The #1 Mindset Hack That Helped Me Become Square-1 World Champion
There are a variety of reasons why people get nervous in the heat of the moment, so don’t expect this to give a perfect one size fits all cure
As such, good mentality advice needs to be tailored to the individual and requires a working understanding of Psychology, which I do not possess, but that doesn’t mean that the following advice won’t help you
There are certain things you can do that are well understood to be beneficial, for example reading books or hitting the gym (good luck finding evidence of these two things being BAD for you in any way that isn’t stupidly specific like injuries from lifting like an idiot or reading books with misinformation)
Anyways, one such “smart” habit that I believe can really benefit competitors in any realm (including cubing), is that of mindfulness meditation
"wtf Jay that sounds lame as balls"
I agree with you. Truth be told, these days even though I could set aside the time to practice it, I cannot be bothered
At the same time, I think my meditation practice leading up to Worlds 2017 in Paris might just have been the deciding factor that lead to me taking home the gold by a mere 0.10
On top of that, meditation is proven to be among the biggest "smart" habits that are known. It's quite literally on the same level of reading books and exercise when it comes to just how damn good it is for you
If you want a pragmatic and easy to follow plan for building your mindfulness meditation muscles, scroll down to the last headline of this blog post for my "Meditation Improvement Plan"
The rest of this post is effectively going to be my journey that lead me to meditation, and what pitfalls and mentality related failures I had to endure before finally becoming a World Champion
If you're the kind of person who's got big goals and wants some insider info on what it takes to truly reach the top, keep reading
Worlds 2015 and some background
Worlds 2015 in Brazil was the 2nd Worlds I had attended, and the first one where I had a realistic shot of winning any event
2x2 and Skewb were the events that I knew I could win since I was #1 on the psych sheet for both events, and the WR holder in Skewb going into the event
Anyways, like most people at their first competition where they can "do something big" whether it's get their first record, nationals podium, even their first shot at winning 3x3, I choked hardcore
I would personally say that for most cubers, it takes crumbling under pressure in a way that really, really badly hurts in order for you to realize just how seriously you need to take mental preparation if you wanna make it big
It's a lot like how people generally getting into lifting
No one says "hey it'd be like totally neat to be fit and toned, so I’m going to get a gym membership on a whim and get abs in a week” while actually getting results
Usually it's more the "I hate the way I look naked and I'm willing to do ANYTHING to change this self-esteem destroying fact" mentality that leads to real, meaningful change
Buzzwords like "motivation" and "power of being positive" are all well and nice on the ears, but GENUINE CHANGE usually starts with trauma of some kind. This is why most new years resolutions fail, because if you truly cared about making such a change you wouldn’t be waiting for an arbitrary date to do so
Now back to the story
For Skewb at Worlds 2015, I had to compete at ~9AM due to the scheduling which was less than ideal
I know that the reason I didn't win was nothing to do with the timing (I mean, it was 9AM for everyone else including the winner lol)
None the less, it was less than ideal and I don't think anyone in the final was thrilled about the conditions
First few solves I recall went OK, but they were noticeably slower than my average times and I knew I was cutting it close rather than pulling a decisive victory
On the 4th or 5th solve I plus 2'd in such a way that my average would be worse, and that was basically it
After the round I found out I had still somehow gotten 2nd, losing to Daniel Wallin who got NR average at like 3.7x, something that I knew I was capable of
That being said, even if my mental game and execution at the time were on point, it would still have been very close between us
I'm glad I realized that early on, because had I been beating myself up over "blowing it", then I think I would have done a lot worse in my other events due to carrying negative momentum (something I'll talk about later in this email)
2x2 finals on the other hand were very within reach, and I absolutely blew it, despite being very warmed up in the hands (not so much in the mind)
First solve was easy but I one looked wrong and DNF'd. I should mention that unlike Skewb, 2x2 final was in front of a real crowd, and this was a very new experience for me since unlike Worlds 2013, where I made a few finals and knew I probably wouldn't podium
This time, eyes were ON ME
Next 3 solves were all low 2, and I knew that had the first solve gone the way it should have, I would already have low 2 and the first place victory based on the other peoples times that I could hear and see
Solve 5, I one look wrong again, have to change my solution last second and got a counting 3 for a 2.4x average, barely giving me 3rd place when the winning average was 2.3x
That one hurt a hell of a lot more than Skewb...
The rest of my results that competition were god awful, including the 3x3 finals
I was too down on myself to really focus, which is a damn shame because in hindsight I actually had a real shot of podiuming 3x3 (only needed to solve slightly faster than my semi-finals average)
Negative momentum in a nutshell
What I learned
Although I didn't know anything about meditation, I knew that Feliks had practiced for 2013 by simulating competition pressure using audio tracks of crowds, as well as solving with minute long breaks instead of doing a typical at home avg5
The night before Skewb finals I did something similar without crowd sound
What ended up happening was I did an avg100 instead, but the last 5 solves I took that minute break
Also I didn't use stackmat which was another key mistake
In the end, all I acheived was a lost an hour of sleep doing the equivalent of trying to learn a whole subject the night before an exam (which I was notoriously guilty of in my younger years)
2x2 I don't think I even practiced much of at all because I thought I could rely on "being a natural"
Arrogance certainly can be useful in life and mental preparation, but not like that...
