How to get better at anything

Go for the wobble

Jul 30, 2025

“Balancing kettlebells on my arm is hard. Can I use dumbbells instead?”

The exercise we had to do was single-arm Arnold shoulder presses. 8 reps for 4 sets.

I’ve done this exercise before with a 6kg dumbbell. I was confident I could even go for 8kg. But the instructor stopped me from picking up the dumbbells from the rack.

“The whole point of using kettlebells is to introduce instability,” he said.

It was unstable indeed.

I tried again, my left hand helping to hoist the turquoise kettlebell to rest on top of my right arm. I pulled it close to my collarbone. Deep breath in. