Over the past several months I’ve noticed that some of us might benefit from a go to thread for encouragement. This is not the “Oh dude, that was amazing thread.” I’m not really after, “post a banger get a bunch of positive comments”, that is cool though.
This thread is more about giving each other tools we use to encourage ourselves to keep progressing. For example:
Yoyo with a purpose:
-Learn a trick or a portion of a trick
-yoyo for relaxation
-yoyo to have fun
-yoyo to be in the moment
-yoyo for exploration-this is the one I’m going to talk about. Does trying to be creative kill your creativity? The harder you try to be creative, the further you move from it. That’s me. So what I do instead of trying to create I explore. Let’s take something simple like a trapeze. I can hit it no problem. Let’s explore trapeze. Can I hit it after a pin wheel, how about hit the trapeze and bounce it off the string so it goes the opposite direction and hits the bottom of the string and changes direction and lands in a trapeze? Can I do the same move as before and throw in a pin wheel each direction? How about throwing in an Oliver Twist each direction? I just keep challenging myself to explore different movements and ideas which lead me into discovering new ideas. Now I can use all of this in tricks I know, or throw it between tricks I know, or change tricks I know, just put it all together however I want and, I have created something without having focused on creating something, if you catch my meaning.
Here is a mountain bike video that falls within the realm of this thread. Starting at 7 minutes they are discussing progress, fun, and challenge and balance.
I think you will find that it relates to yoyoing pretty well.
So, let’s get started! Post anything you think might encourage others in their progression. Yeah, I get that nothing works for everyone but something will work for someone and that’s pretty good!
7 Likes
Grendel
(The Voice of All Grendel’s world wide.)
2
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Throw bind and repeat. Throw bind and repeat. Throw bind and repeat.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
This YoTricks video covers juggling…but it’s got some super useful philosophies for learning just about anything skill based.
They encourage you to seek out failure instead of trying to avoid it…then work with that to progress.
I find this INCREDIBLY difficult and it’s really dashed my enthusiasm in the hobby. To not take my failures personally and internalize them. Instead of using them as something to learn with…I tell myself things like “I suck” or whatever and they crush my spirits.
I get frustrated with my lack of progress. It’s something I don’t know how to move past. I’m impatient. I still struggle like mad with Kamikaze. I can hit it, and I’ve done some pretty cool combos with it I’m quite proud to have caught on camera…but over a year into throwing and I still struggle to get the magic drop. And that really frustrates me as I feel I should be consistent with that.
Then there’s some awesome combos I’ve pulled off (again, on camera)…but I can stand in my room for an hour and not hit those combos again.
So I watch my videos and I feel like a complete fraud. Just because I did those cool combos…doesn’t mean I can ‘do’ them if that makes sense.
I’m still too embarrassed to throw in front of people as I still don’t feel like I know advanced enough tricks and combos to feel cool.
How many of you guys relate with me here?
I had to quit a Trick-A-Week challenge I was part of because I was falling so far behind and it was eating me up inside.
I haven’t really touched a yoyo though for a couple of months now. I’m kinda just in it at the time because I love the community and I very much so plan on picking myself back up eventually and throwing on.
Keep trying. It WILL click and when it does it will have all been worth the effort. If you can’t master a trick, master an element or two of the trick and see where it leads. Trick Ladders serve a purpose but the only real rules of yoyoing is that you throw it and get it to come back to your hand. What you do between the throw and return is up to you.
@twitch77 There are so many people that focus on the failure that it makes learning difficult. In fact that fear can actually keep you from learning. You may have tried these things but just in case you haven’t:
Yoyo in front of a mirror. You may find that things look much differently than you think.
Spend more time celebrating your successes and spend more time thinking about how those movements felt. Even take notes if you are aware of something that you did differently that worked.
Finish on your best performance.
If you can’t finish on your best performance, finish on something that’s just fun. Do a Rattlesnake, Rocket to the Pocket, Bird in hand, grab a beater and walk the dog or Dragster.
Are you planning on competing? Do you have to have a trick down by a certain time? If not, just look at any trick as a combination of moves or tricks and just knock the pieces out one at a time.
Are your expectations realistic? Maybe reconsider your goals.
I have personally accepted that I will always suck at everything I do. No matter how good I get at anything in life, there will always be a ton of people out there better at it than I could ever dream of. Since I’m destined for failure if my goal is to get “good”, I just focus on hitting a flow state and enjoying the process of learning, no matter how it goes compared to how I imagined it to. If a certain trick isn’t vibing with you, just drop it until you find another one that does.
Also, there’s nothing wrong with taking time off. Even if its a year+ before you feel like coming back, the hobby will still be alive and well.
This is such a key thing with me I think. I get so wrapped up and frustrated with all the things I’m NOT hitting that even when I do something cool I just blow it off and continue to feel frustrated with all the other things I’m not hitting.
I had to step back from the Trick-A-Week challenge as I was feeling too much dang pressure (even though I’m fully aware it was all in my head and no one themselves were trying to pressure me into things). I was getting so upset week after week when I wasn’t hitting the target tricks.
