Children are clueless. They throw tantrums at the slightest sign that they aren't getting attention. They try to go and hold a dog's tail because it's something new. They try to walk, they fall and try again. They play with toys in ways you wouldn't have imagined they would when you gave it to them.

Children only know that they have to make noise and cry and throw tantrums when they need something. They do whatever it takes to get what they want. They only know what they're missing. They don't have an elegant way or a socially acceptable way of getting things done. They just get what they want done. Without caring about what the other person thinks. My father still tells me the story of the time I slapped him when he got me a pair of trousers that weren't of the colour I wanted. I was three years old then.

On the other hand, we adults are always calculative. We don't do anything it takes to get what we want. We don't throw tantrums often. We have an understanding of what is socially acceptable behaviour. We have a perception of ourselves and an idea of what people like us do and don't do. We have behaviours that we feel are beneath our social standing and behaviours that we aspire to undertake.

Unlike the clueless child, we want to get things right the first time. We don't want to be seen as failing at something. Our ego gets in the way. Which naturally restricts the kind of things we actually try doing. We end up deciding before the first try that certain things can't be done by people like us. We do the risk-free things like go to college, get a job, etc.

Doing something out of the ordinary takes the ego of a child. Out of the ordinary also includes being excellent at something. Which requires a hundred tries before we actually master (or get close to mastering) something.

We suck at pretty much everything that we do. Until we do what a child does. Which is learn by doing it until we get it right.