The other night, I finally learned how to bowl "properly". Sounds like a good thing, right? It wasn't.

The problem was the right way didn't feel right. I tried to remember where the ball was supposed to be in relation to my body as I sorted out which foot to move next. I started to overthink every step and threw my timing off. I didn't recall my old way being so difficult. Then again, I had never taken the time to analyze the flow of movement. I just did it.

So I broke the old one down. The two ways weren't very different, yet the disparity in results was tremendous and that frustrated me. When I bowled with my old technique, I put up decent scores. When I used the proper technique, I bowled one of my worst games ever.

My incensed pride wanted to continue putting up decent scores. It didn't want to suffer the humiliation of having to relearn everything and look bad doing it. "You already know how to do this! Why change?" it fumed. Pride didn't have the patience to realize the benefits of practice. It didn't care that the new way might lead to higher scores in the end. How tempting it was to give in and revert to what worked.

I should know by now that it's nearly impossible to get better and look good at the same time. The sooner I accept the fact, the better off I'll be. And the concept applies to more than just bowling.