4 Steps To Fix “I’m Not Good At Anything”

Does it bother you that you aren’t good at anything?

You have a deep desire to be the best you can be, that’s why you’re here.

Together we will go over the four step process I use to conquer any hobby or career that I lay my eyes on.

Knowledge is power, and in today’s world, there opportunities in every direction.

If you’re ready to start learning how to learn, let’s proceed.

“I’m Not Good At Anything…”

I’m like you.

Growing up I didn’t have a knack for anything. I was unathletic, depressed, and an all-around wet blanket. I had no friends and didn’t see a future for myself.

I changed when I realized that the power to changed my life was is my hands. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t good at anything. I could learn HOW to be good at anything.

One of the biggest breakthroughs was dedicating myself to weightlifting. At first, I was incredibly weak, I felt embarrassed every time I walked into the gym. But I still showed up, because I had to, for me.

Over the course of a few months, it dawned on me that life was an analogy to weightlifting. Every week you attempt to increase your weights by the smallest increment possible. By slowly adding the weight you let yourself progress at a steady pace.

There will be plateaus, but time and patience get you through every period of stagnation.

I wasn’t good at anything, that was the truth. But I learned over the course of a few months, tangible progress could be made.

I went on to teach myself how to make friends. I learned how to make money without a college degree. I searched far and wide for happiness. And you know what? I crushed every goal I ever set out for myself.

The sky is the limit. It all starts with you. The excuse “I’m not good at anything” isn’t helping you, drop it.

I’ll share with you the 4 step method I use to conquer any challenge I face in life.

Only proceed if you are ready to start a new chapter in your life.

1) Follow Your Heart

I sucked at school. I dropped out of college because I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

Being forced to do anything results in me not caring. You will quit before you start if your heart isn’t in it.

But how do you find what you love?

You have to actively participate in life to understand what you enjoy. Take the time to try as many different things as you can so that you can focus all of your energy on one avenue.

You want to be a master of one thing not a jack of all trades. Immersion is a very powerful method of learning. You want to have blinders on and focus on one thing at a time. Don’t try to become a full-time artist AND a writer at the same time.

It’s crucial that you are 100% confident that your endeavor is what YOU want. This is your life, no one else will be able to decide for you.

Don’t be afraid that you may abandon your desires later. Life is ever-changing, I’ve stopped going down some paths because I realized that they didn’t fit me any longer.

I used to be obsessed with going out at night and meeting as many people as possible. My friends and I would go out every day of the week, leaving me without any strength.

I decided to stop as I came to the realization that my obsession was turning into more of a negative than a positive. I was improving my social skills but at the cost of my career.

Your heart and mind will change, that’s normal. It’s only important that in this moment, your heart is in it 110%.

2) Learn From the Right Sources

Now that you’ve decided what you will focus on, it’s time to start learning.

If you aren’t naturally talented then learning is your only choice. Learning about something you love is different than being forced to learn about calculus. (If you’re like me, if you enjoy math then go for it!) Your brain will become attentive as your mind, body, and heart are in line with your actions.

You will find yourself being eager to learn, every day. The main issue you will face is finding the right kind of information.

In a world of unlimited information, we are victims of “help” that leads us down the wrong path. You want to learn from others that have gone done your road, not learn in hindsight.

It’s possible to shave off months off your learning curve by learning effectively. It starts with finding out what the best sources are and then finding what works for you.

With so many different sources to take in, you will have to be careful who you choose to listen to. You might think a certain person is a goldmine only to later find out that they weren’t who they were portrayed to be.

It’s ok to make mistakes when you learn. You are learning, after all. The key here is being able to pivot on the fly. Have an open mind. Take in all sorts of information from podcasts, Reddit, Youtube, Google, books, etc.

If you learn even as little as one hour a day, you will be 30 hours of information ahead of everyone else in just a month alone!

Slow gains add up. You’ll look back in 3,6,9 months and think to yourself how far you’ve come. It’s incredible the amount of progress you can make if you dedicate yourself to a portion of time every day.

3) Put What You Learn Into Practice

You have to put what you learn into practice otherwise your efforts go to waste.

I had a bad habit of repeating methods that don’t work for long periods of time, I could’ve been shaving off another few days/months off my learning curve. Be aware of HOW you practice. Don’t mindlessly gloss over this process.

