Everyone always wants to be great at something. Whatever area of endeavor it is. Even sucking.
For instance, I love to watch sports and cheer for my favorite teams. But they seldom do as well as I’d want them to so, if they suck, there’s a dark part of me that wants them to really suck. I mean, colossally suck to the most epic degree ever seen. I want them to be the very best at sucking. Blow other teams away with shitty play. Drop every pass. Lose 5 yards per rush. Get smoked 48-3. Week in, week out. I want them to stink so bad, it draws attention. One day I want to look back and tell my family “Man, I know the Packers suck, but you remember that year they went 1-15? Man, they really sucked! Way worse than this season” I was part of the suck. And my suck experience helped me sieze the day and win the argument with my brother because I had an example that was bigger and better than the suck he was talking about.
The opposite of great is not suck, it’s mediocre. No one remembers a .500 team. 8-8? Yawn… 0-16? Now you’re getting somewhere! Because when you really suck, there’s nothing but up. You truly can’t get any worse, right? But if you’re in the middle, people don’t know if you suck but are overachieving, or are good but just not living up to your potential. That leaves people wishy washy about you and they’ll steer clear. And quickly forget you. But if you really stink, people take note.
The lesson is to try stuff and not be afraid to stink. Give things a try and if they fail at least you know now what not to do. If you flounder in the middle, you’ll never be sure if it was just bad execution, you were having a tough day, or if the stars just weren’t aligned that day. So, you’ll keep trying the thing that made you suck in the first place over and over again until you get it right. But the truth is, you’ll never get it right because you keep trying something that sucks over and over again, hoping for a different result.
So stink again and again. Stink better than anyone. Be the best at sucking and soon you’ll realize your true path.
