Do more, suck less…

is a slogan on one of my favourite t-shirts. Yes, the t-shirt is pretty washed in and soft to the touch but that’s not why it is a favourite. Do more, suck less.

Think about it. Makes sense. Why? Because we owe it to ourselves and others to do more and suck less. Unfortunately, as we grow older, we find ourselves doing less and less.

Why? Why do we stop trying new things? What happens to us that all of a sudden, we are more afraid of failure than success?

So we stop doing things. We start doing less and sucking more.

Think back to when you were a kid. You tried different things, you probably did not realise how risky some of these were (am sure your parents did). You were probably reasonably successful at many, albeit a bit bruised up.

And then you become a teenager. The risk-return equation starts changing. All of a sudden, you are a little bit more concerned about what your friends will think about you. We start doing less and sucking more.

And as an adult, well, you are now “sensible”. And you really stop doing things. There are too many, more pressing issues occupying your mind. You have a job and a family to take care of, you are trying to make sense out of life. All that other stuff can wait until later. That was me. I took myself way too seriously. Great at work, fantastic father and husband, shame I sucked at life.

Thinking about it, makes sense why it happens like this. We can rationalise that we cannot afford to fail, that we are being sensible, that the risk-return equation is better understood, that our goals have changed. But if someone had told my 7-year-old “self” that this was the deal as I grew up, I don’t think I would have signed up to it.

And let’s be clear about one thing “do more, suck less” is not about being overly gung-ho and risky. And it is certainly not about being the best. It is about being a bit better than yesterday, more aware, more awake. It is about how we choose to live our life, one filled with a lot more. 

• Try new foods
• Learn a new language
• Play another sport, one you have never played before
• Read a different kind of book
• Deliver a speech
• Help others
• Take a stance
• Volunteer at a not-for-profit
• Write a blog
• Do that photography course
• Take that trip
• Become a scuba instructor
• Take a slightly different road back home
• [Insert endless possibilities here]

I do a lot more now, way too much perhaps. I still suck at many of these, but I suck less at life.

So I urge you, do more, suck less.