How to Look Like You Can't do Anything

Yes, here is another how to that is pretty much useless.  However, these how to lists are used quite often in my life.  Lots of statements about others may be overly generalized, but here is

How to Look Like You Can't do Anything

1. Be Quiet
When you are quiet, people can't really tell anything about you.  They think you are shy and most likely weak.   They assume that you can't do much.  They'll try to take charge of you because you obviously can't be the leader.

Once, I had a peer tell me that she doesn't trust people who are quiet, so she couldn't trust me.  So, she tried to get me to talk about myself and "open up" to her.  Let's just say something distracted us, and I didn't end up answering her questions.

The truth:
As someone who doesn't automatically speak up, I have the opportunity to observe people.  I am an observer.  I watch the ridiculously stupid things that other people do, and then I don't do those things.  I watch the amazingly smart things people do and try to obtain that intelligence.  Being quiet sometimes helps me better to actually do things.  I just don't do them right away, in order to make a better plan.

2. Never Give Up
When you struggle, people don't think that you are competent.  When you take a long time to complete a task, people start to wonder why you are even trying.  They want you to give up and let them help you because they already know that they are more competent than you.

The truth:
I work on my bike a lot.  I do all of my own repairs.  Which is why my hands often look like this:

Actually, I took this picture because that was the least amount of black that I had on my hand this week.  I had permanently black hands all week.

Once upon a time, I had to replace my crank set.  After replacing my crank set, my left gears (1, 2, 3) would only work on 1 and 2.  So, I needed to fix my bike.  I took my bike on campus to a fix-it station.  I worked for a while and was struggling with keeping the wire at the right length while tightening screws.  After a while, a girl who had been observing me asked me if she could help.  I guess my fixing was not to her standards.  I told her what I was doing, and then she didn't even know anything about bikes!  When it comes to bikes, I probably know a lot more than the average person.

My gears only work on 2 and 3 now, but I like those ones better than 1.

3. Be a Girl
When you are a girl, there are obviously lots of things that you can't do.   As a girl, I shouldn't be able to be the fixer of things.  I'm not supposed to know how to put things together unless it is arts and crafts (which by the way, I actually can't do those).  Less sarcastically, there really are differences between men and women.  We aren't the same.  Men and women are meant to be different, but let's not make a big deal out of it.  Okay?  That sounds wonderful.

The truth:
Once again, I was fixing my bike this week along with a bike at work.  For my bike, a man came up to me and said that he just saw me with an upside down bike, so he thought I needed help.  My reply, "Just putting my tire back on."  For the bike at work, the chain fell off when a girl wrecked.  A man was riding next to us, and I said, "Oh, I can fix that."  The man asked, "You sure?"  Seriously, how hard is putting a chain back on? Is there some special way to do it?  I just put it back on, no tricks.

Also, I'm not sure my brother wants me to say this, but I'm going to anyway.  When we were younger, we would sometimes walk to and from activities in the evening.  When we would walk home in the dark, he would tell me that if someone tried to mug us, I would be the one to beat them up.  And I knew it was true.

4. Don't Have an Athletic Build
When you aren't stick thin or steroidly muscular, people think you don't do sports.  People believe that you aren't proficient in a sport because you don't have the build that is typical of a sport.  If you aren't a stick, they don't think you run.  If you aren't muscular, they don't think you have power.

The truth:
I am able to play lots of sports.  I am not the best in any particular sport, but I do have the ability to play many.  I have had people lose games to me just because they thought I couldn't do it.  But, obviously I am beast.  I dominate.  Okay, not really, but I have sufficient knowledge and power to play most games.

Remember this picture from a few months ago?  I promise I can do a lot.

Don't underestimate people.  People are capable of pretty much anything that they put their minds to.  They just have to put their minds to it.  I know lots of people that decide that they can't do things, so they can't.  I have been one of those people.  Still am sometimes.  But, what you decide doesn't determine what others can do.  Be pleasantly surprised when people do things.  It's awesome to see what we can do.  God made our bodies and minds to accomplish everything that we need to.  Let's use them to do so.