Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Badly
When you refuse to do anything you’re not great at, what you’re telling yourself is that you’re only okay if you’re perfect. That’s going to lead to a lot of pain in life.
Aimee Daramus
I don’t own any golf clubs.
I have chosen to spend my money and time on other hobbies.
I also didn’t want to invest the time and energy needed to become a competent golfer.
My philosophy is that if I cannot do something well, I won’t do it.
But I’m rethinking that mindset.
There is value in doing things that I’m not good at.
One benefit is that it helps overcome perfectionism.
Perfectionism is too much of a good thing.
Taking pleasure in doing things well is good, but equating my value to being perfect is unhealthy.
It is bad for me and for those who have to deal with me.
Allowing myself to do things I’m not good at also reduces stress.
Needing to be good at everything feels like trying to hold a dozen beachballs underwater.
The freedom to try things I’m bad at doing helps me get over being embarrassed.
Embarrassment feels like an assault on my worth as a human being.
Putting myself in awkward situations shows me that embarrassment is not fatal, just something that I inflict on myself.
Deliberately doing things I’m not good at reduces performance anxiety.
My unconscious mind tries to protect me from dangerous situations.
Speaking before a large group only feels like being trapped in a room full of rattlesnakes.
But I cannot convince my unconscious mind with logic; it only learns from experience.
Putting myself in situations that produce anxiety and surviving trains my unconscious mind that anxiety is not connected to real threats.
Doing things I’m not good at yet creates neuroplasticity.
The more I expose my brain to new things, the better it gets at learning new things.
That feeling of awkwardness changes the chemistry of my brain, turning it into a learning machine.
When I struggle to do something new my unconscious mind tells me that I am stupid.
But the more I lean into the awkwardness, the more I train my unconscious mind that when I feel stupid I am getting smarter.
At this rate, it’s only a matter of time until I become a genius.
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