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The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

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21–30 of 72 posts

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#21
post #3

I'm envious of people who are good at being bad. It's a skill that lets you choose how to develop yourself. I've noticed that it's really difficult for me to be bad at something, by which I mean that of my brain hasn't decided that it really needs to keep doing something, I gravitate towards things that I'm already decent at even if I don't really feel like I enjoy it. Doing even things that I might initially enjoy q…

I have the opposite problem. As soon as I become remotely competent at something, I have a hard time bringing myself to do it.

[deleted]

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#22
post #12
post #3

I'm envious of people who are good at being bad. It's a skill that lets you choose how to develop yourself. I've noticed that it's really difficult for me to be bad at something, by which I mean that of my brain hasn't decided that it really needs to keep doing something, I gravitate towards things that I'm already decent at even if I don't really feel like I enjoy it. Doing even things that I might initially enjoy q…

Try cooking. The skill cap is high, it doesn't take much to make things OK, and you gotta eat. it has helped me a lot. Plenty of times I don't want to do it, but it's hard to put off for long. You can screw up a lot, and the results are still edible. Every damn meal I make has problems. Usually it's pretty good, but there are things I can do better with the output and the process. No matter the outcome, I feel better…

Cooking is one thing I'm terrible at: there is no feedback loop at all. No matter how much time I spend on 'experimenting', I don't get any better.

Many people simple cannot fathom this. They deny the existing of any such possibility.

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#23
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try cooking. The skill cap is high, it doesn't take much to make things OK, and you gotta eat. it has helped me a lot. Plenty of times I don't want to do it, but it's hard to put off for long. You can screw up a lot, and the results are still edible. Every damn meal I make has problems. Usually it's pretty good, but there are things I can do better with the output and the process. No matter the outcome, I feel better…

Cooking is one thing I'm terrible at: there is no feedback loop at all. No matter how much time I spend on 'experimenting', I don't get any better. Many people simple cannot fathom this. They deny the existing of any such possibility.

Tasting what you cook while you cook is an incr/edible/ feedback loop

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#24
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try cooking. The skill cap is high, it doesn't take much to make things OK, and you gotta eat. it has helped me a lot. Plenty of times I don't want to do it, but it's hard to put off for long. You can screw up a lot, and the results are still edible. Every damn meal I make has problems. Usually it's pretty good, but there are things I can do better with the output and the process. No matter the outcome, I feel better…

Cooking is one thing I'm terrible at: there is no feedback loop at all. No matter how much time I spend on 'experimenting', I don't get any better. Many people simple cannot fathom this. They deny the existing of any such possibility.

I think there is a lot of implicit knowledge and skill in even “basic” cooking that people tend to massively undervalue. Anyone who tells a beginner cook to “experiment” is falling for this. Beginners should copy, as fastidiously as they can!

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#25
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cooking is one thing I'm terrible at: there is no feedback loop at all. No matter how much time I spend on 'experimenting', I don't get any better. Many people simple cannot fathom this. They deny the existing of any such possibility.

Tasting what you cook while you cook is an incr/edible/ feedback loop

Only if you have a good sense of how things should taste and intuition for how what you put in affected it.

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#26
post #3

I'm envious of people who are good at being bad. It's a skill that lets you choose how to develop yourself. I've noticed that it's really difficult for me to be bad at something, by which I mean that of my brain hasn't decided that it really needs to keep doing something, I gravitate towards things that I'm already decent at even if I don't really feel like I enjoy it. Doing even things that I might initially enjoy q…

I have the opposite problem. As soon as I become remotely competent at something, I have a hard time bringing myself to do it.

You can fix that by raising the bar for which you feel you are "remotely competent". If you consider anyone below world class to not be remotely competent then you'll be world class before you give up.

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#27
post #8

I suck at karaoke, but it is so much fun. Even more because I am so bad at singing. My friends usually cannot stop laughing when my voice starts to break. It would be enjoyable too with a good voice I guess, but I do not wanna miss the times we had fun singing with my poor voice

There's nothing more awkward than 1 good singer surrounded by bad singers at a karaoke box. It's amazing how they can completely nail a song and put everyone off singing.

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#28
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try cooking. The skill cap is high, it doesn't take much to make things OK, and you gotta eat. it has helped me a lot. Plenty of times I don't want to do it, but it's hard to put off for long. You can screw up a lot, and the results are still edible. Every damn meal I make has problems. Usually it's pretty good, but there are things I can do better with the output and the process. No matter the outcome, I feel better…

Cooking is one thing I'm terrible at: there is no feedback loop at all. No matter how much time I spend on 'experimenting', I don't get any better. Many people simple cannot fathom this. They deny the existing of any such possibility.

it's a skill. get a book, take a class. I made the same eggs on the same pan for a long time. Do the same thing over and over. Treat it as a hobby, not an obligation. It really is something you can get better at. You'll learn how heat transfers over time. Furthermore, your gear is different. It has it's own special set of tolerances so no one can give precise instructions, because your tools are different.

I've burned soup. I believe you, it can be super hard. There is a feedback loop, you're maybe not seeing it yet. Look at all the things, try lower temperatures, let things take longer.

Experimenting is a later skill. Follow the recipe as well as you can, and observe the outcome. I want to say you'll know where the errors are, but that's not realistic. Maybe your oven is poorly calibrated. Maybe it's too hot for too long. or not hot enough.

The main point is, this is a place you can try and fail, and try again tomorrow. If you don't like the product, figure out why it's bad and fix it. Lots of room to try stuff out, and even if you're vaguely close, you get food. For me, eating changes my mental state. even if the food isn't good, it has this weird effect of ending hunger.

You do you. If cooking is too hard, don't do it. But kinda the point is; try, fail try, fail, try ok, try good. You can figure it out. 7 billion other people did, you can too.

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#29
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cooking is one thing I'm terrible at: there is no feedback loop at all. No matter how much time I spend on 'experimenting', I don't get any better. Many people simple cannot fathom this. They deny the existing of any such possibility.

Tasting what you cook while you cook is an incr/edible/ feedback loop

Exactly, it doesn't get much clearer than this whether you failed or succeeded!

@silvestrov: just try easy recipes and buy good and fresh ingredients, and continue with harder recipes once you get the hang of it.

Re: The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something

#30
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tasting what you cook while you cook is an incr/edible/ feedback loop

Only if you have a good sense of how things should taste and intuition for how what you put in affected it.

Not necessarily true. Taste is super subjective, only you can decide whether you think something tastes good.

And of course, it takes a long time to taste something and realize exactly what it misses or what causes it to taste good, but as long as you are able to test out different recipes you'll eventually end up with quite a few dishes that taste great.

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