Hmm, I'm thinking that not only me, but almost everyone suffers from days that he or she doesn't feel like himself/herself :/
Recently, the weather in Hanoi changes drastically and I caught a common cold. I thought it was just a minor one and I'll be relieved one or two days later. But what I found and what I'm gonna address in this blog is that my thinking process and logical ideas do not work very well days like these, or even a long time after.
Before the weather change, I was hyped. I was motivated and able to sit at the desk coding for 9 to 10 hours a day! Before that I had a huge news that I've got in Vietnam team of 15 for Asia-Pacific I.O. which came very surprising even for me (it wasn't even in my wildest dream back then lol =)))) ). My code then was pretty well organized and my logic was really smooth, which made me feel invincible and nothing can't stop me from reaching my highest peak as a student programmer (believe me, if you are a hardcore competitive programmer, at least once in your lifetime that you think you're tourist!).
But in 2 of my most recent contest: 1151 and 1155, I failed miserably. I got stucked with something that normally I shouldn't be stucked. I got easily distracted during contest (not by smartphones or anything, it just my head does not focus only on numbers while solving problems). My bugs were full of codes and my logic was purely a laughing stock. I couldn't blame anything but myself.
The problem is that this is not the first time I experience this kind of problem. Not a long time ago, I experienced this while training for Vietnam Team Selection Test for APIO. I gave up back then and not practicing anything for more than a month because I think I cannot catch up to them (that's why the fact that I nailed the TST was really, really surprising, even for me). But I can't afford to do the same again, because nailing that test wasn't even my intention and I don't have much time and that much of stupidity to do so. There's only less than a month left, I need to work efficiently!
Asking all the hardcore competitor on Codeforces, from LGM to Newbie: During these bad days, what would you do to freshen yourself and efficiently get back to work?