clifflandis.net

I don’t typically do comment posts, but I would like to comment on a post by Merlin Mann over at 43 folders.  In it, Mann explores his growing skill in photography, and the uncomfortable feelings that we get when we’re learning something new and have to realize that we’re not instantaneously brilliant at it.

Nobody likes feeling like a noob, especially when you’re getting constant pressure on all sides to never stick out in an unflattering way. And, in this godforsaken just-add-Wikipedia era of make-believe insight and instant expertise, it’s natural to start believing you must never suck at anything or admit to knowing less than everything — even when you’re just starting out. Clarinets should never squawk, sketch lines should never be visible, and dictionaries are just big, dumb books of words for cheaters and fancy people. Right?

I think finding your own comfort with the process (whatever that process ends up being) might just be the whole game here — being willing to put in your time, learn the craft, and never lose the courageousness to be caught in the middle of making something you care about, even when it might be shit and you might look like an idiot fumbling to make it. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

When I speak, I try to emphasize the joy of failure.  The recognition that when you’re learning something new, that you’re not going to do it perfectly the first time. When I’m learning a new skill, craft, or language, I have to be patient with myself, and constantly reassure that part of myself that (to this day!) tells me that “I’m doing it wrong and I should just quit.”  I have to be patient with myself.

As librarians, we’re always changing and trying new things to adapt to our world and our users (and if you’re not, you should probably change careers).  So we can’t expect to be perfect the first time.  So as you create your library’s new Alternate Reality Game, write that article on SMS in libraries, or figure out a way to de-suck your library’s catalog, remember that you won’t get it right the first time.  But that’s no reason to quit trying.  The only way to rock is to pratice.