Ever felt frustrated by how awful you are at something new? Turns out, that’s the best place to start. Guest writer Thea Burgess dives into the reasons why being bad at something isn’t just okay – it’s essential.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly at first.”
– G.K. Chesterton
I would consider my first attempt at painting to have been a true insult to artists all around the globe. Damien Hirst let out a sigh, as Banksy sat his spray paint down to hold his head in his hands. Rembrandt turned in his grave.
So what did I do? I quit. I swiftly put the paintbrush down, and I haven’t revisited painting in years. Sound familiar? Of course it does. We’ve all been there – you try something new, you’re immediately bad at it, and so you feel deflated and you quit. It feels easier to give up than go through the awkward, embarrassing, clunky anguish of mastering a new skill.
Why do we expect to be good at something we’ve never done? And what if being terrible is actually the most important part? We all need to hear the blunt and honest truth: being bad at something is the first step to mastery.
The Science of Sucking – Your Brain on Failure
You may think science and the arts don’t often mix, but there’s some unavoidable scientific evidence out there to back up why failing is a necessity.
I couldn’t talk about the psychology of learning, failing and improving without mentioning a certain someone: Carol Dweck.
Carol Dweck is an American psychologist best known for her work on the theory of growth mindset, which explores how beliefs about ability influence learning and achievement.
To truly understand Dweck’s view on the connection between your mindset and your overall success, I would highly recommend reading her book called Mindset or watching her renowned Ted Talk. But, to sum her ideologies up, how you think affects the outcome of your ventures. Dweck talks about the importance of having a growth mindset over a fixed one.
Having a growth mindset means believing that your abilities, intelligence, and creativity can be developed over time through effort, practice, and learning — not just something you’re born with or without. This is important for artists to hear – no natural talent can outdo hard work and a bit of self-belief.
I interviewed successful Chicago-based artist Leah Gardner about the importance of failure: “ I don’t think it’s possible to grow artistically without failing. My improvement as a painter is built on a stack of horrible paintings that went into the trash. If you’re never experimenting and messing up, you’re probably not growing as much as you could be.”
Need some more scientific evidence that failure is good for you? Let’s talk about neuroplasticity.
According to expert Kendra Cherry, neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and adapt due to experience. So, it’s really at the heart of why failure is so valuable. Failure sparks neuroplasticity.
When you make a mistake or experience failure, your brain kicks into “error detection” mode. It flags what went wrong and starts adjusting. Neurons involved in the failed attempt fire together, creating an opportunity to rewire and improve the next attempt. This process of trial, error, and correction is exactly how skill learning and creative mastery happen.
So what does this mean for artists and creatives? In the visual arts, failure is more than just a bump in the road — it’s the process that sculpts your brain to be more agile, innovative, and expressive. Every bad sketch, failed concept, or abandoned canvas is literally reshaping your brain for the better.
Why Most People Quit – The Valley of Despair
It’s time to talk about the infamous “Valley of Despair”. AKA the “Suck Zone”, or the “Learning Dip”.
When we start a new skill, the motivation we gathered to begin said skill can rapidly deteriorate as we plummet towards the ‘Valley of Despair’. This valley is a fiery, awful pit filled with frustration, rage and discomfort.
It’s the part of the journey where:
- You’re trying, failing, trying again, and you can feel like you’re losing your grip.
- Doubt, imposter syndrome, comparison, and burnout are all creeping into your peripheral vision.
- You can start to feel isolated. It feels like everyone else knows what to do, except you.
I’ll give you the bad news first – the Valley of Despair is an unavoidable pitstop on your way to the Slope of Enlightenment. However, the good news is – if you make it through the Valley of Despair, you’re on the right road to mastering your chosen craft.
To make it through the valley, you just need to keep walking. This sounds simple, and it is. But it’s certainly not easy. There are some pretty daunting obstacles that stand in the way, such as fear, comparison, and perfectionism.
I asked successful artist Hiller Goodspeed what they thought about the process of failing. Their response was enlightening:
“I now think of failure as something which is to be expected and embraced as part of the overall experience. I even consider it a good, and a necessary thing to encounter if you want to be able to relate to your audience. The more I understand failure, and how I think about it, the more power I give myself to change how it affects me. What really is failure anyway? The more I think about it the harder it becomes to define.
“At this point I have absorbed and abolished the concept of failure and treat it as a thing which only exists as a concept.”
As an Iris reader, here’s what you should take away from all this:
1) “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly at first.”
2) No natural talent can outdo hard work and a bit of self-belief.
3) To make it through the valley, you just need to keep walking.
4) Social media can be useful, but it can also be terrible for you. Proceed with caution.
5) Try to fail as much as you can.