How do you do something you don’t know how to do?
This is a question that everyone must confront when they approach a new task, whether it’s repairing a light switch (for the record, I don’t go near electricity) or writing a book, or baking a cake. How can I possibly do a thing when I have no idea how it’s done?
You know, if we waited until we knew how to do a thing, no one would ever get married, or have a child, or take a new job. Ultimately it is the triumph of hope and optimism over fear; and haven’t we talked a lot about letting go of fear?
So when you’re thinking about trying something new in your creative life, think about how you approach new things in other parts of your life. You DO try new things in other parts of your life, I hope!
Keep in mind that within the impossibility of the task there is at least one thing that you know how to do. One thing, no matter how small, gives you a first step.
Start with the thing you do know how to do. In the case of the light switch that might be knowing you need to turn off the circuit breaker so you don’t electrocute yourself. Seems like a very good place to start. For a cake you might know that you need to find a recipe. For a book you need a starting point – an idea, a character, just something to get you started.
At this point you do not have to know how to finish, you only need to know how to do one thing.
From this point on that is all you must know: how to do one more thing. After you turn off the circuit breaker you take off the switch cover. After you find the recipe you check that you have all the ingredients. When you have your character you figure out what they want.
It is quite possible, as you go from one step to the next, that you will find a point where you don’t know what to do next. If I was working on that light switch that point would probably come at about the point I removed that switch plate. (Seriously, I don’t do electricity.)
That’s okay. You didn’t go into this expecting to know everything about it, after all. You just knew the first step.
Okay. Now you’re stuck. You don’t know what to do next – which wire to move, what ingredient to add, what your character will do.
This is where you figure out what comes next.
If you’re writing a book, ask yourself questions: Where is your character, what is around them? Who are they interacting with? Why? I know an amazing writer who says if you can’t figure out what comes next, have two guys with machine guns come through the door, that will get things moving. (Pro tip: You can always take the machine guns back out, but they do shake things up!)
If you’re fixing a switch, do some research. Look at the instructions that came with the replacement switch. No, really. Read the instructions. But if that doesn’t work, or the instructions are (which they often are) poorly written or even just pictures with no explanations, find another source: a book on home repair, an online tutorial, a video that shows how it’s done.
The same goes for that cake. Read the recipe carefully, but if there is something you don’t understand go do a little research and find out exactly how it’s done.
This is one of the beauties of our so-called information age. Most anything you want to explore is out there somewhere whether it’s an instruction manual (much to the relief of anyone who has ever mislaid the manual that came with their gizmo), a blog, a podcast, or an instructional video.
Believe me, if you’re stuck on something there is someone out there who has been stuck on the same thing, and they are happy – no, they are delighted – to share what they know. These people have gone to the trouble of writing down or recording what they know and they want you to share that knowledge.
Know, too, that failure is part of the process, as it was with the B. Dylan Hollis video I shared last week. He made several attempts before he found what he considered the perfect recipe, and although his “failures” were still edible they were not what he wanted.
Failure will help you find the questions you need answered. Often when we approach a project we can’t ask questions because we don’t know what we don’t know. We don’t know what piece of information, what specific procedure, what detail, we need to know, because we don’t know it exists. We don’t, that is, until the moment we need it and we don’t have it.
Then we know what to ask.
Knowing what you don’t know is a big part of the process, and to find out what you don’t know you need to be open to trial and error. You need to allow yourself to fail.
A dear friend of mine said once that it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, as long as you get up at least one more time than you’re knocked down. They they added a corollary that has stuck with me for years: “It doesn’t matter how long you lay there on the floor, just that you eventually get back up.”
And that, that right there, is how you do something you don’t know how to do.
You try, you fail. You get knocked down and you stay down as long as you have to, but eventually you get back up and try again. You fail again, but you fail better. You learn from your failure, and you try again.
Growth and confidence comes from failing better, from figuring out what you don’t know and finding a way to know. Connection comes from looking for help and information, from finding others who are willing and eager to share what they know.
The only way to succeed at something you don’t know how to do is to start.
