My 2x2 Mistake

At my last competition I competed in 2x2 and did okay; not great, but better than my last 2 competitions with 2x2. To sum up what happened before last comp, I learned EG-1 and how to one look 2x2 solves. Then I got 1 good average, and followed it up by bombing every average after that and then I stopped competing in 2x2. Why?

I think the reason for this was because I put too much pressure on myself to be good at 2x2, while also not understanding that there was no place in this world for me to be good at 2x2 quite yet. I learned it way too fast, and that's not how learning works.

I took on this challenge because I felt like I was capable of doing it, given my long experience with learning algorithms and predicting piece movement. And in reality, I was capable of doing it. In fact, I did it!

But what ended up happening was I didn't like practicing 2x2 all that much, as it required way too much effort to one look every solve and I would get tired very quickly.

Then when competitions rolled around, I felt an immense pressure to relearn everything I had forgotten from 2x2 from lack of practice. This resulted in very little preparation, too much expectation, and horrible results. So that's why I decided to just stop competing in 2x2 for a while and focus on other events.

Now you could say that, as a competitive person, it's okay to have high expectations and learn quickly. The problem was in my discipline.

That's a 100% valid way to look at it, but I don't think it's a useful perspective in this case. I think it's usually better to evaluate choices in a different way.

Instead of what SHOULD happen, imagine what WOULD happen.

I always hold myself to such a high standard, that in the past I would feel bad for not doing something right, or making the wrong choices, because ideally, I wouldn't be that way. And since I have free will, it's dumb for me to act that way. For example, procrastinating school work. It's so simple; just do the work earlier. In fact, it's equivalent in time spent, and less stressful. It's obviously better, and objectively, it's easier on yourself not to procrastinate.

The problem: that isn't how people work. To assume that anyone, including yourself, is rational, is a completely irrational thought.

People buy gym memberships without using them, and guilt themselves into continuing to pay, on the off chance that they will go. For you, even if it's not a gym membership, this sort of guilt and lying to yourself probably exists in your life. The general idea is thinking you'll do something that you won't actually do. Maybe it's eating healthy, going to more social events, etc. or something more specific like within cubing, school, sports, career, skill building, etc.

You have free will. But don't expect to always use it. Nobody does that.

So yes, you could say I was being lazy with 2x2. If I really wanted to be good at it, I should have dedicated more time and energy to it. But 2x2 was not my main goal, I just wanted to be good at it along with many other things. And that's usually how goals work in real life. Sure anyone can have a main goal, but usually you have plenty of little goals. gym clothes to sleep so your morning routine is easier". But for ourselves, often it's "I just need to actually go tomorrow instead of being lazy". But that kind of thinking just doesn't work.,

So yes you could say I was being lazy with 2x2. If I really wanted to be good at it, I should have dedicated more time and energy to it. But 2x2 was not my main goal, I just wanted to be good at it along with many other things. And that's usually how goals work in real life. Sure anyone can have a main goal, but usually you have plenty of little goals.

With little goals, you have to prioritize which ones to work on. Sometimes, some goals just get left behind, but you still feel the pressure from it.

Being good at 2x2 was one of my little goals, and I just wasn't being real with myself about it. I tried way too hard to be better than I should have been after a short period of time, and it really hindered my long-term progress and mentality. As you might know from part 4 of my animation series on youtube, I highly encourage gradual habit changes in the pursuit of goals. Saying "I'll do [this new thing] every day" is just unrealistic, as it goes against human nature*. And if you try to do that, you'll be fighting against millions of years of evolution (so don't do that).

At my last competition, I really took the pressure off myself for 2x2. I 1-looked a solve when I could easily, and 2-looked when it was too hard. I got 2 decent averages, slightly better than I expected each time.

Now I actually practice 2x2 sometimes! Not very often, as it's not one of my main events, but often enough that I'll probably improve at an acceptable rate. The lie I told myself was that I'd practice 2x2 enough, and the reason that didn't work out was because of the truth: I made it way too hard to practice (learning too much at once and expecting myself to implement it all).

The new truth is this: I don't have to 1-look every 2x2 solve, and if I don't improve much, whatever. I'll learn new things and push myself when I really feel the desire to improve. Not when I feel the pressure to perform.

Epilogue:

*You don't have to read this part, but here's my explanation for why this goes against human nature (which I might have cut out from the animation? I forgot).

If you're a caveman who lives near your cave, you will stay there as long as you have enough food and water there. If you head far away from your cave, you might be fine. But you might also die, which would not happen if you just stayed home. Therefore, natural selection favors staying home. This explains why we have such a hard time doing new things for a long time; it's like leaving home. Our brains are wired not to do that.

Now you might wonder why people migrate to new continents, cities, etc. Usually this is done in pursuit of opportunity, because your old place was not good enough for you. This is why it may take a depressive period of your life before you start fixing problems that you've had since the beginning. We only naturally make changes when everything would be too unbearable without it.

Setting a little goal does not mean you're missing anything though. It just means you'd like to have a bit more, which is not the same thing at all. You're totally fine without it, so your brain is more like the caveman who loves his home.

This is all a simplification, so don't quote me on psychological nuances. The point is that understanding this can help improve your life, which I hope it has :)