Why You Might Have To Stink
Today’s encouragement comes from quote from the book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, by Cal Newport. The quote comes from Ira Glass, who is the host of the show, This American Life, and the quote goes like this:
All of us who do creative work you get into this thing, and there’s like a gap. What you are making isn’t so good. It’s trying to be good, but it’s not. The key thing is to force yourself through the work. Force the skills to come. That’s the hardest phase.
Many of us, if we care, we want to be good. If we care, we want to be good that we are working with, and for, and the people that we are serving. We want our work to matter, and in many ways, if our work is going to matter, we need to be good at it.
So, it’s a very normal feeling for us to want our work go be good, and we want to be good now.
Another thing that play into this is that we are inpatient, and then doubt creeps in.
Maybe I’m just not good at this. Maybe I’m not good enough at this. Maybe I should try something different.
Maybe that’s true. Maybe.
But my encouragement for you today, is to stick with it. Stick with it while you stink. It takes some time, outside of a small percentage of people who might be naturally gifted or excel right away. For most of us, it takes time to learn the ropes. And it takes time to get good at our thing.
Until we can develop the skills, and give them time to become good, it’s going to stink for awhile. And it’s really going to stink because we are going to stink. And that can be tough. We don’t like to feel less than. We don’t like to feel inadequate. We don’t like for others to see us that way and we don’t like to see ourselves that way. But it might be necessary.
If you are doing something new, especially a creative endeavor, just know, that maybe, it will have to stink for awhile. And maybe you’ll have to stink for awhile. But stick with it through the stink, and give yourself a real shot to develop into something better.
I’m pulling for you,
Bryan
I write encouragement on leadership, business, and personal development.
You can learn more about me and check out my business coaching services at www.efournine.com.
