Can you hate something... if you're good at it?

“Leave me alone, dad, I don’t want to do this anymore!”

“Baby, come on, you can’t just quit because you fell a couple of times.”

“Why not? Why do I have to learn to ride a bicycle?”

“Because it’s fun and you enjoy it?”

“No, I hate it. I don’t want to learn.”

“Hate it? You loved it last time we took the bike out.”

“Well, that changed, I don’t like it anymore.”

“When your friends go out with their bicycles you’ll be upset you if can’t join them.”

“No, I won’t. I’ll just rollerblade next to them.”

“Fine, but you still have to learn how to ride a bike.”

“Why?”

“Because… you have to, ok?”

“That’s not a good reason.”

“Well, I would let you quit… but… ahm… I can’t. It’s… against the rule.”

“What rule?”

“The… ahm… wait, what’s the name again… ah, I know! The “not quitting when it’s bad” rule! It says you can’t quit something after you suck at it. You have to do it well and, if you still want to quit after, you can. That rule.”

“You just made that up!”

“I have not!! It’s real. Been around forever. Really.”

“So I have to try a few more times and, once I do it well, I can stop, right?”

“Exactly.”

“Hm… ok, I guess.”

Half an hour later, she’s zipping around the park and begging me to stay longer. 

On our way home, she gives me a hug and says, 

“Thanks, Daddy. That was really a good rule. I’m lucky you knew about it.”

And I’m lucky she bought that nonsense, I had nothing else left 😅

If I could love telemarketing…

Ok, I guess it’s pretty obvious I tricked my kid there, I knew that she wouldn’t quit after she managed a few good runs. I know that because of something I heard over 20 years ago.

It was one of my first jobs, and I was cold-calling people to sell them stuff. I thought I’d hate it, but it turns out I was pretty good at it, and I was having fun. 

When I mentioned being surprised about that to a friend, he said, 

“Well, it’s pretty hard to hate something you’re good at.”

That really stuck with me. To this day, when I feel a lot of resistance about doing something, I can come up with all sorts of reasons why, but deep down I know this: 

If I knew how to make it work, I wouldn’t mind doing it. Maybe I wouldn’t love it, but I definitely wouldn’t hate it. 

… you can probably love anything

I believe the same goes for telling stories. Speaking in public. Posting on social media. 

If you “hate it,” or just can’t bring yourself to do it, couldn’t that be because deep down you just don’t feel confident you can pull it off? 

Maybe try to learn a little more. Get some help. Do it well and then, if you still want to, you can quit. That’s the rule ;-)

Who knows? You might just find it can be fun after all 🤘

-Francisco 

* * *

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