The concept of "sucking" has been a recurring theme in my work that I’ve co-opted for the good of the universe. I’ve written about it plenty on this blog, including the origin of the concept – the motto of my first company – We Suck Less.
At last night’s TechStars orientation, one of the exercises that David Cohen had everyone in the room do was talk about one thing they suck at. Mine was portion control. I eat too much. If there is a full plate of food in front of me, I will eat it. I like to live an abundant life and I have trouble limiting my abundance when it comes to eating.
We only went around the room one time, but as David noted we could easily go around ten times and have everyone self-identify nine other things they suck at. The meta-message was that we all suck at some things; understanding them and being able to articulate them is the first step to addressing (or managing) them.
Ironically, I had done a pretty good job on portion control all day until I showed up at the orientation. I had a nice modest dinner at The Kitchen beforehand that I topped up at TechStars with a nice big plate of Noodle’s Mac and Cheese. I did manage to stop after one plate. Fortunately I ran for two and a half hours in the morning.