It's Great to Suck at Something

The Unexpected Joy of Wiping Out and What It Can Teach Us About Patience, Resilience, and the Stuff That Really Matters

By: Karen Rinaldi

Narrated by: Karen Rinaldi

Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Discover how the freedom of sucking at something can help you build resilience, embrace imperfection, and find joy in the pursuit rather than the goal.

When was the last time you tried something new? Something that won’t make you more productive, make you more money, or check anything off your to-do list?

Odds are, not recently. As Karen Rinaldi explains in this eye-opening audiobook, we live in a time of aspirational psychoses. We humblebrag about how hard we work, prioritize productivity over play, clamor for likes on social media, and are told not to accept failure as an option. As a result, we are more anxious and depressed than ever.

This audiobook provides the antidote. Inspired by Rinaldi’s viral New York Times article "(It’s Great to) Suck at Something", it shows you how to live richer, more fulfilling lives by finding something - anything - to suck at. Rinaldi draws on her personal experience sucking at surfing - a sport she’s dedicated 17 years of her life to doing without ever coming close to getting good at it but has managed instead to find meaning and joy in the resilience it takes to continue.

Along with philosophy, literature, and the latest science, she explores sucking as a lost art we must reclaim for our health and our sanity. She busts the myth of perfectionism, exposes the lie of nostalgia, and calls BS on workaholism while helping you discover something you, too, can suck at. Coupling honest, hilarious storytelling with unexpected insights, Rinaldi explains how sucking at something rewires our brain in positive ways and helps us cultivate grit, practice patience and humility, and ultimately experience freedom. Freedom to pursue the futile. As Rinaldi contends, the freedom to suck without caring is revelatory.

(It’s Great to) Suck at Something is an invitation to embrace our shortcomings as the very best of who we are and to open ourselves up to adventure, where we may not find what we thought we were looking for but something way more important.

©2019 Karen Rinaldi (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Enjoyable and insightful

Beautiful blend of story telling and valuable life lessons. Very enjoyable to listen to, and will make you think about what you can try and suck at!

Painful to listen to

Couldn't finish. Loved the concept. Still do. But the author could have sounded a bit conversational. Using curse words with zero emotion..... what's the point in even using them? ya know?

Better than you think.

A very freeing honest look at life's struggles. It provides the push to be courageous about things we love but may not be good at. The author's personal story of her own struggles with learning how to surf provide ample metaphors for the life lessons she provides. A surprisingly non sucky book a out our sucky lives.

I thought this book sucked

I really like the argument that as a culture we are too focused on being great at things. The idea that we have to be exceptional can lead to a society of people where people are afraid to try new things. I didn’t like how many times I had to listen to the author say “suck”. Maybe reading the book is better, but I couldn’t get through the first chapter as an audio book. The premise is good but the delivery felt juvenile.

Boring

This book was very boring and simplistic. I did not get through 2 chapters. So sorry I wasted a credit on this!!

Could not finish

I wanted to like this but could not get very far. Tried a few times....