2025-05-02 Fri 20:32 It's good to be bad
I mean - it fells good to be bad at some new skill again. I usually
practice one thing for years, becoming very proficient at it, before
switching to something else, that is if I switch at all. Not because
of comfort zone but because being competent is fun, and it pays well.
A: Your honor has a price, Sir Knight?
B: It has expenses. Honor won't feed
my belly nor shoe my horse.
- DragonHeart
I always concentrated my efforts around few hard to master skills.
Starting with 3D graphic and skateboarding. Then I switched from
skateboarding to martial arts. Later 3D graphic got replaced by
programming. I spend years practicing those skills. My daily life
was organized around those activities.
10 years of 3D graphic
10 years of skateboarding
13+ years of martial arts
11+ years of programming
I was never the best, that wasn't the goal. But I did developed my
skills quickly because I enjoyed the journey of learning and training
and I left no room for other interests keeping focus on just one or
two things at the time.
If you want to improve, be content
to be thought foolish and stupid.
- Epiktetus
I was not quick to try new things because of this mentality that
learning a skill should be a lifetime goal full of dedication, well
planned conscience decisions, good results and practical gains. It
became apparent that I was approaching idea of learning a skill with
practical applications. So skill, and learning itself, had to profit
me in the future and be justified by potential gains. So far such
thinking was very good for me. But perhaps I was missing something.
When the student is ready,
the teacher will appear.
- Lao Tzu
Over past 1.5 years I tried a bunch of new things and I was surprised
to discover that it's super fun to be a beginner. Each skill and
profession is a new word of ideas, words, history, opportunities,
people, problems etc. I love to have a guide in that journey. Like a
trainer, teacher, master or skilled employee. Someone who identifies
himself with the skill or profession. For the beginner such person is
much better than internet.
Being beginner feels vert liberating. With nothing to prove you can
make all the mistakes, ask stupid questions, ask for help and admire
others much more skilled than you. It's rly amazing to switch roles
and not be the one with all the answers. Also like in most things, at
the beginning, you improve very rapidly which feels great. This is
not true for some skills tho. There are activities that require years
of training before you are able to do the fundamentals correct, like
in painting or when playing classical instruments. But being an
amateur doesn't kill the fun. Still it's true that the better you get
the more fun you have. In case of skateboarding or parkour, the more
moves you know the more fun you have.
It's dangerous to go alone!
Take this.
- The Legend of Zelda
I never felt "alone" when trying something completely foreign. It's
because I had my other well developed sills with me. There was always
a connection between something I knew and the new thing. Dance is a
lot like martial arts, snowboarding like skateboarding, swimming like
running, photography like painting, there are similarities in many
things on different levels. Sometimes between seemingly unrelated
activities. For example I always felt that Aikido helps with driving,
painting improve vision, history with long term memory and programming
is like art.
When the student is truly ready,
the teacher will disappear.
- Lao Tzu
Even tho I was learning quickly with a teacher it was impossible for
me to ignore thought that true learning happen in solitude. I found
this to be true even for physical activities performed with partner
like Aikido and dance. Perhaps there are exceptions.
It's also possible to be a beginner in your main profession. I felt
that when learning C programming language. Probably because at that
time I didn't had strong fundamentals. But now after few years of C
programming it doesn't feel like that anymore. Even when I don't know
a language or I'm looking at unfamiliar domain I feel confident and
there is no need to search for tutorials, books or any other help.
Reference documents and source code is enough and this is something
that you use in daily work anyway. So it doesn't create the feeling
of being amateur.
Telling yourself you have to win isn't training.
You just psyching yourself up. It's pointless.
You need to face reality and do the real work.
- Piccolo
No matter if you are a beginner or advance in something it's possible
to get stuck. I had that with Aikido and art. Just practicing more
was not doing any difference. I finally admitted to myself that the
problem was in lack of effort. Doing something, training, practicing,
doesn't necessary mean that you are putting effort. You can go for
hours, weeks and even years without any progress. But when you focus
on effort then chains are broken. It's like with focus at job. You
can work for days without real results. But then if you just focus
for 1 hour you will deliver more value than you did in past week.
Confidence! A fool's substitute for intelligence.
- Robotnik
When you go and try those new activities in organized group then you
will meet more beginners like you. People approach notion of being
amateur very differently. People can be scared, be distracted, be
shy, act lazy, feel discouraged, try to show off or be overconfident.
The best experience I had was when I was focused, patience, honest and
relaxed. In some way trying many new things is an intelligent way of
learning how to practice in most optimal way.
Honestly I feel very good about myself because of the skills that I
already have but when practicing new stuff in organized group I was
hiding that from everyone. Avoiding conversation about topics I'm
very familiar with etc. I was trying to paint the picture of me being
a complete beginner in everyone's mind. It felt like being undercover
cop, masked hero or secret agent. It's good to remember that someone
else might also have a secret identity in form of advance skill.
A: What else is there?
B: A choice.
A: The Rebellion?
B: No. A choice to be better.
- Luke Skywalker BF2
If you are already good at something and want to be even better it
might be a good idea to first become bad at something else. The only
winning move is to practice something new [1]. You can get better at
programming if you get better at design or marketing because you
design code around other problems that eventual have to be solved.
Training your undeveloped skills makes your developed skills more
effective. For instance, pictures drawn in martial art books are the
best when they are created by artist that practiced that martial art
himself. He understand those moves on deeper level.
Real skill comes without effort.
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Spending time on new skill takes time from practice of you dominate
skill. I was always afraid that if I stop training for some time it
will affect my primary skill very badly. But this is not what I
found. I found that even longer break benefits me. After coming back
to old activity in which I was good at I've become even better. I
think that good time for break or to just try something new is when
you see that work or practice becomes effortless. Not because of
laziness but because of your experience.
It's also true that having highest level of skill requires constant
maintenance. Anyway, this post is way longer than it should be, it
might be bad but that's good. Practicing writing takes effort. I
will go now to find better ways to be bad at something new.
[1] The Only Winning Move by Loris Cro (
https://youtu.be/VJdDdqWmQtk)
EOF
