One of my favorite parts of my kids’ break is having my whole family together, especially for family game night. Whether we’re around the table or waiting for food, games have a way of sparking laughter and unexpected insight.
Recently, we played the game Psych where each person had to answer the question, “What would ____ win a gold medal for?”
My husband, unsurprisingly, earned awards for dad jokes, bad dad jokes, and fixing technology simply by standing near it. All very accurate.
I, on the other hand, am not particularly tech savvy. I’ve learned enough over time, mostly through trial, error, and asking for help to do basic troubleshooting, but the truth is: I don’t love it. And that realization made me think differently about something that used to frustrate me.
Why “I Don’t Want to Learn This” Finally Makes Sense
In my mom’s later years, she would often say, “I don’t want to know this. Just do it for me.” At the time, that drove me crazy. Now? I kind of get it. Which led me to a new personal policy:
Everyone gets to be bad at one thing. Just one.
With everything else, you have to try. You have to learn. You have to make the effort. But you get to choose the one thing you’re allowed to be bad at.
The Bigger Question: Why This Thing?
Once I landed on that idea, another question followed quickly:
Is this really the right thing to be okay with being bad at?
Sometimes we accept “I’m bad at this” as a permanent truth instead of a temporary state. So, before putting something on your this-is-the-thing-I-get-to-be-bad-at list, it’s worth asking:
Does this scare or intimidate me?
Does it genuinely bore me?
Or do I dislike it because I’m just not good at it… yet?
That last word matters. Yet leaves room for growth. Often, the things we say we don’t like are the things we haven’t given ourselves the chance to improve at.
How to Get Better at the Thing You’d Rather Avoid
Before you officially opt out, try experimenting with improvement:
- Start embarrassingly small. Master the first step, not the whole skill.
- Ask for help sooner. Learning accelerates when you don’t do it alone.
- Practice in low-stakes moments. No audience, no pressure.
- Reframe progress. Getting a little better still counts.
- Borrow confidence. Watch how someone else approaches it and try their method.
You don’t have to become amazing—you just have to become less bad.
Your Challenge This Week
Here’s my challenge to you:
- Write down the one thing you think you want to be bad at.
- Ask yourself why you chose it.
- Commit to taking one small step to get better at it before you give yourself a permanent pass.
So, before you permanently add something to your “I get to be bad at this” list, maybe see if you can get just a little better at it first. You might surprise yourself. After that? If you still want it to be your “one thing,” you’ve earned it.
Because choosing wisely isn’t about avoiding discomfort, it’s about deciding where your effort matters most.