Yes, you absolutely do have to suck. Why? That means you got started, you stepped out of your comfort zone and were brave enough to do something for the first time. Most people don’t. You’ve already won by starting.
That goes for every single aspect of your lives but is most easily seen in sports and arts. I remember when I first started doing street photography. I was pure shit. Literally took me a year to get what I thought was a decent shot and now when I look back at it, it’s trash. Did I gain something out of it, though? Like hell, I did! I took the time to take my camera out and head downtown, which when you live in the suburbs takes a while. Not only that but I was brave enough to point my camera at a stranger and push through the awkwardness.
What happens if you’re a natural though? What happens if, say, singing has always come naturally to you? Well, first, you definitely sucked at some point, be it early childhood. Then, if you started doing something you were already good at, you are not going to appreciate the progress you’ve made. When you look back at the road you went, you’ll only see a minor improvement. This is something that Economics students will know as diminishing marginal utility. The more you have of something, the less valuable every additional unit is going to be. And that’s normal, that’s how human mind works, that’s how mathematics work.
When you start something, you will feel like you suck for a while. For weeks and even months you might feel like you’re not going anywhere. That’s ok. Keep pushing and you’ll get there. The only way to be better is to be bad at first.
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