A few years ago I tried to learn how to play golf.

I had a few lessons, did a round or two for a Welsh National Opera/Coutts charity day (with Rory Bremner and Bryn Terfel) and even bought myself a glove.

But the truth is, my golf really sucked.

I would hit the occasional awesome shot as a fluke, but I was consistently just…awful.  First I blamed my clubs – they were too long for me (do they make clubs for small people??) but then I mainly blamed the little voice inside my head instead. “I’m just crap at playing golf” I heard it say, pretty much after every swing, and it wasn’t long before that one solitary golfing glove got shoved to the back of a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again.

But is “getting it wrong” the first step to getting it right faster?  Recent research from America suggests that by getting it wrong first, you challenge your brain to make a stronger and more lasting connection with the correct information. It suggests that “people remember things better, longer, if they are given very challenging tests on the material, tests at which they are bound to fail.”

And recent British research goes even further and suggest that the very act of learning a new skill – like juggling – actually grows more brain matter. Even when you are really bad at it. Just practising a new skill is like feeding your mind a three course meal, fattening it up for further learning of even more new stuff.

How often do you shy away from starting or learning something new because you’re afraid to “get it wrong”?

Maybe you need to fail first in order to really get it right?

To see if this works for you, start cutting yourself some slack.

Choose something that you have always wanted to do, or a habit you really want to break – and decide to really enjoy failing at it at first.

Whether it’s learning how to use Twitter, or play guitar, or cook an omelette, just accept that it’s okay to stuff it up. You’re learning. You’re growing. You’re taking action.

Who cares if you still suck? It’s another story to tell, a notch on the giant bed post of your amazing life. And your brain will thank you.

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Tagged as: action, Change, Growing & Learning, learning