Doing Things You're Not Good At
It's okay
Learning something new is exciting, terrifying and incredibly humbling. I read a quote by Substacker, Danielle the other day:
Me: I want to learn how to paint.
Also me: But I don’t actually want to LEARN how to paint, I just want to be able to do it perfectly my very first time with minimal skills & experience & supplies!!
Can you relate? Me too.
I’ve never been artistic- in fact, far from it. I’m un-artistic if there is such a thing. I’ve never been able to draw or paint or create 2-D representations of anything. But I want to be artistic. After being inspired by Helen Stark’s Substack, The Time Forager’s Club, I decided to order some colored pencils, a drawing pad and do some visual journaling. My goal is not only to learn more about drawing but to also start paying attention to details, which I think will help me improve my writing.
Now I can’t recommend other people try new experiences they’re not good at without being vulnerable and sharing my own. So I’m going to be very vulnerable and show you my very first drawing. I used a YouTube video by Kate Holloman to draw a realistic strawberry. I enjoyed a bunch of strawberries yesterday and thought it would be an easy enough way to start my new creativity endeavor. Her instructions were amazing but, remember, I’m lack natural talent. Okay, yikes, here goes…
See? I wasn’t kidding. But, you know what? It’s okay. I haven’t drawn in years. I’m still trying to figure out what all the different types of pencils are for.
I even had a nightmare about this strawberry picture last night. I dreamed I was taking an in-person art class and drawing this same strawberry. The teacher suggested I try it again. I did. She thought my second version was worse than my first. When I asked her what I should do to improve during my next lesson she suggested I limit my skills to helping her hand out supplies to the Kindergarten class that was coming in the next day and not draw anymore. I was devastated.
My instinct is to give up and say, “I’m not good at this so there’s no point continuing.” But I’m not going to. I’m going to keep at it. I’m going to keep my goals realistic, watch some more videos, read some more articles and books, start paying attention to how the light bounces off different objects, notice the seeds of strawberries can be yellow or green or orange (I didn’t know this) and tell myself that it’s okay to do things I’m not good at.
But why? Why is this important? Why waste time when we could be doing things we excel at, that make us feel proud. Let me tell you…
Doing things we’re not good at helps us foster a growth mindset. Carol Dweck explains that the benefits of a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset- believing your personality and intelligence are something that can be developed, as opposed to set in stone- help us cultivate qualities we care about, through hard work. If we live with a fixed mindset we’re going to be disappointed we can’t do certain things. A growth mindset gives us the courage to try to develop skills.
We build resilience. We’re more likely to be able to cope with adversity and bounce back from setbacks if we practice. And, trust me, there were a lot of setbacks with the strawberry.
We boost brain activity. Our brains will develop new neural pathways making us smarter and our brains more agile.
We might discover, that with a little practice, we have a new talent. Maybe we can actually become good cooks, mathematicians or have enough skills to sell some paintings.
When we become humble, and allow ourselves to be not good, we might find some joy. I really enjoyed sitting in front of the TV with my pad and pencils drawing just for fun with no purpose in mind. It’s rare I get to do things that aren’t items to be crossed off a to-do list.
We can combat perfectionism. With a little practice at “being bad”- I know that sounds crazy- we’ll begin to realize that it’s okay to not do things perfectly all the time, relieving some of the pressure we put on ourselves.
What would you like to attempt but are afraid to try? Put on your big-girl pants and do your best. After all, it can’t end up any worse than my strawberry.
I stumbled upon this cool website called Puttylike. It’s for “multi-potential-ites,” or people who have many interests and creative pursuits and are trying to find a way to do them all.
Here’s a nice article about the risks associated with being a perfectionist: Overcoming Perfectionism: Embracing Imperfection in a World of Expectations
Looking to boost your brain activity? Here are 12 suggestions from Harvard Health Publishing to keep your brain young.
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XOXO,
Geva