In short, I knew that I didn't give it my all, or even half of my all.
On top of that, telling myself that "I didn't even care, that's why I didn't try" didn't exactly work either
I could very clearly tell that I cared.
I was pissed that I blew what at the time felt like my only shot at ever being a World Champion
At the time, my interest in 2x2 and Skewb as events I would take seriously heavily waned
I only ever got 1 more OcR in 2x2 after that competition, and a few Skewb OcR singles thanks to lucky scrambles over the next few years
Worlds 2017, and how I prepared
At the start of the year, I bought a bunch of books that I thought could maybe get on the right track when it came to preparing like a real athlete
The one that I think stuck with me the most was 'The Inner Game of Tennis'
One main idea that I got from that book was the concept of Self 1 and Self 2, and how in order to get into a "flow" state, one has to separate their ego from their physical being and let their unconscious learned abilities take over
There were some other books I read as well that may or may not have helped at Worlds 2017, but none of it compared to what I learned from 'The Inner Game of Tennis'
Anyways, when I looked back on Worlds 2015 I realized that both in Skewb and 2x2, I definitely let my ego get in the way and got stuck in my own head, worrying about "how other people are solving" and "how I'm making mistakes" or even "what I needed to do in order to win"
Basically, I was thinking a whole bunch of unhelpful nonsense instead of just directing my focus to "doing the solve and executing what I know"
Staying grounded in the present
One piece of advice that was offered across just about every book I read on the topic of competitive mentality was on practicing mindfulness meditation
The main premise behind mindfulness meditation was that by spending time focusing on one's breath, and learning to bring your mind back to your breath in spite of whatever you might be thinking or feeling, over time you would learn to detach from your own thoughts and build the skill of bringing yourself back into the present
So, other than some half assed bicep curls I was doing in my bedroom, along with eating less unhealthy food (but certainly not eating healthily either), really, the main lifestyle change I made leading up to Worlds was practising meditation
The lead up to Worlds 2017 and how I discovered the meditation "hack"
So, before Worlds I was offered to attend the LatAm Cubing Tour 2017, along with Feliks, Antoine Cantin, Jeremy Fleischman, and some other unofficial guests
Because I joined so late and already had flights booked for London Open in the UK the week before Worlds, I had to cut my trip 2 countries short
In hindsight, I'm actually pretty glad it worked out like this, because on the tour I was definitely starting to feel some pretty heavy burnout
A burnout that I would again experience one year later on the West Coast Cubing Tour that came with its own struggles
I will say that the burnout ended up being a good kind of burnout, because when you're "sick of competing" it definitely takes the edge off and is an overall net positive for your nerves
When I was on the tour, after the first couple competitions something in my mind clicked relating to meditation, which I had been practising the months prior when I wasn't busy travelling to a new country every damn week
I thought about all the cubers I had seen over the years who would take deep breaths before doing official solves, and realised that would be the perfect way to implement meditative breathing
From then on out, I would do one or two meditative breaths before every official solve, as well as sometimes in the waiting area if I felt I needed to calm myself down
Almost immediately I started seeing noticeable improvements in my official times, even if the PB's weren't rolling in just yet
I kept up this habit all the way up to and throughout Worlds, even meditating before official Pyraminx solves (an event I care zero for)
My Worlds 2017 experience
Going into Worlds I knew that if I wanted to take home the gold, it would have to be with a win in either FMC, 2x2, or Square-1
According to psych sheet predictions and even my results leading up to Worlds, I actually thought Square-1 would be the hardest to win, since at London Open I got 1.8x and 1.6x averages in 2x2, and FMC at the time I was often getting 26-28 move solutions, whereas Square-1 I choked and didn't even podium the London competition
I had just started getting comfortable with CSP, and would often mis-inspect in competition, get nervous due to hearing 12 seconds on almost every solve, as well as lock up due to the high level of turning accuracy needed for the event
Day 1 of Worlds was when the FMC results were decided. After the first 2 attempts I already had a shot at podium, but winning was a little out of reach
On the 3rd attempt, I absolutely choked trying to take advantage of a lucky start I didn't know how to deal with properly, effectively wasting half of the attempt over nothing
I was pissed, entirely at myself for letting that slip so easily. I never tried the scramble again to see what I could have found with more time, but a podium was very much possible
I still had a shot in 2x2 and Square-1 though, so I knew I had to stay focused
Over the next few days I would start out strong in both events, getting OcR for Square-1 and 2nd in the first round, as well as top 5 in 2x2 round 1 which is notoriously difficult to place well in that early of a major competition
The following round for Square-1 was good but not quite as good as round 1, I think I got 4th. 2x2 round 2 was nothing great but I knew thought I had 2 rounds to go
2x2 semi finals I started with 3 great times, and then +2d and mis-inspected the last 2 solves respectively, not even getting to the final round
So, now my only chance at a win was a longshot win in Square-1
By this point I had given myself a little more confidence since I placed pretty well in the first 2 rounds in spite of mistakes made in both averages, plus they were both sub my PR before Worlds
I knew both averages were very close to being sub 10 material, which I knew could get me the win
Square-1 final round
The final round came, I had just finished warming up with Daniel Karnaukh who would go on to get 3rd
After my warm up I was confident I could do it as my simulated average with Daniel was sub 10
First solve I got a 7 with an EP skip, Daniel got a 6 with either an EP skip or Adj-adj EP (I don't recall which)
Next 3 solves for me were a high 9 , a 10, and an 11, with Daniel getting a 7, a 13, and a 10 or 9
Rookie mistake on my part to watch Daniel's solves, but I couldn't help myself. Luckily I had no idea Firstian Fushada was also killing it, and would go on to get second with an average .1 worse than mine
Here's the important detail though
Because of the fact I was used to doing meditative breathing before each solve, regardless of whatever else was going on around me, when it came time to solve, I could silence my self talk and activate my unconscious self, and let muscle memory and raw focus get me into a state of flow
Now would it have been better to not try and see what other people were getting?
