June Blog Post

What cubing has taught me about life:

When you learn to solve a cube, it may take you 5-10 minutes to complete it. Then magically, even without learning anything new, you're averaging 2 minutes in a matter of days or weeks.

So you learn 7 new OLL algorithms. It all makes sense, and you're able to do it. But somehow, you're slower now?? But then after a few more days of using it, you're back to normal. And a few days after that, you're much faster than before. It was all worth it in the end, even though it didn't seem that way in the start.

So next up is F2L, which is even harder! But you understand that you have a goal in mind, and you keep working on it. Eventually, you did become much faster with OLL. So, you plan to approach it with the same level of discipline.

1. You'll learn it, and it will make you worse at first.

2. You won't focus on anything new for the next while.

3. Repetition will make you much better.

4. When it's all too much, keep the big picture in mind. Sub-10!

This is the formula to improvement that you can learn from pretty much any activity:

If you learn a new technique in chess, trying to use it will lead you down many new game paths you've never explored, and therefore you'll be up against unfamiliar situations (getting worse at first), but then you'll eventually build up the experience to handle it and improve as a result.

If you learn a new shot in tennis, you may lose a crucial point trying to implement it, when instead you could have just played it safe with what you knew. However, always doing this will never lead to you actually learning that shot, or anything new, so obviously it makes sense to get worse at first, and with repeitition you'll become better than you were before.

Compared to other skills, I think this aspect of improvement is really obvious to spot in cubing, because you can always have an objective measure of your current skill (time it takes to solve), along with a pretty objective notion of what you do and don't know (which algorithms you've memorized), and how well you know them (how fast you can recognize and solve cases). For example in chess, if you're playing a slower paced game, then a new technique can be implemented immediately since you have time to think about each new and unfamiliar position. And in tennis, a new shot you learn won't be applicable all that often, and there are usually many more factors than just one shot that are important to consider. But in cubing, things are far more straightforward.

People often ask me why they're slower even though they've learned F2L, and the answer is because they're not good at it yet. You can know something perfectly, but still be ineffective when applying it.

For example, everybody knows how to exercise. Put on your shoes, walk out the door, and run until you're too tired. In addition, many people who don't exercise want to exercise. It's even easier than F2L, because there's no learning step. You just apply it.

But in real life, things are different. If you want to use F2L, you can do 50 solves a day, and 4 F2L slots per solve, for a total of 200 repetitions each day. In real life, you only get to jog once per day, since there are other things in your life that need your time.

So how can you implement a new habit into your life? (example: running)

1. You'll learn it, and it will make you worse at first.

Right now, your life is optimized in a particular way determined by your routine. If you start doing something completely new, you lose valuable time doing that new thing, and you can't spend it on what you used to do. It doesn't matter if what you used to do was eat chips and watch TV. That's still what your life was optimized for in some regard, and breaking that routine is hard because something deep in your brain convinces you that you have to do what you're currently doing.

So you have to accept that. Simply using will-power has never achieved anything meaningful and long term for everybody. When you try to add something new to your life, you will become less effective at what you're currently optimized to do. So you have to pick something you currently spend your time on and convince yourself that you will trade that time for time spent running.

The only way to add more of X into 24 hours is to delete some of Y.

2. You won't focus on anything new for the next while.

To add an entire new routine for your life, you need to devote brain energy to it. This means planning your day around when you'll run, thinking about a nice route to run, who you might run with, what your plan is if they bail, etc. Buying running shoes (or a gym membership) isn't enough. That's just a monetary commitment, which is easy to forget about. You need to have your life somehow revolve around this for a little while. That's a mental commitment, and eventually your brain will be used to it enough that you won't want to stop.

3. Repetition will make you much better.

With F2L you can get 200 reps per day. For running, you get 1. Running more than once per day will probably just become such a large hindrance to your life that you won't want to do it anymore. The only way to get the required reps is to continue for months; maybe not every day, but at least with a plan (like Mon/Wed/Fri from 6:30 am to 7:00 am, not just whenever you feel like it).

4. When it's all too much, keep the big picture in mind!

If you're running because that would make you a more well-rounded and healthier person, forget it. Unless you have 3 hours each day where you're just bored with absolutely nothing to do, I guarantee you this is not a viable motivation (even watching dumb TV shows doesn't count as "bored with nothing to do" because you literally are doing something).

On the other hand, if you're trying to lose 20 pounds, or want to become for fit for the sport you play, or realize that exercise releases happy chemicals in your brain to combat depression, then that's a real motivation. Envision yourself standing on a scale with the number you want to see, or feeling fresh in the tail end of the 3rd set of your tennis match, or having the energy to do your favorite things in life because your brain isn't clouded anymore.

But one day you'll just realize that you've stopped. And when that happens, ask yourself: "Why did I even start?"

And you better have a compelling answer to that question.

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Thanks for reading if you got this far! This topic will be made into a video quite soon :)
I thought this monthly post would just be a way for me to reflect on stuff and make sure I'm moving forward, but this is the first time a video idea has spawned because I realized how important this topic was to me. Hope you enjoy the video when it comes out!