It’s hard to do new things. As adults we’re supposed to be knowledgeable. That often translates to us avoiding things outside our comfort zone. Trying something new becomes harder and harder the more we stay in our comfort zone.

I assume I am terrible at just about everything. I assume I am mildly capable at some things. Trying something new when I know I’ll be terrible at it and expect I have no idea what I’m doing really helps me embrace learning new things. It’s ok to look and feel like a dork. Embrace that feeling. Why do we take ourselves so seriously as adults?

I am a terrible golfer. Once a year I participate in a charity golf tournament and everyone knows that I’ve got the worst place trophy locked up. I still show up, I still try, I have zero expectations, and I celebrate every time my club actually connects with the ball.

Taking that approach to trying new things is key. Treat yourself like a five year old learning something new. Do you expect your kid to show up to t-ball and hit for the fence with every swing? No, so why do you expect that of yourself when you’re trying something for the first time?

There is a long-held belief that it takes 10,000 hours of doing something to master it. That’s a lot of time. If we do something for one hour a week – that’s more than 192 years of working at that thing. Twice a week, it’s 96 years. If you dedicated one hour every day to practicing something new, it would take you almost four years to put in enough hours to master it. Every single day for four years.

Give yourself a break. Just start doing it. It doesn’t have to be good, in fact it shouldn’t be. Just try. Start. You don’t have to have a plan, you don’t have to be strategic, you don’t have to study how beforehand. Just get started. As you put in those 10,000 hours, you’ll get better. But don’t prevent yourself from starting because you are over-analyzing and needing to be perfect. Just start. You’ll learn.