So I’ve been yoyoing for about a year and 4months-ish now and it’s really been a lot of fun. But I’m not really having that feeling I used to have where I want to learn a ton of new tricks all the time everyday. I havn’t been getting better at yoyoing really. I have found that I like making tutorial videos and teaching new tricks more than i like learning new tricks.
Now there is no way I’m going to quit. I love this stuff too much and I do learn some new tricks, just not like I used to. But what do you guys do to make sure your improving?
I’m self motivated. If I want to do something, I go and learn to do it. Hence, how I am with yoyo. Fortunately I don’t get bored yet. I’m satisfied doing the same limited set of stuff I know, but at the same time, I am trying to learm more. 1.5 Mount is my challenge. I got a bunch I’m trying to work on. I know if I put the time in, I can get it.
If I do get bored, I’ll grab a different yoyo to break things up.
The truth is the better you get at something the more work it takes to improve. When you first start yoyoing it’s all new. So much to learn from easy to complex. The learning curve is pretty much vertical. After you have acquired some skills the curve begins to flatten a bit, you learn at a decreased rate and instead of learning as many tricks you begin to refine what you know. You acquire more skills and the curve levels out a bit more as you learn to apply all of those elements into your own tricks. Now becoming creative has more relevance than it has before. No more just watching vids and copying what you see, trial and error, success and failure in creating your own stuff. Sometimes taking days, weeks, or even longer just to come up with the next element that excites or intrigues you. All things change with time, including yoyoing. It’s part of the growth.
“Better,” what does that really mean? Learning tricks? Refining what you know? Creating? I’m sure you are getting better if you are yoyoing but maybe it’s time to measure your gains differently than you have in the past.
When I’m practicing, and especially when I’ve got a new trick going pretty well, I usually always look for ways that I could slightly change the trick or transition into a different trick before moving onto learning a new one. If I can find that opportunity, trying it out always motivates me to practice more than just watching a trick tutorial and attempting a stock trick does.
Not as if I suspect no one else is doing this, but that’s what keeps me daydreaming about it and coming back to practice. I think it’s because the success rate is higher. Making 2 or 3 small changes to a trick is easier to master than starting from scratch all the time.
The truth is that nothing motivates me more too yo-yo than realizing how much I suck. It's not that I'm really bad at yo-yoing, it's just that when I go to yo-yo contests I realize how amazing everyone else is. That makes me want to be better than them.
thanks guyS
I have tried getting into different styles. I tried 2A but got a little discouraged because it took me 2 months to learn loop the loop with my right hand. now 'll try 5A
I think around the year and a half point is when I got stuck with making up tricks too. The good news is, after you leave that stage in a few weeks, you’ll be making tricks that are MUCH better than your old ones. It’s just a phase.
As for motivation… this is easily the most motivational freestyle I have ever seen (might just be because he has the crowd so loud you can barely hear the music). His tricks are really cool:
I recently hit the boredom wall. I just couldn’t find any joy in 1a. I decided to pickup 4a and that ended the boredom very quickly. So I would recommend trying another style and coming back to 1a later.
maybe you went too far with “learning new tricks” rather than creating your own.
maybe try another style 3,4 or 5A. They have only few tutorials and pretty much right away, you have to build your own tricks rather than learn new tricks from tutorials.
don’t always play to learn, sometimes play to play, just move the yoyo around randomly, see what you can come up with, play with mounts, pinch, use your thumb more, see what happens.
to me it’s much less about learning than it is about simply expressing myself. The learning part is nice when you start, so you can get the basics, but I play for 1&1/2 year now and it’s been a long while since the last time I watched a tutorial. (that said, I play 5A so it’s not like there was tons of tutorials out there anyway).
watch videos too, get ideas from there.
and obviously, go to meetings, the larger the better. this is the very best way to get better. by far.
I think I hit a wall about 4-5 years ago, being one of very few players in my country and having really slow internet means that I do feel very isolated, and often struggle to stay motivated to learn anything new.
I still loving throwing though, even though I pretty much keep doing the same old tricks I’ve been doing for years… I find it calming, in a way, and that’s a good thing. Wish I did know more tricks though…
