It is a commonly accepted idea that you should do the things you are good at, because naturally, you are more likely to be successful doing those things than doing things for which you have no talent. I think that there is another side to this accepted norm. People not only want to succeed at the things they do, they are also afraid of failure. I understand why people have this mentality. In society we are praised for the things we are good at and harshly judged when we are not good at something. I think that this is a damaging mentality, as it leads to a society in which people refuse to leave their comfort zones. In a world where there is so much shaming and cruelty, we naturally try to protect ourselves, and in doing so, deprive ourselves of reaching our full potential. I think that it is high time we changed the way we look at failure and start embracing it instead of feeling completely crushed by it.
Start doing things that you think you're bad at. Maybe it's an area in school where you always got bad grades. Maybe it's a sport or a hobby like drawing. No matter what it is, revisit that thing that has always made you feel like a failure and try it again without placing harsh judgement on yourself. Ask yourself this: Did I stop doing this thing because I disliked it, or because someone told me I wasn't good at it? Stop thinking of failure to meet your goal as a bad thing, but think of it as learning what not to do, and trying again all the wiser for the experience. Remember the words of Thomas Edison, "I have not failed. I've just found ten-thousand ways that won't work." If you think of it in this light, it's not so bad, is it?
Stop comparing yourself to others. I think it is one of the biggest mistakes we can make when learning something. It is one of the reasons I often label myself as a failure. I was once in a musical, "Beauty and the Beast," and as part of the ensemble, I had to do quite a bit of dancing. Now if there's anything that I am not naturally inclined to, it is anything that has to do with coordination and physical movement. This was a huge setback for me. It would take me twice as long to learn the choreography as it did almost any other person in the cast. I wasn't used to being the slowest learner, and it made me really upset. At one point however, I decide that I had to push past it and move on if I wanted to succeed. And so with more effort than I would have liked, I learned the choreography. It was towards the end of rehearsing for the production that I had a huge revelation. My failure had actually led me to success. Perhaps I had to work harder than a lot of people to learn choreography, but because of that, I pushed myself, and became much faster at learning choreography as time went on. The realization that I had come so far from where I was at the beginning of rehearsals felt amazing! That was when I realized what people mean when they say the only person you should compare yourself to is you. If you start thinking in those terms, I promise you, you will start to see so much more improvement, and it will really boost your confidence.
If you're not convinced yet, there are more reasons for why you should try things you aren't good at. Not only will it boost your confidence, it will help you strengthen your weaker areas, and it will help you become more patient. Even if you never use your hard earned dance or drawing skills in your job, they do give you qualities that will help you in professional and personal situations alike. So if you are a strictly books type of girl or guy, try Taekwondo, or if you can't imagine yourself being good at anything other than Taekwondo, try writing a novel. Believe me, it won't kill you. You might even find a new weekend hobby.
