Embrace The Suck
I was lifting weights the other day when it dawned on me how much I enjoy going to the gym. Doing heavy sets of squats, something I used to absolutely dread, has become something I now look forward to.
As a matter of fact, it was only a couple of years ago that I dreaded going to the gym. I didn’t enjoy it because I sucked at lifting weights. I was weak and uncertain I had the correct form which made me self-conscious when working out alone. It was easy for me to make excuses to skip the gym because I didn’t want to be seen as the beginner who didn’t know what he was doing.
Weight lifting, like any type of skill, is going to be challenging when you first start. You’re going to be unsure how to do a lot of things while you try to navigate what you’re trying to learn. So the question becomes: how can you get past this initial phase of sucking so that you can learn to become good at it?
Personally, I have learned to be okay with sucking at something. In fact, I would argue that you should be happy with yourself knowing that you suck at something too. Because do you know what is worse than sucking? Being held back by your fear of failure or rejection from ever trying something new in the first place.
If you look around, you might notice that most people don’t even allow themselves to suck at something new. Our minds manufacture self-limiting beliefs that convince us that we need to stay in our own lane to focus on what we are already good at. We box ourselves in by giving ourselves false labels such as:
“Oh, I’m not a runner”
“I’m way too old to try to learn a second language”
“I’m too introverted to go strike up a conversation with that stranger”
The risk of trying something new and looking like a fool has become too threatening to our ego.
Similar to learning how to lift weights a few years ago, I have recently embraced this new challenge of learning how to write a blog. Even though I disliked writing when I was in school, I felt compelled to start this creative project knowing that I have full control over its direction. I have chosen to play the role of novice once again.
Since deciding to make my work public, I have gotten some questions that mimic the kind of questions you get asked when you first suck at something. Some people wanted to know “why” I write this blog and share it publicly. They wanted to know why I would spend my time on something that isn’t making me money or exactly related to my career. To be fair, these are valid questions that I have spent some time ruminating on.
If I am interpreting their questions correctly, I would say that I am motivated alone by my desire to better understand myself and the world around me through the act of writing. I have accepted that in order to have a better understanding of myself, I must first learn to be okay with being the novice who is aware that his work sucks. In fact, I am fully aware.
I would be lying if I said I never worried about my work being embarrassingly bad. After hitting ‘publish’ I often wonder how I will be criticized for my poor grammar and syntax. The constant self-doubting mixed with occasional self-loathing is all a part of the process. But you know what, I publish my work anyways. I do it because I want to create value and the only way to provide high-level value is to keep writing until my crappy content gradually improves over time.
Going through this process of producing creative work has definitely been a constant struggle but a worthwhile journey. I’ve had to fight with my monkey mind as it tries to commit mental gymnastics to rationalize that I am an engineer and therefore not a writer. The only way I was able to counteract these manifestations of fear was to attack it with an even stronger power — my curiosity to learn and grow.
Learning to be okay with sharing my experiences as a beginner has been fueled by my innate curiosity to becoming a better thinker and a better writer. Eventually, I became much more interested in how I could improve my writing skills and less worried about how much bad content I would have to publish first in order to get there.
I have embraced the fact that it will probably take hundreds — if not thousands — of drafts to go from “suck” to “outstanding”. I believe that is just the nature of creative work and nobody is exempt from the process. The only way for me to fail is to create nothing — to just give up. For this reason, I have given myself permission to suck first.
I’ve learned to accept new challenges with open arms while pursuing my interests. I have found that you can find joy in the process while still being bad at it. As long as you are willing to stay committed, you can witness yourself making small improvements knowing all that is holding you back is your time and dedication.
Only as of late have I found peace in knowing that as long as I keep challenging myself I will continue to improve. Previously, I allowed my fear of looking like a fool let me do everything but actually write out my thoughts. I finally realized that I could read all of the articles on creating a blog that I wanted but until I wrote my first post, I would never improve.
It’s a slow process, but it’s a path that I am willing to travel. Looking back on my journey thus far I can already witness some signs of improvement. Knowing that I am getting just a little bit better each day is enough to stay motivated. I am nowhere near where I want to be but each post gets me one step closer.
I’m going to keep creating, however bad it may be because I am determined to embrace the suck in my pursuit of progress. Maybe in a couple of years from now, I will return back to this post and smile as I read it. Not because I will be impressed with how it is written but because I will instantly realize just how far I’ve come.
Interested in being more productive? Click the link below to check out some of my favorite tools for getting more done.
Embrace The Suck
Research & References of Embrace The Suck|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks