S2 E5 | Suck at Something with Karen Rinaldi
S2 E5 | Suck at Something with Karen Rinaldi
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“What do you suck at?” Karen Rinaldi would pose this question to writers when she would talk to them about their prospective books at her publishing company. She would get reactions that are probably similar to the feeling that you would imagine having: disbelief, offensiveness or fear. We hate the idea of sucking at something so we either avoid it like the plague or we shame ourselves during the sucking process. For Karen, she loves (almost) nothing more than the thing she sucks at the most: surfing. It is her ultimate form of play. She started surfing at the age of 40 and has experienced her fair share of gashes and injuries. Surfing was the first thing she wanted to do after she went into remission from breast cancer. She is always going to suck at it; she will never get paid to do it; there is no logical reason why she should prioritize doing something she sucks at so much. Karen wrote (It’s Great to) Suck at Something to puzzle out this conundrum for herself and in the process has inspired others to find the thing they love to do the most, even if they suck at it!
We talk about:
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Why we should embrace and not avoid sucking at something
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How sucking at something can teach us to reframe the stories we tell ourselves
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Why it's important to practice things that are NOT transactional sometimes (unlike most things in our lives)
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How sucking at surfing helped Karen when she was diagnosed with breast cancer
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Why it is is never too late to do something you want to do!
Mentioned in this episode and resources from today's episode
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Karen Rinaldi's website
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Suck at Something website
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NYTimes: It's Great to Suck at Something by Karen Rinaldi
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Alfred Adler, psychologist: Striving for Perfection
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Movement Culture/Ido Portal
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