🏆 TREE 737: How to be amazing 2

I wrote about being amazing yesterday. It’s simple, if you break it down into small-enough steps. It’s not easy though.

Here’s one of the things that makes it hard to be amazing:

You have to suck in front of other people along the way.

Want to be amazing at freestyle BMX? Are you willing to fall off your bike hundreds of times in front of your friends, rivals and passersby?

Want to speak Mandarin? Are you willing to mangle the pronunciation of people’s native language to their faces?

Want to make beautiful things from wood? Are you ready to ask stupid questions at the lumberyard and in online forums? Are you willing to turn lots of expensive wood into winter fuel?

Etc.

I regularly join a deaf walking group. They are incredibly welcoming. I still feel like the oddbod. I misunderstand and miss what people say. My fingers get tangled up when I try to sign with other people. It’s hard for me. Failing in front of people is one of my least favourite things. But I want BSL fluency bad enough that I’m willing to it.

Your big question for today:

Do you want it enough that you are willing to suck in public?

Let’s enjoy some Future Islands. Need a podcast? Here’s a good interview with frontman Samuel T. Herring.

Two final thoughts:

1. Not being willing to suck in public is totally a viable option. No reason to beat yourself up if that’s where you are right now.

2. Most people are too busy with their own lives to care that you suck, if they even notice. The few who do care are probably cheering you on because they want you to be amazing.

Grow slowly
Jeff