It really helps as far and focusing in on the cube and keeping concentration.

At MIT Spring, I was holding my breath during a 4x4 solve and almost passed out halfway through edges.


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## cubingawsumness (Mar 23, 2012)

I've only been to one competition, and at that time, my average at home was 30-35 secs. However, my expectation for myself was way lower, like 45+ secs. After the first solve was a 27.xy, I was like, whoa! I hadn't felt like I had gone particularly quickly. Another thing, I don't look at the timer while I'm solving. This is probably due to the fact that I don't have a speedstacks timer, and therefore aren't used to looking downwards, but anyway, it helps keep me from rushing my solve at the end.
I have no clue what it's like to have a possible world record on your shoulders. I'm guessing that it's much worse. However, just do your best and have fun! If you don't get it this time, you will have another chance at your next competition.
And like the person above me, I actually did better at my comp than at home.


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## Riley (Mar 23, 2012)

Just a random thing that helps me, I don't if it will help you, is to solve a different puzzle than what you're about to solve. It makes me do better on the official event somehow. I also do deep breathing, stretch my fingers and wrists, and just tell myself I will do good.


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## Erik (Mar 23, 2012)

Bob said:


> I just don't care.  When you've competed 89 times, you don't get nervous.


 
Ooo, does that mean I won´t be nervous anymore after 10 more comps? 
Srsly, I'm still nervous for the more important events after 79 comps. I learned to not care about Clock or anything though ^^

Maybe it's the badass-ness Bob has?


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## Thompson (Mar 23, 2012)

If you go with a friend or girlfriend or whatever, bring them to the competition and talk to them throughout the day. Your mind won't be too concerned with getting such great times and you won't be as nervous!


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## antoineccantin (Mar 23, 2012)

At MIT spring, I found that when doing Master Magic, it helped me a lot to do a couple Magic solves right before.


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## Joël (Mar 23, 2012)

1. Look at the floor when walking to the table, don't look at the audience. Something that helped me to get some PB averages, is to avoid contact with anyone, especially with the audience. I really just looked at the floor, or the cube, but nobody else. This might look weird (or even autistic), but it certainly helps me.

2. Pretend the audience isn't there. Block all your thoughts. Don't allow your brain to think about anything. Practicing meditation might be a way to teach yourself how to block thoughts and empty your mind. 

3. Don't waste any energy. Before inspection, relax all the muscles in your body, take 1 or 2 deep breaths, while blocking all thoughts. During the solve, don't waste energy by shaking your head or talking.

4. Read what Chris Hardwick said.


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## kinch2002 (Mar 23, 2012)

Sorry for being arrogant, but I regard myself as a bit of a pro at being calm at comps, having been at the other end of the spectrum a while back.
My first official solve was a 6.38 2x2 LL skip. I was just a little bit nervous 
Short version: Rowan's idea that your mindset should be *'lolk solve time now'* sums it up perfectly for me! For non-bld events anyway.

I'm mainly bouncing off Chris because he makes lots of interesting points at once - saves me trawling through everybody's!



cmhardw said:


> 1) Practice a lot beforehand so that everything about your solving becomes muscle memory. This will help you be able to know what to do even when you're under pressure.


Actually I don't like practising lots before a comp. It makes me care too much. Instead, practise during the months before, and not much in the week leading up to it, just so that you forget how good you are at an event!



cmhardw said:


> 3) At the competition on the day of, try not to talk to people between solves. It's nice to talk to people yes, but if you talk to people between solves you lose your focus. Put on your blindfold/earmuffs/headphones etc. to make it obvious that you're concentrating right now and don't want to talk to anyone.


I like having people around who I'm comfortable with, especially the judge. A bit of a light-hearted atmosphere helps me. Before starting a bld attempt I do have a short focus time after the joke or two though.



cmhardw said:


> 5) Compete inwardly, NOT outwardly.
> Competing inwardly means to compete such as to beat your own personal goals, as they relate to your times only. Try to beat the result you got at the last competition (beat the time you got, NOT your placement in the competition). Try to beat your pb single or average, etc.
> Competing outwardly means "*I* will beat *YOU*". An example is "I will place in the top 10", or "I will podium", or "I will break the WR". Competing outwardly is VERY stressful, but competing inwardly is not as much.


 Yes yes yes! I used to care so much about getting NRs and winning events and stuff. Now I realise that beating people doesn't make me a better person than them, so why am I trying so hard to do so? For me, I prefer to aim to live up to my own expectations. So in 4bld, beating my own WR didn't mean much more to me than getting an OPB, which I knew I could well do. It's just a comp after all, so why not just do what you do the same at home?

