Here’s the short list.

Most sports.
Piano.
Math.
Talking to strangers.
Shoes (and jeans. I run through about a pair a week.)
Plumbing.
Penmanship.
Drawing cartoons.
Pottery.
Sculpture.
Eating small amounts of food (I’m good at cleaning my plate. But that means I’m bad at stopping when I’m full.)
Follow up.
Directions (in the navigational sense. I’m actually pretty good at following directions.)
Keeping consistent records.
Writing Novels.
Remembering the names of people.
Money.
Eating slowly.
Procrastination (or wait - I’m good at that …)
Woodworking.

I could make a much longer list. Those who know me could make an even longer list.

We all have such a list. In fact, most humans are bad at most things when we put perspective on it. There are a lot of things in the world we could be good at. Or bad at. Most Americans are not going to be naturally good at cricket. Or playing mahjong. At least not at first.

The miracle of being human is that you can get better at pretty much anything you want. You just can’t get better at everything at once.

Here’s what to do with your “bad at” list.

Divide it in two:

• Things I want/need to improve.
• Things I don’t care about right now

I currently don’t care about plumbing, woodworking, sculpture, or cartoons (among other things).

Ignore that list.

On the other list, choose one thing. Determine one small, simple, action you can do this week to improve that one thing.

Do that.

Repeat this process again next week. Little by little, you will get better at the things that are important to you.

I’m working on the “talk to strangers” thing. I just read the book “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi and am discovering that it's possible to network with people without being smarmy.

What have you done in the past week to improve? How do you get better?