Just call me Revelation Sally, because I have a big one to share. I was wondering, wracking my brain about why I am not already a regular Jimmy Hendrix after two years of playing guitar, and I realized something very important: We get older and we forget the art of being bad at something.
Yes, there’s an art. Do you remember the first sentence you wrote, or the first time you danced, or the first time you painted a picture? No? That’s because you were probably terrible at it and didn’t know what you were doing. But you want to know what’s great about that? You didn’t care how terribly misspelled your sentence was,or what your dance looked like, or if your picture was just a blob of paint. The most important part was that you were having fun and didn’t understand judging yourself negatively was an option.
All you were doing was taking what you learned and putting it to use. And if you continued to do what you learned, and continued to not judge yourself, you probably traveled on to be pretty good at the activity and, perhaps, even an expert. So the first key to getting better at something, and even traveling to being an expert at something, is to refrain from judging yourself.
The second key is to just keep doing it. We often give up citing frustration over not gaining success with a given activity, art or job fast enough. Well, when you’re comparing what you’re just starting, to other skills that you have been practicing for pretty much your entire life, the new activity doesn’t have a chance in hell. Take my guitar-playing situation. I have often compared it to signing. I have been singing since I could talk and taking lessons since I was 14. There is NO WAY that I could possibly compare these newly acquired skills, to ones I have been honing for almost all my life. It would be like comparing a two year-old’s verbal skills to that of a 22 year old. It’s just a wildly unfair competition.
The two year old still needs many years to grow, to learn, and gain damn motor skills. I read that it takes in 10,000 hours to become an expert on any given subject or art. I am probably 5-10% of the way there. That’s a lot of hours to go, son!
In conclusion, the third, and most important key is to embrace the art of being bad at something. In other words: enjoy the learning process. Know that unless you are a prodigy, this is something you’ve gone through many times before and conveniently forgotten. Even the greatest artists, musicians, scientists and poets were novices at some point. No matter what the task is, if you keep at it, refrain from judgement and learn to enjoy the process of learning, you will get better.
Good luck on your journey from Bad to Expert.
With Love,
Lauren :-)
