How to: Try New Things

Like everyone else, I recently have taken up bread making as a past time. I got some sourdough starter from a trusted friend and got started! I threw all the ingredients in my mixer, let it rise overnight, and followed the instructions explicitly with hopes of having delicious bread.

You can imagine my sadness when the first loaf of bread I made was uncooked in the middle and so was the second loaf I tried to make. I followed the recipe, sought advice, and was willing to do just about anything to make it work.

At that moment, I decided to give up on bread. There just seemed to be bread people and I was not blessed enough to be one of them. I would have to resort to buying bread for my family for the rest of my life.

One of my failed bread attempts.

As this bread saga was going on, I have been listening to an audiobook copy of ‘Range’ by David Epstein, and he said something that really resonated with me.

“Trying new things is the secret to finding your talents.”

This is a simple enough concept. How would we know we are good at anything if we did not simply try new things to see if they are our talent?

For myself, I know my strength comes in facilitation and leading conversations. How did I learn this? By taking any opportunity I could to be involved in leadership, public speaking, and facilitation. It didn’t always come easy and many were super challenging experiences, but the ROI was high. Below are some tips that have helped me with learning new things, even when they have been difficult.

Have patience with yourself.

I can remember learning how to drive and it being so stressful. I just could not fathom a time when it would feel comfortable to be behind a wheel, but now, I drive without even thinking about it all the time.

You are not going to be perfect the first time you try something. In fact, you are likely not going to be great for the first few times. Take a few deep breaths and exercise the kindness you would have with someone else in a new situation.

Celebrate the small wins.

When I made that horrid bread, it felt like it immediately contributed to my self-worth. I was a bad baker. I couldn’t follow the instructions. I must be stupid, everyone can make bread — it has been done for generations!

Trying and failing at something should NOT equate to your self-worth, but rather your commitment to continuing to finding new ways to grow.

If I had never tried this bread, I would have never known if I could have made bread, and eventually, with enough tries, I made the perfect loaf of bread.

Did I fail again after that? Yes. Will I keep trying? Totally.

Making this bread made me feel so accomplished. It allowed me to connect with friends who have immense expertise in bread making. It also allowed me to be vulnerable on my Instagram with my failures. I had so many people reach out saying that post inspired them to do something they may have been afraid to do. That felt worth it and was worth celebrating.

Figure out your motivation in wanting to do something.

I wanted to make bread because I love cooking and I try to make everything from scratch at least once. I love the mechanics of just knowing how things I love are made!

Not everything is for everyone to do. That is the reason we have bakeries because we are all not meant to bake bread to an excellent caliber. When trying a new hobby or task, give it some thought on why you want to do something or what your motivation is. Often we do things because they are trendy (and that is a-ok!), but when it becomes damaging to our self-worth, it is time to stop and focus on activities that fire us up.

For example, everyone in my network seems to love murder and crime podcasts. It was a constant topic of conversation for months and I just could not shake it. So, I tried. I listened to tons of them and every single time I listened to one, I spent the entire time cringing. This was not for me! Why was I forcing myself to listen to murder podcasts? I felt pressure and that was my motivation, and that was simply just not good enough to have something sustain as a hobby long term.

So, when choosing a new thing to do, choose wisely but exercise patience with yourself. You can do anything you WANT to put your mind to.

This post was edited using my favourite resource Grammarly!

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