It will be hard at first putting what you learned into practice. Your brain has to put energy into focusing on what you are doing as it’s a new experience.

Imagine you have to relearn how to drive. In the beginning, you’re wary of staying inside the lines, being within the speed limit, and accelerating/decelerating properly. After a few years, you’re able to drive with one hand on the wheel and the other on the radio while still being in full control.

Learning works like this. You won’t master what you learn in a day or even weeks at times. You will have to continuously keep practicing until your conscious efforts turn into unconscious habits. When you have successfully learned a new concept, your brain makes room for learning new things!

You will be learning for the rest of your life. Always think of yourself as a student, this way you can stay humble through the process. You need to go through the process once to fully understand every step.

It doesn’t bother me to suck at first. I know I’ll get better through conscious practice. If other people judge you for it – they are envious that you are taking action.

Focus on yourself and keep practicing.

4) Never. Give. Up.

Plateaus happen for a reason. They are a test of your determination, many will consider them failures during long plateaus.

The way plateaus work is similar in all forms of learning. It’ll seem that you are making absolutely zero progress and then one day you suddenly are a sizeable amount better than where you were stuck.

I love playing chess. I’ve always enjoyed playing games, but chess is a pure expression of mental ability.

Was I good when I started playing chess?

Hell no. I had 0 natural talent even though I’ve been a former professional poker player and was in the top 5% of other online games.

The reason why I’m using chess as an example is that chess uses a rating system where you can document progress. In real life, you can’t see your progress on a chart like this, if only it were so!

This is my progress after a little over a year of playing. I took a rather long break so my entire playtime in chess was around a year.

You can see in the beginning – my rating was ABYSMAL! 1500 was the average rating for all chess players, and I was below 1000! I was below average, and I was ok with that.

I watched chess videos, I wanted to get better. I loved the game and it was frustrating to play and to lose so carelessly. I wanted to be on the other end of the loss.

It took me 6 months of playing every day only to be average. I was so burnt out at that point that I quit the game entirely. I picked the game back up in July, and as I’m writing this I’m better than 76.7 percent of the chess players on Lichess.org

I know that my rating isn’t anything special, but I’m proud of it. I used all the knowledge I had of plateaus and grinded through them.

Becoming Elite is a Different Story

To gain another 10 percent would require an exponential amount of effort. What got me to be better than average won’t get me to elite.

I would have to hire a coach, study every day and even then I may never reach a rating of 2200(99th percentile). The amount of time it takes to get good at chess is mind-boggling. I would rather use my efforts to progress my life through my blog than on my hobby.

If you want to take the next step into becoming elite, know that you will have to make sacrifices. You will likely need to spend every ounce of your energy progressing to your mastery.

As they say it takes 10,000 hours to master anything. Put in the time with some knowledge and you’ll get to where exactly you want to be.

Don’t Limit Yourself

Stop saying “I’m not good at anything”.

You are capable of doing great things. If I was able to rise up to the top, you are too. I’m a nobody, I’m just someone who figured life out along the way. I’m not a genius, I was able to listen and learn without ego.

I wasn’t afraid of failure and I loved to chase after what others told me wasn’t possible. I would do anything in my power to get better, I had to dig myself out of a hole more than once.

I was the only person who could do it. As much as my parents and friends loved me, they weren’t capable of digging me out of the hole I was in.

It’s the same with you, too. Give yourself a shovel for once. Start digging yourself out of the hole you put yourself in.

You ARE good enough to go after what you want in life. You don’t need talent, only dedication.

Dedication beats raw talent any day of the week. Plenty of amazingly talented people let their gifts go to the wayside while others take advantage of their laziness.

Who do you want to be in life? The person that didn’t try hard enough?

Or the person that destroyed and conquered any challenge that laid before them?

It’s your choice.

Take Life By The Reins

There is only one obstacle between you and greatness.

It’s you.

You have everything in your toolbox now to tackle any desire you wish.

If you put in the effort, the next few years of your life will be incredible.

The time is now.

About Roy Cohen

Hi there! I'm the founder of Claiming Clarity. My passion in life is helping people live better. If you'd like to learn more, check out the about page.

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