Of course!
However this time around, unlike Worlds 2015, I had the tool I needed to "get myself out of my own head"
If I hadn't been practicing meditation, I would have very easily become dejected because of the fact that after Daniel's first 3 solves, he only needed 2 11's to beat me which is very easy for someone of his skill level
Long story short, I stayed in the zone, the last solve ended up being a low 9 which nearly got me a sub 10 average in spite of a counting high 10 after the first 4 solves
I did my best this time, and with the help of some fortune going my way, I took home the gold!
Going back to what I mentioned earlier about negative momentum, this time I had very very positive momentum, because for the rest of the competition I truly did not care what my results were
I could have DNF'd every single final and broken both of my arms for all I cared. I won. I was GLOWING with joy
Along the way I got my overall PB average in 5x5 (first ever sub 1 too), as well as 5th in One-Handed finals with a 12.4x PR average (.1x from podium too, but no salt obviously because WORLD CHAMP BOYSSS)
I guess if there's a small lesson there, it's that being able to celebrate the smallest wins can potentially be helpful at competitions, though nothing can really beat having a big win like that ;)
Overall Meta Lesson
Being a fast cuber ain't easy, and achieving what you want to achieve in cubing is even harder
You're going to make mistakes, have heartbreaking fails and losses, and you're sure as hell going to want to quit at least once, if not a few times
It's part of the process, and if you're getting amazing times but still having such heartbreaking failures, then that's how you know it's only a matter of time before you get your big success
For every cuber like Feliks, Mats, Max, and anyone else you know who have broken so many records and won so many titles, you can best believe they have had to deal with at least as many heartbreaking failures and obstacles along the way
Be willing to fail. The person who never fails is the person who never lives. Failure just means you're on the path to success. Don't fear failure. Don't avoid failure
MEDITATION IMPROVEMENT PLAN
1. Every day, 1-2 times a day, set aside 5-20 mins where you can sit alone in a comfortable setting where you know you won't be distracted by people or noises
2. Set a timer on your phone for 5-20 mins (a kitchen timer will also work)
3. Close your eyes, sit down (don't lay down because you're more likely to nap and start getting lucid and dreamy)... I would suggest sitting in a chair, or sitting cross legged if you really wanna feel like a woke hippy ass gooroo (this is how I did it)
4. Follow your breath, pin pointing when you hit the apex of your inhale and the very end of your exhale.
The way I do it is by breathing in and out with my nose, but I think the woke hippy gooroo's would tell you to breath out through your mouth. Just do whatever feels natural unless it's mouth-breathing
5. If at any point you catch yourself thinking about absolutely anything other than your breath, whether it's your favourite anime show or that girl who gives you funny looks in math class, simply bring your attention and mind back to your breath
6. DO NOT GET UPSET OR ANNOYED IF YOU SUCK AT KEEPING YOUR MIND ON YOUR BREATH! Seriously, you're going to suck ass at this initially and it's part of the process. This will also train you to detach your emotions from your thoughts as a whole
7. Once your alarm goes off, go about the rest of your day however you were going to go about it
8. When you next compete, take 1-3 meditative breaths before your official solves when you sit down (ideally only using 2-3 if you're feeling especially nervous)
Some additional suggestions
A great time of day to meditate is first thing in the morning once you're not feeling too groggy, because it'll improve your mood for the rest of the day and generally people aren't asking you to do shit in the morning since only serial killers are "morning people"
You should start by just doing this once a day for 5 mins if you absolutely hate it. The important thing is being consistent.
The person who does it once a day for 5 mins at a time is going to make way more improvement than the person who does it twice a day for 20 mins whenever he "feels" like it
That being said, once you start getting the hang of it, push yourself all the way up to 10, 15, and eventually 20 mins.
Once you're there you can also start doing it twice a day if you want
You can also progress by going from 5 mins once a day to 5 mins twice a day, whatever works best for you.
Just make sure you're working on pushing yourself once the routine itself is built
(Habits in general take about 3 weeks to form, so basically give yourself 3 weeks minimum before deciding "bro meditation is so lame")