Make things.

You have something you always wanted to learn to do, but
never did. Perhaps you were intimidated; maybe you didn't
know where to start. Maybe you tried, but got frustrated.
Maybe you had grand plans that would have taken you years of
concentrated effort to pull off.

Here is a thing that I am learning: It's okay to do it badly.

So your stick figures aren't even recognizable as people.
So you knit a rectangular scarf that's somehow not a
rectangle. So the birdhouse you built is wonky. So the
program you wrote crashes if you look at it funny. So you
painted an ugly picture of your father in his underwear in
a recliner. So the curtains you sewed sit funny on the rod.
So you only know two chords on the guitar, and it takes you
a few seconds to switch between them. So you made a video-
game that's ugly and weird and broken and nobody wants to
play.

Do something that you're bad at. Enjoy it anyway.

Maybe get good at it, if you want.

But you've gotta do it badly first.


Jeremy Penner
Ottawa, ON, Canada