“pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs”
I’m in the process of studying two things I’ve wanted to learn for awhile, calligraphy and the guitar. It’s not always pretty (see above – it’s hard to write pretty, remember what you’re writing, and spell correctly at the same time), but with some perseverance, I hope to eventually become proficient in both. Here are a few tips for learning something new.
Allow Yourself to be Bad
I say that I love to learn new things but I’m not sure that’s entirely true. I would prefer to learn something new by snapping my fingers Bewitched-style and automatically having the knowledge and skill. I hate being bad at things and learning something new usually begins with being bad at it. I got a ukelele for Christmas and fully intended to teach myself how to play; I was awful so I quit (or took a very long break). Now that I’ve begun learning the guitar, when I pickup my uke, I wonder why I was so intimidated. It has two fewer strings and is so much easier to maneuver. Very few people are automatically good at something new, don’t expect yourself to be the exception. I’ve found when I embrace the awfulness, I give myself the time to become comfortable and eventually notice that I’m improving.
Don’t Think, Just Do It
I tend to ponder things to death, instead of getting started, I think about it. I think about what it would be like to exercise regularly or be a skilled surface pattern designer. I look for inspiration and dream about it, but when it comes down to it, I’m not going to make any progress unless I, to quote Nike, “Just do it”. What works for me is scheduling time for whatever it is. When it comes to exercise, I’m most successful when I run first thing in the morning. I don’t have too much time to talk myself out of it, and the rest of the day is so much better because I accomplished something right off the bat. Whatever you want to learn, find a little time that you can set aside each day to study and practice.
Cut Yourself a Break
I’ve tried out the Seinfeld, “Don’t Break the Chain” system. I see why it works for some people but for me it was too much pressure. If I broke the chain, which I was bound to do, I felt like I’d failed, when all I’d done was miss a day. It was at that point that I decided the best system for me was to just do the best I could each day. If I found time to practice the piano and did it that was great, but if it was just one of those days when too much was going on, I didn’t sweat it. You can always start fresh tomorrow.
What would you like to learn? What can you do today to make that happen?
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