Behind-the-curtain work

In his book Expert Secrets, Russel Brunson shares a sobering quote from his friend Garret about the reality of being a beginner:

“No matter what you do, in the beginning it’s going to suck, because you suck. But you’ll get better, and you’ll suck less. And as you keep doing this, eventually you’ll suck so little that… you’ll actually be good.”

Trying to become good at something can be especially intimidating if you happen to pay attention to how good others seem to be at it already.

For example, you may be interested in learning guitar but feel somewhat discouraged at the sight of someone playing the instrument with seemingly flawless execution.

What is often missed or at least not clearly acknowledged is what happens behind the curtain of every stellar performance: thousands of hours of effort, a roller coaster of highs and lows, and numerous failures that pretty much had to occur for the performer — the guitarist, the professional — to get to where they were.

Don’t let the fear of being bad at something ever hold you back.

The truth is you —and anyone in your shoes frankly — can expect to be bad at something in the beginning stages.

All these stumbles you encounter are behind-the-curtain work — not to be confused with evidence that you will never be good, but rather they are rights of passage infused with critical lessons that, as long as you heed them and stick around long enough, usually result in you finding your way to becoming quite good at what you do.