"The only way to do great work is to love what you do and be willing to do it poorly at first." - Steve Jobs
While watching a video of Anne Lamott giving a speech at last year’s Writer’s Room, I was reminded that everyone has to start somewhere. Lamott said that nobody dreams of playing "Farmer in the Dell" on the piano, but that's where you have to begin if you want to learn to play. We all have to be bad at something before we can be good at it. Remember learning how to walk? We were probably really bad at it, but we had to start somewhere.
Lamott's words made me think of all the opportunities I've given up because I didn't want to be bad at something, especially in front of others. Writing is a good example. I've held back from writing because I wanted to wait until I could write really well before I shared it with anyone. But how am I going to learn to write if I don't write... and write badly?
I never wanted to dance because I didn't want to look like an awkward klutz on the dance floor. I secretly wanted to listen to someone talk about how to dance and then magically step onto the dance floor like Fred Astaire. But I didn't learn to dance until I was willing to dance badly... with a woman... in front of other people. The story has a happy ending because I met my wife on the dance floor. If I hadn't been willing to dance badly in the beginning, I might still be a lonely eighty-year-old man. We can't learn to dance without dancing... badly.
For five years, I passed up an opportunity to surf in Baja with friends until I finally decided to do it and do it badly. I was really bad at it, but I had a lot of fun, and nobody expected me to catch the big wave and ride it gracefully. We can't learn to surf without surfing... badly.
I'm going to continue practicing "Being Bad" (a play on "Breaking Bad," if you didn't recognize it). I won't start cooking Meth. Instead, I'm enrolling in a Writer's Room weekend retreat in Santa Fe, NM where Anne Lamott and Julia Cameron will be among the teachers.
I'll be among many accomplished and published writers, and I will probably have to share my work at some point, but I'm willing to go through the bad to get to the good.
YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!