Skills diminishing

[SaintAccardo]

The last two days have been and are so frustrating I actually have pulled out a pretty big plug of hair from my head, I have several holes in my walls from throwing padlocks so hard into them, they stick into the sheet rock and I honestly feel like murdering someone. No one in particular it's just that I am so f $=/% ing mad right now because I have spent almost a month now trying to get good at this and have really been making progress and the last few days it not only seems like my skills have been diminishing but that I've lost everything I've gained except for the most basic locks.
How in the hell does someone get to the level of these FBI guys who's specialty is to break into buildings to bug them? I mean they must have to be pretty consistent in picking because they don't always know what lock they're going to come up on and they're pretty much expected to be able to get in through the lock??? It seems like the experience I've gained on one lock does not carry over to another lock but like I'm starting from square one again.
I'm not really looking for any advice here because I know all you're going to say is "practice" and believe me, my days are filled with practice. I'm not working at the moment so I have all day to practice so I don't know what else to do except maybe take a class in lockpicking from a master lockpicker. Is there any kind of class like this around? Like one taught by a former FBI agent because I would definitely take the course.
More than anything, posting here pulls me away from the locks long enough that I don't destroy anymore of my condo for the time being but since I started this practice, well lets just say, I'm definitely not getting my deposit back on this condo when I move out. The place and walks are utterly destroyed already and my thinking now is "What's one more hole in the wall?"
I really try not to lose it but these locks try my patience to the point of feeling like I'm being tormented in Hell by some demon who knows exactly what and when to with me to make me totally lose my cool. Thank god I don't have a wife or girlfriend right now, as they would have left me weeks ago, but another part of me is bound and determined to become a pro at this no matter what, even if it gives me a heart attack. As there are many hours that go by while trying to pick where I'm just so angry the whole time that my heart is beating really hard and sometimes I feel pain in my chest but I won't quit. Well now I'm going to take my dog for a walk, have a cigarette and come right back to picking again until I open these f$/% € ing locks tonight!

[GWiens2001]

Take a day off. If you are starting out frustrated, picking is much more difficult. For most of us, when we are frustrated, we take a break. We know that we can have an off day.

Gordon

P.S. - If you are serious about being frustrated enough to kill somebody... I live in Argentina.

[Luissen]

It seems like the experience I've gained on one lock does not carry over to another lock but like I'm starting from square one again.

If this is the case, perhaps it's time to do Squelch's pin progression exercise. While things like binding order can be discerned over repeated pickings, to know which pin is binding, from any lock at any stage in the picking process, is a very valuable skill, as are fixing an overset and understanding the effects of manipulating torque depending on the number and types of pins

[critmass235]

not only pin progression. but for all beginner take a dremel and make a cutout. i know i've said this a lot, but seeing it happen really makes a big difference. the different clicks start to make sense. i first made a kwikset key in knob cylinder cut out. all you need is a dremel and some cutoff wheels. at first i recapped it with aluminum for cans(easy to make and cheap) once one see what your doing you can really picture it in your mind. then you can file out some driver pins to spools and see it in action too . use the same lock and practice without looking and if you're stuck,look and see what's going on(oversets etc...)thats how i really starting getting better. if you want i can post a pic of my old cutout. im thinking of cutting out one of my schlages soon.

[KPick]

Take a chill pill man. That whole throwing locks at the wall thing is going to catch up to you someday soon.

Just take a break and woosa.. LoL my friend use to tell me that one all the time, but yeah..

Lock picking is one of those things that is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Are you sure it's for you?

[Joe Gerardi]

Strongly suggest you give up this activity. If you're not 12 years old, you have serious anger management issues, and you need to address those first before moving on to pastimes that might frustrate you.

..Joe

[Mikeh727]

Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out...

This isn't an easy skill to master in a short period of time for most people. I know it isn't for me. I'm a mediocre picker at best. Yep, it's frustrating at times, so I set down my picks and do something else. I know play with dial locks more than I do picking and I've found that to be enjoyable and maybe even a little easier for me than picking. But I still pick and still find it frustrating at times.

So relax and take it as it comes. Maybe it's your thing, maybe it isn't. But it's supposed to be fun. If it's not fun anymore, take a break for a while.

-Mike

[FarmerFreak]

You've been at this for what? A month!? Is that all?

Ok, let's make this as perfectly clear and blunt as possible.

Lock picking takes patience, if you don't have a lot of patience, then you will never be good at lockpicking!

You haven't been at it long enough to have lost any skill yet. If you think you have then you clearly don't have the patience. Then maybe, just maybe, you should find another hobby. One that won't frustrate you so much.

