What Are You Willing to Be Bad At?

Last week I shared my plea that you go slowly – in the right direction – to kick off the year. 

Life’s circumstances have pushed me to take my own advice, and, at the same time, I’m feeling some big, “Let’s do this!” energy. 

This year feels ripe for me to dig in and tackle some things that I’ve always wanted to be good at, but… am not. Yet.

Which reminded me of the wonderful question: 

What are you willing to be bad at long enough to get good at it? 

Three areas that jump to mind for me are finances, swimming, and piano. 

I can kinda sorta do all those things, but I’m ready for proficiency. Heck, I’m ready for excellence! 

Because I know it won’t work for me to tackle them all at once, I’m going to start with my finances and collect those dopamine hits.

I don’t know about you, but I love when people share a peek at what they journal, so here’s an excerpt (lightly edited for clarity) from yesterday’s pages: 

My big rock for today is lovingly tending my business finances. It’s giving me some anxiety and I find myself avoiding it. 

Why?

Small: I’m afraid of bad news. What if there’s a bad surprise? (I don’t really thing there will be.) 

Bigger: It often…I often feel stupid/incompetent/foolish around money.

I want 2023 to be the year I transform my relationship with money. Whoa. OK. You got this. 

It feels like things are always changing and – aha – are out of my control. 

OK Olivia, you have so many resources available to help you with this. What’s the worst that could happen? I get frustrated and feel foolish? OK. 

Let’s turtle step the money love: Let’s try 10 minutes/day of looking at accounts and making sure that day’s transactions are accurately recorded. 

That’s where we start. 

That’s how transformation happens: reflection, planning, action, repeat. 

Full disclosure: even that 10 minute commitment scared me off, so today, I’m cutting it in half. Five minutes a day of tending my finances. Doesn’t sound like much, but that adds up to just under 2 hours / month, which is a lot more than zero. 

I also expect that once I start to get my footing, the amount of time I want to spend on this – looking over accounts with my husband, delving into some of the books I have about money that have been sitting on my shelf for years, exploring more deeply with my own coach.  

I ask again: 

What are you ok being bad at long enough to get good at it? 

I’m rooting for you! 

And if you’re serious about this goal and ready to have someone in your corner, let’s talk. As a reminder, my prices go back to their original rates on February 1.