The Quiet Power of Doing Things Badly and Enjoying Them Anway

We live in a world obsessed with optimization; faster, better, cleaner, more efficient. Every hobby is expected to become a side hustle, every workout a competition, every meal an aesthetic for Instagram. But what if the real joy lies in being unapologetically mediocre? There’s a quiet kind of freedom in painting with no eye for proportion, dancing off-beat, or baking lopsided cupcakes simply because it feels good. Doing things badly, and loving the process anyway, might just be one of the most radical acts of self-care we have left.

The problem with always striving for perfection is that it tends to remove the elements of enjoyment from activities we do to enrich our lives. When we make time to do things that have no point other than to just be enjoyable, we tend to feel a sense of guilt that we are the people that the "we have the same 24 hours" gang scoff at. Or worse yet, when we start to really enjoy a new activity, thoughts always shift to finding ways in which you can become the best at what you're doing, to make money from it, to earn a trophy. Constantly adding that kind of pressure to activities just sucks the joy out of things.

There is a sense of joy that can be found in being bad at things. When you explore the freedom of painting badly, singing off-key, or even writing nonsense poems, you realise that "bad" doesn't always mean worthless, in this case, it just means human. The act of just doing it brings joy.

There are things that I am still teaching myself to be okay with being bad at. I am a sore loser when it comes to board games. To a point where I used to intentionally sit out of games if I felt like I had no chance at walking away the winner. I didn't really make time for video games either, all for the fear of being really bad at the game. My nephew is a massive fan of video games, like most boys his age, Roblox is life. He had been asking me for months to just play a single game with him, and I could not bring myself to do it. Until he out right said "I am just trying to bond with you through something I love!!". There I was, a 27 year old woman being called out by a 15 year old boy for her fear of being bad at silly things.

When I taught in South Korea, I found it rather odd that my students would seldom do things that they enjoyed. Every thing had to be filled with a sense of purpose. After school, they would attend a copius amount of academies, most of which were for things that are just simple hobbies. I had students who would go to bike riding academy, art and crafts academy, rollerskating academy, JUMP ROPE academy! All looking forward to a certificate or medal for activities that should be mostly for enjoyment. Then I realised, we are taught this model of thinking quite early in life. Convinced that all activities should truly showcase your talents and if you aren't necessarily "talented" at something, then you should rather leave it to those who are.

For the past few years, I have been making a conscious effort to just do things without any intention of being good at them. I have sung nights away in karoake bars with friends. I have visited painting cafes and spent hours creating questionable palm trees and lemons. I have played countless games of padel with minimum hits on the ball. I have run 10km's over two hours. I have gone supboarding with just a quick YouTube tutorial. I have written poems and short stories that might not see the light of day. And the only memories I have of all of those activities is the belly-aching laughter, core moments with loved ones, and most all, that I had fun. I guess it takes constant effort to remind yourself to just do things for the sake of the memories rather than for the reward of being good at them.

Honestly? I think enjoying doing things you're bad at might just be an act of rebellion against a world that monetizes every skill. And I challenge you to start a hobby that you have zero intention of getting "good" at. Remember that you don't always need an audience for the things you do. Most things just require an audience of one— you! True freedom in fun can be found once you start to accept the idea that bad doesn't always need fixing. Start celebrating your mistakes in your hobbies as proof of living freely.

Maybe the point isn’t to master everything we touch, but to let ourselves be delightfully, gloriously, human. Bad at things, and happy anyway. So go ahead: write the terrible poem, draw the crooked tree, bake the sunken muffins. Enjoy them anyway. In a world that constantly demands greatness, choosing to be joyfully “bad” might just be the most radical thing you can do.