Find Something to Suck At
Being great is great. Sucking sucks. Find something to suck at.
Try a new activity, be terrible at it, and embrace the process of moving from incompetent to not completely embarrassing to decent to damn good. You can’t get damn good without first sucking.
We all like winning, and we all like being good at what we do. We should absolutely spend much of our time playing to our strengths and performing at a high level, but if all we know is what’s easy, we forget how to learn; we forget how to persevere. Voluntarily sucking, whether by taking up running, starting to paint, or doing some other thing you’ve always wished you could do, is difficult. It’s also humbling.
The only way to avoid sucking is to work hard, to learn how to learn, and to put in time and deliberate effort. Force yourself to work your ass off.
Spend some of your time on tasks you’re great at and help teach those who suck at the same skill. Spend some of your time on tasks you’re alright at, remembering where you started and who you’ve improved in whatever the skill is. Spend some of your time sucking, so you can remember how to learn, experience humility, and re-live what that stage of learning feels like, helping you both grow and become a better teacher.
Be pissed at sucking. Despise it. Even feel embarrassed by it. That’s the best way to get through it. Put yourself in a situation where looking around means looking up at others — others who are much better than you. Learn from others, ask questions of others, and realize it’s okay to suck. It’s not easy when you’re used to excelling, but it’s how we learn from one another; how we help society develop.
Remembering what it’s like to make progress and move from sucking to sucking less also helps us reevaluate the things we think we’re good at. Re-learning the learning process makes us think of how we can get better at the things we’re convinced we’re pros at. If we live in a bubble where we only perform tasks we’re good at, we won’t question how we can improve. If we don’t remind ourselves of what the struggle is like, we won’t seek the battles that bring growth.
Take on a challenge, and ask for help. ASK FOR HELP. Ask your parents for help. Ask me for help. Ask the person at the gym for help. Being unwilling to seek assistance is more embarrassing than to actually ask someone else to contribute to your growth.. People love helping, they just hate asking. As simple, humble request is good for everyone. If we spend all our time being good at things, we will be good at things. If we spend some of our time sucking at things and caring enough to improve, we’ll become great at things.
-Chris
Thanks for reading. You can find more of my thoughts at Life In Questions.
Chris Ackroyd
I’m Chris. I created Life In Questions in hopes of helping people to think a little bit differently. I’m all about people, learning, sports, and the game of life. I believe that our minds shape how we live, act, and behave, and that by being more aware of ourselves, we can live happier and more successful lives. Come visit or shoot me a quick hello!