Like me or hate me, I'm just giving it to you straight.

[billdeserthills]

So what's all this about becoming a pro? You mean like a locksmith? Or you mean like a somewhat fictional secret agent man? Anyhow the story is similar between the two, neither profession would leave home assuming that the one picking tool he carries will open every lock he might see that day.
It sounds to me like you need to distance yourself from your "new" hobby. I have much the same temper you do, tho I haven't pulled any hair out yet I will throw things that piss me off through the wall. I haven't tossed any locks, but the tv remote has seen the inside of the wall before.
Dude why not get into some alternate ways of opening locks? Most anything can be opened in a different manner, I know when I walk up to open a car I already have 3 dif methods in mind, because I hate looking like a fool in public. You need options, and I'm quite sure the secret agent man will agree that he carries more than just one way into a padlock.

Also as I have said before, You need to let "it" flow. I'm a locksmith by trade and I can't pick everything I'm asked to open. I can get into almost all of it though, and whatever I fail at today I will find a way to get into, in the future.
Did You ever try meditation? That is a good place to find "it", and you need that to make the magic happen.

If you live near a harbor freight you can get a big bolt cutter, I like the 38" long one for $30. Next time you wanna throw that padlock, just give it a scar. The wall doesn't really hurt it, you know. I used to make the back room vise my bad lock torture chamber. Anytime I found an un-cooperative lock cylinder that I could find a replacement for in the brass bin, was mine to destroy as I wished. My Dad seemed to really hate the lil' slice of happiness I had found too. I replaced 3 vises inside of one year. I remember a particularly evil little GM sidebar door lock, being 95% pot metal it smashed incredibly flat. Dad finally made it known that I should now imagine vise #3 was an extension of my hand. It's been 20 years ago and I still have that orange (and unsmashed) vise on my shop work bench, so I guess I did get a bit more patient.

Dude You can totally fix up all those holes in the condo drywall And You should too. That's the lesson to be learned in losing your cool and letting it all go. You must have a home improvement store near you. Take a few pics on your phone and show the guy your problem. He'll set you up with $25 worth of materials and instructions on covering up the holes & spackling over the patch you made. Then you'll be ready to buy some paint & any three year old can paint, but you can do it well enough to save your deposit And it sounds like the time has come for You to Man Up. You might learn some patience patching that wall, and You will definately learn a life lesson.

[YouLuckyFox]

As an aspiring welder, I often have this happen. You set up your welder one day and just burn a bead that looks like a perfect, frozen stream; the next day you didn't eat your Wheaties, wear your lucky jersey, etc. and the same settings on the machine will give you gorilla welds. This can be very frustrating because a skill is not as valuable if it is not repeatable.

The same seems to happen with locksmithing: some days I'll mosey up to a Schlage Everest and open it in less than 10 minutes; and the next day I spend 20 minutes on a Master (right now I am trying to open a Master, Sesame-style, padlock and can't seem to find the gates!) What I have learned is that it just isn't worth it to get frustrated, put the tools down and take a breather. "Sorry" can fix some things, but if you get angry about a lock you can't get open you might say or do something that can't be fixed with "sorry," so it's best to just ease up and come back later. Another thing I like to do with locks is set it aside as a special project; rather than beating my self up and saying, "I can't believe I can't pick this Kwikset," I set the Kwikset aside as an isolated project that needs special attention, and learn everything I can about it, and periodically try for it and make picking that one lock that much greater of a feat in my mind (luckily, now, I'm at the point where Kwiksets are at my beckon call to be locked or unlocked, now if I can just clean through a Schlage Commerical or a Best-IC.) It brings back the adventure and helps me relax about getting something opened as soon as possible.

[billdeserthills]

This post reminds me of the original Star Trek series titled Spock's Brain (I believe)
In that episode aliens (no doubt illegal) remove Spock's Brain from his head and install it into their own computer, where it begins regulating the heating and a/c & all other aspects of life in the alien dwelling. McCoy must use the ancient machine to educate his brain in the alien technology, in order to put Spock's Brain back into Spock's body & the whole time McCoy rants and raves about losing the information, before completing the operation. Of course, Spock's super brain could finish the operation hisself, if only McCoy would hook his hands & feet back up again. In lieu of this, McCoy settles for hooking up Spock's voice box and then must endure insults from Spock while he makes all the repairs. Talk about turning insult into injury, anyway lucky for Spock, McCoy doesn't actually hold any serious grudges, as he might have made a few funny "cross connections" if he had, I know in McCoy's place I sure would have.