Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
Often we're so far removed from the experience of learning something for the first time that we forget the struggles that it took to get good at that thing. It can be easier to look at something you learned more recently or over a long period of time. I didn't start learning to ski until after college and it has been something I’ve only done once or twice a year. When anyone first starts skiing you spend a lot of time picking yourself up from the ground and it can be an exhausting experience. I'm not in any better shape than I was 12 years ago but skiing is now way easier (and a whole lot more fun).
It's natural to want to shortcut the learning process. YouTube and TikTok show us what the best looks like and it’s tempting to sacrifice safety to go fast. Those shortcuts only lead to not having a full set of tools available when you need them. By building small learning loops you can experience rewards more frequently and make measurable progress with skills. I’ve gone back to the ski runs that initially intimidated me and it is enormously more fun to tackle those hills with more confidence that several trips worth of skill building.
Comfortable with being uncomfortable
Everyone has the incredible ability to learn at any age. I think we can get stuck starting from scratch with new skills and go through the awkward beginner phase. Social media has only made it more difficult because we're bombarded with the best the whole world has to offer. That world is curated for us and we don't see the hundreds or thousands of steps along the way that led to the success. At the same time, there are more opportunities to learn literally any skill at any moment.
As an adult, it's hard to remember the feeling of being bad at everything. Kids have the luxury of not knowing what being good at something feels like. We get comfortable in the grooves that we've already formed. That comfort can be our biggest weakness. Embrace being uncomfortable and you can find learning everywhere. I'm currently embracing this discomfort by blogging these random thoughts every week (critical feedback welcome).
Organizational Learning
Organizations have the same capacity to learn and are also more likely to remain stuck in their grooves. When new technologies or processes are introduced there is always an awkward beginner phase where we need to build the team's muscle memory and sometimes unlearn counterproductive habits.
I've learned this the hard way when introducing new technologies to a team. When I've jumped into quickly prototyping something and then try to hand off the prototype, the team has not gone through the same learning process that I just did. I try to do better now to bring people along through the awkward beginner phases either through teaching or carving out smaller learning focused projects.
If we learn to embrace the awkwardness of the learning process and celebrate the smaller wins along the way we can become better with building skills both personally and in our organizations. So I’d like to encourage all of us to get outside of our comfort zones and pick up something new, it might become a lifelong hobby.