I have zero interest in actually ever competing. I’d love to be decent enough to feel like I can throw in front of people (which in my mind would be to have a dozen or so decently difficult/technical combos down that I can do consistently).
haha…I don’t mean to laugh at you, or to take pleasure in this…
But this makes me feel better knowing that I’m not the only person out here that sucks at everthing >.<;.
It’s a damn hard thing to accept!
We can all relate with you on some level or another!
I think many of us fall into the “goals” trap. This applies to all artists. We create an internal goal get better than what we are currently at yoyo. Artists create a goal to sell their artwork. We look at others and compare ourselves and again create a goal to get better through practicing this or more hours of that, all the while with a goal of better tricks and more combos in mind. Artists compare themselves with another and create a goal of better work more sales, making a living as an artist.
Goals are the great trap of the creative arts!!! Remember when you first started yoyoing and then restarted yoyoing? Remember how you had no goals! Remember how it’s was the process of learning the trick that was the fun part not accomplishing a goal of learning the trick? Remember how how fun the process of just learning to yoyo was? Same with all art and any artist. Great painters do not become great by setting a goal to be a great painter. They stay in the present moment of love of the process of painting and great paintings are just the natural outcome. They fixate on the process and through this their own unique style emerges and they have a crazy volume of great works. The fastest way to stifle the creative process and the enjoyment we receive through creative self expression is to compare ourselves with others and create arbitrary goals for ourselves. If you do this you’ll instantly lose the love for the process and remain fixated on the goal and even if you reach some goal the mind will immediately create another goal which creates an endless loop of harder and harder to attain goals and forever blinds the pure enjoyment and spontaneous creativity that comes from staying in the moment of the process.
If you’d really like to do this, you might consider thinking about it differently. Maybe instead of performing in front of others, think of it as sharing what you do and get them involved. If you have some friends that have children you already have a small group. I’ve had parents and grandparents join in with kids. It’s really fun and you don’t have to have insane tricks, just some basics, and if you mess up they think nothing of it.
I’ve only done the “Watch this!” thing a few times two years ago when I first learned brain twister and showed a couple co-workers. I agree with you totally. Think of it as showing, not performing.
Coming from someone who has been fully enjoying yoyoing daily for 2 years now, all you guys who think you suck just don’t get it. A lot of the guys on here or other social media are among the top people in yoyo. Genius level talent, many more years of time and dedication, etc. If you think you suck because you struggle with kamikaze, well, you dont actually suck. That trick a week challenge is just that, a challenge. The longer you last, the more you learn, but if you expect to own every trick, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment.
As for me, I haven’t learned a new trick in over 6 months. I have discovered many tricks and element variations just creating my own tricks, and strive to smooth them down as much as possible. I have developed a killer kwyjibo combo that makes the original feel sterile and boring. I have found “flow” and can just yoyo from element to element based on how the yoyo im playing with wants to play.
Would I like to expand my trick library? Absolutely. But im thoroughly content with yoyoing at my modest abilities and consider myself fairly decent compared with your average non-competitive yoyoer. Whenever I get to the point where I feel like I need inspiration from learning a new trick, i’ll either create a really fun and challenging combo on my own, or stumble across a element. I have tons to learn and know that im just scratching the surface of what is possible, but I enjoy just playing yoyo and that is good enough for me.
Well said my friend. I have been taking part in TaW for 40 something weeks. I think I’ve learned 3 tricks… but i have masterd a bunch of elements. My FS and SS have variety and flow!
I like what was said at the beginning. Explore a element like teapez. Personally I’ve been playing with FrontStyle Barolrolls and all the variety of elements. I discovered 2 elements on my own just playing. I learned a new entrance And exit into aGT just by paying attention… and practicing. Mostly by trying new elements and combos that yesterday i thought where impossible.
This thread really hits on a bunch of issues I have!
Juggling will certainly test most folks for how much failure they can handle. I pushed through learning to juggle balls a year or so ago and I’m working on clubs now. If I hadn’t worked so hard trying to learn certain yo-yo tricks I would have convinced myself that I would not be able to do it, but learning to see even the tiniest gains, and then hammering at the basics (repeating the failures) got me through it.
As far as yo-ing or juggling in front of people, I do feel real timid and it is hard, but I try think about two things. First thing is the way I feel when I see people that are throwing yo-yos or juggling, I never feel like they shouldn’t be doing it because they aren’t skilled enough, I’m always happy to see it. Second thing I try to remember is most folks could absolutely care less, and I just shouldn’t worry about it!
Encouragement: Some days nothing a tad complicated seems to work too well for me so I have a few what I call “micro combos” that I know I can hit pretty much all the time. They are just short ditties that remind me that I DO have skill and keep my confidence level up and these micro combos are usually just 5 or 15 seconds long and also work as stress relievers that I can bust out at work. Even an extremely short combo can be amazing!
When you feel discouraged and you keep at it, reward yourself with a new yoyo. When you do really well, reward yourself with a new yoyo, if you reward yourself enough you will have yoyos to give to friends and family. Giving is always rewarding.
7 Likes
Grendel
(The Voice of All Grendel’s world wide.)
19
I would also encourage throwing wood and plastic and metal. Not at the same time. But learn to throw fixed axle wood along with all the rest. Also try the imperial shape I think it makes you better.
