A few years ago I worked for a children’s product design and development company, and I had a coworker from another office who LOVED to sign off on his emails with the words “Kind Remind.” It was his slightly passive aggressive way to let our office know when we weren’t moving fast enough, or if we needed to fix something.

I’m not here to be passive aggressive today, but I am gonna throw my own “kind remind” your way in case you need to hear it…

When you start something new, you’re going to be bad at it. Even if you think you’re good at it…eventually, you’ll improve enough that you will look back and realize just how bad you were in comparison when you first started.

That is ok. It’s ok to be bad at it. Actually, you’re supposed to be bad at it. It’s literally how the world works and humanity functions, literally from the moment we are born. Let’s take walking, for instance. If you haven’t seen a baby take their first steps, believe me when I say… we all sucked at walking when we started.

First you feel all wobbly and off-balance, and it’s awkward. You trip over yourself a few times, or maybe you get your ass straight up handed to you. Then you learn – both through repetitions and the experience of falling, how to trip less. Even so, you’ll always get caught on some things, and as an adult those falls can feel even more painful, since you’re going on bigger and more intense adventures.

Before you know it, enough time and practice has happened that you don’t even recognize just how ground you’ve covered. The distance and lessons are incalculable.

Can you imagine if every baby quit after day 1 of walking? They trip a few times and sit down to decide, they really just don’t think walking is for them. Can you IMAGINE how weird and lame and stunted our world would be if that’s what babies chose to do!?

Maybe this metaphor seems silly, but the principle applies to everything. And FYI, it’s just as silly to expect yourself to be great at something you’re new at, no matter what the task is or how old you are.

Anyway, we’re a few days into 2024, and that sounds like a great time to go be bad at something. Have fun tripping and learning and see where it takes you. ❤️