It's one of the things I've learned from television, empiricism, and most everything that is evolving, changing, and morphing into something new around us.
I don't know if you even remember, as it's not exactly common anymore, but some times, in the nineties (and more often before), the television would just go to the "technical problems"-screen, and nothing but a monotonous high-pitched beep could be heard until an announcer broadcasted that it is all just a test. This rarely happens on a large scale in the public space anymore though. This often happened not because something that used to work went wrong, but more often because someone was experimenting with a way to make television better.
This is part of a process that most any evolving, metamorphosing, learning and changing entity goes through to some degree and extent. That is, everyone and everything does this. It is the cycle of learning: try doing, observe results, evaluate observations, alter procedure, try again, observe results, etc.
Whether consciously or not, you change a little bit every single time you go through that cycle. You smile to someone in the street, they smile back, and you are more prone to smile at another fellow pedestrian later. Cross your fingers one time right before your favorite football team scores a goal, and you are more likely to try it again the next time they have an opportunity to do so again. Learn a magic trick and show it to someone who ends up being mightily impressed, and you will probably want to learn another one to impress them again.
Those are the subconscious learning processes. Then there is empiricism. The conscious application of the learning process. Companies do this continuously while testing out new products, scientists do it to test out new theories, and some people – the few who dare – do it because they really want to.
This is scary.
I try, as frequently as I can, to dare myself to do things I want to do. I love standing on a stage, but am impeded by stage fright, so I have to push myself. I want to get to know new people, but it can some times be an effort to go out to socialize, and to be frank, it's still a bit scary to talk to strangers, though the excitement and joy of getting to know new people usually more than makes up for it.
As I said in my last post, getting up and doing something takes a Bit of Gumption. Some effort and guts to do what you want. And there isn't always someone to just tag along with to get to the place you want to go. Some times, getting things the way you want can demand a bit of effort, but more often than not, the end result is worth it.
Just do it. Do your best to learn. If you try to make a joke and no one laughs as much as you would like, you haven't failed, you have learned that some people don't find that joke as funny as you do. Try again later with something else. Try that same joke on someone else—maybe you'll tell it a bit differently next time. Try to do a backflip, and if you don't land it, you haven't failed, you have learned to do it a bit differently or to just practice a bit more, and you'll get it the next time. Someone (don't remember who...Einstein?) once tried to invent the lightbulb, and after a thousand tries and a thousand failures to do so, he said that he hadn't failed, he had just discovered 1000 ways not to make a lightbulb. Or something (yes, you've heard it before, I know, but it's still true, and there is a reason why people still quote it. Think about it).
Now, I don't say that you should have a positive outlook on everything. Optimistic delusion is still delusion, and that is just about never (I might write a post on that later). However, have a positive attitude. Learn how to learn to better yourself. Try something you want to do, either because you want to do it, or because when you think about it, the result really is worth the effort.
Do an experiment.
(Now, to decide whether having a tidy room is worth cleaning it)
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