As a Rubik's Cuber, people often ask me: "Can someone as stupid as me, learn Rubik's Cube?"

First, the answer is yes: yes!

Why do we think Rubik's Cube is difficult to learn?
When I was a kid, my father bought me a Rubik's cube and bought a tutorial book. Compared to the current one-page tutorial, this dozens of pages of tutorials is so bad that even my father didn't learn it in the end.

It’s hard for children to be patient, so shortly after tearing the sticker off and putting it on again, the magic disappeared from the world of my memory. 

In the more than ten years before my friends and I bet on the Internet to find tutorials and learn the Rubik's Cube in one day, I always thought that it was impossible for me to restore the Rubik's Cube.

Then, after piercing the window paper, I taught hundreds of people, from six to seven-year-old boys to 70-year-old grandma, as long as they are willing to start learning, no one can't.

Establish a positive feedback loop: "effort → recognition → confidence"
In the movie "When Happiness Comes Knocking on the Door," Will Smith was given a job opportunity by performing a reduction cube for the boss in a taxi, allowing the boss to teach him his "intelligence quotient and math talent."


In many cases, we are not overwhelmed by difficulties, but are intimidated by ourselves in the face of difficulties. Since others are saying that this matter is difficult, you can't do it, so you accepted this view; but you didn't think about trying it in the past to see how hard it is.

The Rubik's Cube is a typical example. In fact, if you are willing to try an hour and follow the online video tutorial to learn the Rubik's Cube, you will find that the restoration process is actually very simple, and you don't need to master any profound mathematical principles.

At present in China, most people still think that the Rubik's Cube is a toy for high-smart people. Those who can restore the Rubik's Cube independently are still very few compared with those who know the Rubik's Cube. If you can restore a Rubik's cube, it doesn't even need to be fast (1 minute is the entry level), it is easy to get praise from others. This experience is invaluable to the vast majority of people who are hard to get praise in their studies and work (generally only the top 10% have a chance).

We all know that trying to do one thing requires continuous effort, but few people realize the importance of positive feedback:

Effort → Be recognized by others → Self-confidence → Continue to work hard
Effort → Not recognized by others → Inferiority → No more effort

Through your own efforts to get recognition from others, and then build self-confidence; and self-confidence will make you more willing to work hard and gain recognition from others in more areas. If you haven't established this positive feedback loop, the Rubik's Cube may be a good breakthrough.

Exercise your ability to concentrate
Playing Rubik's Cube in public places (such as on the subway) is often onlookers. After being onlookers for a long time, you will get used to being onlookers, which can reduce the psychological pressure of public speaking or sharing and reduce stage fright.


When attending a meeting of magic friends, there is often a "PK" link, that is, two or more people disrupt the Rubik's cube with each other, and at the same time, the competition is restored faster (in fact, it is a simplified version of the game). During the PK process, the opponent's hand speed rhythm, the audience's admiration or regret will all exert pressure on you and affect your performance. At similar levels, whoever can maintain more focused attention will have a better chance of winning.


In order to achieve good results in the competition, in addition to strength and luck, the most important thing is to play stability. The first condition for playing stability is to control the mindset. In complex situations (powerful opponents, self-errors, audience noise, referee countdown...), you can still concentrate on one thing.


If you play the Rubik's Cube more, you will understand that you can still concentrate in a complex environment. This is an ability that is required to do anything well in any field.

Discover the nature of the problem
When we first learned the Rubik's Cube, we generally used the layer-first method of five formulas. The vast majority of people are satisfied after they can restore independently, and no longer improve. If no one else can play around, you are already standing in the circle around you, and you really lack the motivation to further improve your level.

But when a friend is playing around, especially when he is playing a little better than you, our inner desire to conquer erupts. We started to learn more advanced CFOP methods, memorize more formulas, buy better racing cubes, carefully polished and lubricated...all this is to surpass and defeat others. Of course, there are very few people just to overcome themselves.

When a field is in a pioneering period, it is often through diligence and hard work that a new era can be created. When a field has matured, it needs a deeper understanding of its essence, continuous improvement and optimization of every link, and even revolutionary innovation.

One day you will find that the essence of Rubik's cube speed twist is:

Turn/speed = time.

The essence of all advanced methods (CFOP, X-CROSS, COLL...) is to merge steps to reduce the number of revolutions;
The essence of continuous observation, optimization techniques, high-fault tolerance racing cube, polishing and lubrication is to increase the speed.
Find the essence of the problem, and then choose the path with the most impact among various optimization paths, and go firmly. This is the best practice method to solve any problem in any field.

Later words
You may have learned from various sources that in addition to attract a girl's attention, the Rubik's cube can also exercise hand-eye coordination, spatial construction ability, and memory, thereby promoting brain activity and preventing dementia...

Some friends couldn't help but ask: how did you learn the Rubik's Cube after you said for a long time?

in this world,

There is something called Google;
There is an ability called finding information;
There is an attitude called self learning.
Learning is your own business, and don't rely on others.