Everybody Starts Off Bad At Something

Intro

Hello friends! I had the idea for this blog after I started up on several new hobbies. Several you say? Why yes! I’ll also be adding to that as well. Recently, I’ve started to learn how to play and make music, started studying Cinema 4D, and started learning calligraphy and lettering. I’ll talk more about my experiences with these new hobbies in a future blog and as I develop, but the content of today’s post is simple. If you’re new to something, you’re not going to be good at it. Of course there’s a chance you could be a savant and not know it, but the more things you pick up, the likelier you’ll realize you’re not good when you start out. This is something that’s been beaten into my head a lot over the last few months, but it wasn’t until recently, that the information I’ve heard for so long worked it’s way into my mind where I can intuit it and use that knowledge to press forward. In other words, an epiphany.

Insight

I have been making art ever since I was a young child. There wasn’t a time where I had picked it up- it’s the earliest memory I have, so I have always been developing that skill. When you do something for so long, you’re comfortable with the process and know when you’ll have your peaks and valleys. Art was like that for me. Growing up, I never really did anything else besides hang out with friends or play video games. I had dipped my toes in music in junior high school, but I was a very comfortable slacker.

It wasn’t because I was scared to learn new things, I just didn’t have much of a will or reason to. The exception was singing. In my early 20s, I took it up, which I loved, and worked on my voice for about 2-3 years. I’ve had to stop because of the cost, but it’s something I plan on jumping back into. Anyway, as I’ve started up a bunch of new hobbies, I’ve had to check my expectations. Basically, my idea of progress was only really informed by my relationship with art and animation, and because I was so familiar with that process and way of doing things, I projected that insight onto these new hobbies. Fortunately, I caught on.

I realized that there is no shortcut to getting proficient at something. Your progress will always be tied to how much work, time and effort you put in. This might sound terrifying to some people, but I found it to be insanely liberating. You mean I could be an amazing musician just by putting time and effort into my studies? How anyone can take that information and think it’s bad is beyond me. Magic is on the other side of hard work, but I suppose it’s the “hard work” part that puts people off. The thing here that’s important is that by doing a task over, you begin to better understand how to manipulate your tools, insight, and experience to create what you want. In addition to that, and with the knowledge you’ll be bad early one, you can lean into that. Create as much bad stuff as you need to so you can get to the level that you desire. If there was any shortcut, this would be it.

I think it’s important to remember that even geniuses are bad at somethings, so it doesn’t matter what you’re learning, the recipe is universal. Time + Effort + Diligent learning = Mastery. Every hour you take to chisel away at your goal, you become that much closer to achieving it. The twist is that there also isn’t a set amount of time it takes to get good. If someone says it takes 10,000 hours to get good at something, they’re BSing you. The key is that you have to be an active learner. What that means is being fully conscious when you’re learning something new, understand where you’re weaknesses are, and find resources to strengthen those issues. Being an active learner beats grinding for 10,000 hours mindlessly.

We have our own road and path of growth, and that can be accelerated or slowed depending on how skillful you are at learning (I’ll write another blog about this). The important part though is understanding that if you want to learn something new, the only way out is through, and that’s how it is for everyone. It’s up to you to decide if you’re scared by that information or excited, but if you dive in, you can do great things.

Outro

Remember it’s ok to be bad at something when you start, in fact, you should expect to be bad. Humble yourself so that you can move forward. Be conscious about what you’re bad at so over time you begin to refine your abilities and improve until you’re happy with your progress. So get out there and learn something new! Happy hobbying!