Allow yourself to suck
Sophia Amoruso
Investing in winners at Trust Fund, NYT Bestselling Author, Serial Founder, Keynote Speaker. Returned the dress I wore on the cover of Forbes. ?? Pitch us at trustfund.vc ??
I’ve kept it pretty close to my chest, but for the past few weeks, I’ve been intentionally marooned on an island somewhere way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
It’s been years since I tried something new. Like, probably even food. So, in the spirit of carpe diem-ing my shit, I signed up for surf lessons.
There I was, paddling around on the baby waves surrounded by––quite literally––babies, buoyed by a big blue foam surfboard (the ultimate noob calling card), attempting chaturangas-cum-burpees all while being propelled by an unreliable body of water.
I sucked. At least for the first 45 minutes or so. I don’t think I’ve had to remember so many things since I played that game Simon from the ‘90s: Nose low. Paddle fast. Knees under you. Front lunge. Stand up, turn sideways. Legs bent. Arms up. Feet centered. Eyes far ahead. Don’t look down. ALL TOGETHER NOW!
It was easy to remember each of those things… but only one or two at a time. Remembering all of them in a split second and then moving my body accordingly? Not so easy.
Despite all of the awkward tumbling and rashy knees and burned calves, I found myself feeling proud of being bad at something. And electively!
It seems that the longer I live, the less I allow myself to suck. And that sucks. I consider myself a pretty capable person, so when I’m not relatively instantly good at something, I tell myself there are plenty of other things for me to do.
But that’s a scam I’m running on no one but myself.
So from here on out, I’ve vowed to try a bunch of things I suck at. It’s humbling, and hey––if you stick with it, you’ll probably be good at something! I’ve committed upfront to 5 more of these surf lessons, so wish my stiff-ass 37 year old lower back luck. I’ll keep you posted.
Wheels up,
Sophia
P.S. My challenge to you: do the same. Find something you’ll suck at and go for it. Hit me back in the comments below and tag me. I’m already proud of you!
I help people develop really cool stuff, from ideation, prototyping to completed products.
3 年Every master was once a disaster..... Yes!? We should all allow ourselves to suck....? That is how we start....then we get better and so on....? ?
Freelance Web Designer + Instructional Designer
3 年Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment but I love it when I suck...it drives me to be better. Being complacent and not sucking at something big and new is no fun!
Examiner @ State of NJ | Certified Financial Marketing Professional
3 年i’ve wanted to learn to surf for..seemingly forever. challenge accepted.
Event & Catering Sales Manager @ The Wayfarer Downtown La| Sale Pipeline Management
3 年I just starting roller skating and suck! I promised myself to get this down. Thank you Sophia.
Power BI Developer | End-to-End Business Intelligence Solutions | Microsoft PL-300 Certified
3 年Love and admire the unapologetic tone and language of this post. Many, including myself, tend to chicken out writing like this here on LinkedIn because, well, we’re “professionals.” Now who are we fooling? I have a lot of things I suck at, and many more things I thought I already knew but still suck at. I shall make a list, give each item a score/grade, then graph them to see where my situation is severe. And then I’ll choose which one I’d work on first (of course the one that will give me the most pleasure!).