One other thought - do lots of events. Keeps your mind off your 'main' events during the rest of the day. Also, if you fail in those, you're bound to have got some randomly nice results in the other events.


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 24, 2012)

kinch2002 said:


> One other thought - do lots of events. Keeps your mind off your 'main' events during the rest of the day. Also, if you fail in those, you're bound to have got some randomly nice results in the other events.


 
This really helps me. That's why I like to do everything - if I happen to have a really bad day for BLD (which definitely happens sometimes), I can at least enjoy the fact that I maybe got a PB in something else. It's nice to have something to feel good about at every competition.


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## drewsopchak (Mar 24, 2012)

antoineccantin said:


> At MIT spring, I found that when doing Master Magic, it helped me a lot to do a couple Magic solves right before.


 I think he's talking about real events though.


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## antoineccantin (Mar 24, 2012)

drewsopchak said:


> I think he's talking about real events though.


 
It just an example.


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## Carrot (Mar 24, 2012)

I have no idea how to do good at comps


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## Carson (Mar 26, 2012)

Mindset has a lot to do with this. Here is how I conceptualize a competition:
So, a bunch of friends (we are friends right?) decide to meet up in a common place to solve some cubes. Most of us solve cubes everyday, so that's not really anything special. We hang out for a few hours, do a bunch of solves, share some "trade secrets", and hope that some of our official solves were nice enough for us to improve our averages. Often, we go out to eat afterwards and take our cubes into the restaurant because that's just what we do. At the end of the day, we go home and probably cube some more before we go to bed.

If you make a big deal out of a competition, you will be nervous. The only difference between competing and hanging out with friends and cubing is that we plug a display into the back of your timer at the competitions.

Oh, and this is by far the most epic quote I have seen in awhile:


cmhardw said:


> Remember a time in competition that you got really, really nervous and did not perform well - then don't do that this time.


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## musicninja17 (Mar 26, 2012)

You have to convince yourself that nobody gives a flying f***. Just tell yourself that you're back in your room, cubing as usual. Practice cubing under pressure (in crowds/ect.)


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## Sub1Hour (May 2, 2020)

I think that this is a thread worth bumping. Although the odds are slim, I have a chance at the Square-1 podium at Western Championships 2020. Yes, I know this competition is not guaranteed to happen and could be delayed or canceled. anyway, I want to know what keeps you guys calm in competitions. I have an issue with psyching myself out. During a 6x6 solve, I finished reduction and made the mistake of looking at the timer and saw that It was very possible to get the SR single and secure a podium. That solve had a 50-second 3x3 stage and I got 4th. I need help to calm myself down. I am used to competition-like high-stress environments but for some reason, I can easily calm myself down during those situations. Most of those situations are sports games. My main sport is Football (not futbol I'm talking American football) and I am somehow able to subconsciously zone in and focus to the point where the only thing that I can think about or sometimes even visualize/see is my opposing lineman and the quarterback (I play DT and DE). I want to be able to take this to my advantage and find a way to trick myself to focus-in to an incredible degree like I can while playing sports. I have also tried to listen to calming lyricless music while practicing and listen to that same music before I compete. What have you guys done to help calm yourselves and what has worked best?


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## brododragon (May 4, 2020)

Sub1Hour said:


> I think that this is a thread worth bumping. Although the odds are slim, I have a chance at the Square-1 podium at Western Championships 2020. Yes, I know this competition is not guaranteed to happen and could be delayed or canceled. anyway, I want to know what keeps you guys calm in competitions. I have an issue with psyching myself out. During a 6x6 solve, I finished reduction and made the mistake of looking at the timer and saw that It was very possible to get the SR single and secure a podium. That solve had a 50-second 3x3 stage and I got 4th. I need help to calm myself down. I am used to competition-like high-stress environments but for some reason, I can easily calm myself down during those situations. Most of those situations are sports games. My main sport is Football (not futbol I'm talking American football) and I am somehow able to subconsciously zone in and focus to the point where the only thing that I can think about or sometimes even visualize/see is my opposing lineman and the quarterback (I play DT and DE). I want to be able to take this to my advantage and find a way to trick myself to focus-in to an incredible degree like I can while playing sports. I have also tried to listen to calming lyricless music while practicing and listen to that same music before I compete. What have you guys done to help calm yourselves and what has worked best?


I haven't done a comp, yet, but I just do high-intensity stuff before I can think about it. If I can't do that, I just close my eyes and breathe slowly.


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