How to Suck at Anything

Written by Jonathan from the blog Illuminated Mind

I used to spend a lot of time worrying about being terrible at things. I thought I would make a fool of myself. I thought I would be embarrassed. More than anything, I thought I would fail.

The truth is, all of those things usually happened when I tried to do anything that I wanted to do.

I looked pretty ridiculous, I was embarrassed, and I failed. A lot.

When I first started this blog some of my writing was pretty scary. But that’s what happens when you start anything.

You suck.

And that’s great. Sucking is absolutely necessary. There’s no way around it. In order to get better at anything, at some point or another you’re going to have to suck. That’s just the way it is.

So, here’s the secret to sucking at anything.

Start.

There’s also a secret to never failing and never being criticized.

Don’t do anything. Ever.

The only way to avoid criticism, avoid looking like a fool and failing is to not do anything at all. And if that’s okay with you, fine. But I don’t see any point in living if that’s the case.

When it comes down to it, if you ever want to get good at anything, at some point you’re going to have to suck.

I’d rather be terribly horrible at everything that I do, than do nothing at all. At least that way I know that I tried. I’ll know that I lived and I didn’t just exist.

There’s a secret I’ve learned, though. If you embrace that you suck, it loses its power over you.

So, stop wasting time reading this. Go find something to suck at.