Most people’s first brisket is dry. Pitmasters aren’t born. They’re made out of a dozen disappointing dinners.

Skill looks like a trait from the outside and a pile of failures from the inside. Whoever can cook one well has already served a few that nobody finished, and each of those taught something a recipe could not. Being bad at the start is not a sign you lack the thing. It is the ordinary cost of the first few attempts.

Pick something you want to get good at and plan for the bad versions on purpose. Three attempts before you judge yourself, written down somewhere. Keep a note of what you changed each time, because the change is the lesson.