So here I am trying to 1CC Mountain of Faith

[Kaguya]

The usual, "almost perfect until Stage 4", stage 5 was unremarkable. My friend calls me right after I defeat midboss Sanae, so I pause, answer and put it on speaker.
I start thinking I'm not going to get the 1CC because I'm not really focused on the game.
I was wrong.
Way wrong.

Half-assedly focused on fighting Kanako, I manage to capture Miracle of Otensui and Mountain of Faith, both for the first time, and finish with two lives to spare. Usually her final non-card drains my spare lives, I almost captured that too.

Is half-focusing on a game proven to improve skills or was this just a complete fluke?

[Elysia]

It's definitely a case of Your Mileage May Vary. Sometimes it helps to remove the feeling of tension caused by the challenge of the game; doing something without worrying about doing it is probably helpful, in general. But on the other hand, sometimes you wind up missing something you almost certainly would have noticed had you been fully paying attention.

Speaking for me personally, one of my favorite times to play for fun is when I'm in sort of a dreamlike trance state, because I sometimes manage to pull off absolutely ridiculous dodges while just screwing around...but then die to the easy stuff. Those are some really silly replays. I'd never try it when I'm actually going for an achievement, though, it's just too wildly inconsistent.

[Trim Sponsor]

That happened to me with Subterranean Animism, I could never beat that game, Okuu, Orin, and sometimes even Satori would annihilate what lives I had (Mostly Orin, though...). But one day as soon as I woke up I had this sudden urge to play it, I was seriously tired throughout, but I finally managed to beat it with two lives to spare! 

[Nindella]

This happened when I got my MarisaC SA Lunatic No-Bomb  :V

The whole run and several attempts before I was yapping away to a friend on skype whilst he also played Touhou, it's amazing how things can turn out when you half zone out, haha   

[The Noodles Guy]

Me trying to 1CC UFO (On Easy):
Ichirin, WRY!?

BTW, MoF was really easy for me. 1CC'd it the first time I played (Sanae and her stars took out 2 of my lifes)

That happened to me with Subterranean Animism, I could never beat that game, Okuu, Orin, and sometimes even Satori would annihilate what lives I had (Mostly Orin, though...). But one day as soon as I woke up I had this sudden urge to play it, I was seriously tired throughout, but I finally managed to beat it with two lives to spare! 

The first time I played SA I cannot go past Yuugi. On Easy. Thank you Mt. Ooe and your landslide.

After 3 weeks of practice I was able to beat Okuu, on Easy again. Then I managed to 1CC the game and did it :getdown:

[Yatakarasu]

Me trying to 1CC UFO (On Easy):
Ichirin, WRY!?

Yeaaaaaah. I never beat her when I playing  the demos, was also on easy.

I have a really, really odd habit of 1ccing something. Most of the time it's the first run of the day in that game. Happened during my first MoF, TD, and SA normal 1ccs and my SA extra clear (which I still need to clear properly).  :V

I also like to play a punishment game (aka Lunatic) when I'm failing enough. Basically as a "Oh see, you're not that bad. Look how much better you can do now!" because when I started I think I would get about halfway through stage one before getting game over'd.

[Jmyster]

Man, I wish a friend of mine would just relax and enjoy his runs. I maintain he would have cleared PCB already if he just took a step backward and stopped obsessing over it. He flies into such a rage every time he makes a mistake (EVERY time) that it has become really grating.

From my own experience, I find that once things click, a 1cc run falls into place. I labored intensely to just reach and clear stage 5 normal of SA with continues, and then again for stage 6, hours worth of agonizing failure. Then less than a day later I scrap together a 1cc run despite never having reached Okuu without continues.