I can't, but I will

I wrote a post that seems like an eternity ago (but was only 8 hours...) on the labels we place on ourselves and how it limits our openness as well as our behaviors. In some ways, this may actually be a good thing as it can also limit 'poor' behaviors but when it comes to what we are willing to investigate, we don't actually know what we are missing out on which means we will work on an assumption of something we know little about except the label we have placed upon it.

"I am not a writer"

 
Is this true? The thing is that this is a label too and this will put a limitation on what we are willing to try. I have come across many people who have claimed exactly this yet when I read their non-writing, they are much better than they claim. Of course, some may be playing the humility card and secretly be attention seeking and desiring of praise but, not all.

This also tends to be an attitude type where the people who make claims about what they are not are also the ones that are unwilling to attempt to be. They don't like putting themselves into positions of vulnerability (who does) so do all they can to avoid the discomfort. This generally translates into narrow skillsets due to lack of willingness to get the experience in a diverse range. This has nothing to do with their actual potential to be proficient though.

I was saying in the other post that desired labeling behavior is closely linked to feelings of superiority and I am pretty sure that the inverse is true where, negative labels applied to the self are linked to inferiority aspects. If someone thinks that they can't do something before they try it, they are working under an assumption, a presupposition. This is a defeatist attitude of some sort.

Now, of course when it comes to writing or something like this, it is not that they haven't tried at all but, it is a skill that takes time to acquire and effort to develop. Someone commented yesterday that they think the ability to express oneself is a something people are born with, this is not true. It is the same statement in saying, "born leader" which is one that annoys me.

There is no such thing as a born leader however, there are different traits that can support and speed the development of a leader in the same way that there are traits that support the development of every kind of skill, both physical and mental. This doesn't mean that those with no/low traits are excluded from development though, at least for the most part. It may be physically impossible for an extreme psychopath to feel empathy, for example.

Often though, I think that it is a cop out position to say I am not able unless that has actually been thoroughly investigated and, the right attempts have been made.

“Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” - Vince Lombardi Jr.

This is the problem (especially with first solo attempts) as the practice that is done isn't likely to be what is perfect and, even if it is pretty good, the first steps are going to be wobbly, like a toddler learning to walk. It is pretty easy at this point to say, I can't do this without actually having really tried to do it much at all.

Yesterday, I started a tag #anhouraday about giving something a go for an hour a day for 30 days to give it a real chance to see if it is suitable or not. This was one of the comments.

Maybe I will try this with something.
Could work well when giving yourself a target of something for the first 30 days, and then for the next 30 days the target could be a deeper target of the first one and so on. - @pikkumyy

This is a great way to approach skill development if someone actively evaluates what they are doing and then adjusts their practice to fill in the gaps. This is what Vince Lombardi might have done to develop a well-rounded player in their skill sector. This is the job of coaches but, people are definitely able to self-coach if, they are objective enough to see themselves somewhat clearly and, be willing to focus on gaps that are not in their strength areas.

The tendency for people to focus on what they enjoy over what they do not is high even if what they do not is a support structure of what they enjoy. It is much like those guys who go to the gym and only benchpress until their back muscles are too weak to pull and expand their chest muscles and they look like gorillas. But, it also reduces their ability to benchpress higher weights as their body is not balanced enough to support it.

What is interesting with a lot of skill though is that it is possible to get pretty good at something relatively fast if the intention to improve is there. What people would find if they actually put effort into doing and exploring something an hour a day is that they will quickly build up a base of knowledge and skill that will continually advance their learning speed.

When it comes to writing for example, even simple things like spellchecking consistently and using a Thesaurus will help improve writing ability as the intention is there to improve. Making the effort to look for something to learn in a specific field will widen the pool of what is actually learned and the more learned, the easier to learn more. Lots of learn in there... Should have used the thesaurus.

I have digressed quite a lot but I guess the point is that saying I can't or I am not is a process that will lead to a crushing of experience and a decrease in potential on a cycle that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is not that we are what we think we are but if we only do what we think we can do we will never learn what we are truly capable of.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

This is a support piece for the #anhouraday tag in the hope that people will keep it up and explore their potentially hidden skill loves.