Just because you suck at something, doesn't mean you can't still have fun doing it!

This past weekend we were was asked to do a golf tournament for charity with ReadyMan and Student of the Gun. Between the four of us, we probably had a combined total of 9 holes played prior to that day. Putting our egos aside and lowering any expectations, we removed all notions of winning and set our minds to just having a good time.

This may seem like the logical approach to playing a game in which you have no experience. However, we often assume that because we are good at some things, we should automatically be good at everything. This is especially true in men when it comes to sports, fighting, or shooting. For some reason, we seem to think that we will inherently be good at these things, even if we have little to no experience.

Here's a quick video of us failing miserably, but still having fun.

Often, the overestimation of our abilities leads us to make even bigger asses out of ourselves. At the very least, it makes us difficult to teach and prolongs the learning process. Consequently, we often forgo attempting anything new for fear of not having immediate success or simply embarrassing ourselves.

As men in particular, we frequently let our pride interfere with attempting a new skill or hobby. But in order to continue to improve, we have to overcome our fear of failure and have the humility to accept that we aren't naturally great at everything. That isn't to say what we just settle for mediocrity in everything we do. It's just a matter of setting realistic expectations and enjoying the process of starting from the bottom.

It can be all too easy to let our competitive nature get in the way of simply enjoying a good afternoon to support a great cause... Remember to never take yourself so seriously that you can't allow yourself to look like a beginner at something. Otherwise you'll never venture to try anything new and you'll never evolve into anything more that what you already are.