Seeking Novice

Humans hate being bad at anything. As adults, we go out of our way to avoid feeling incompetent. How silly. 

We forget… to be good at anything, we must first be bad. 

If we are good at everything we work on then we aren’t pushing ourselves or growing. When was the last time you felt like a novice? When were you last pushed out of your comfort zone?

“He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures” - Tao Te Ching

Getting comfortable with being a novice (at first) is a learning superpower. It is painful, but the only way to grow. New skills are built by leaning into this discomfort.

There's no substitution for reps and putting yourself out there. The growth equation is simple, stress + rest = growth.

Hobbies are a perfect way to practice feeling incompetent.

They challenge our patience and stimulate our curiosity. The risk of being bad is lower for anything you do for fun. The pressure to productize, monetize, or optimize is left out with hobbies. 

Whether it's a fun project or an unavoidable task, we need to embrace the discomfort of being bad. Start there and stick with it. The comfort and confidence will come, along with a brand new skill. 

“For to permit yourself to do only that which you are good at is to be trapped in a cage whose bars are not steel but self-judgment.” - Tim Wu

Simple, not easy.

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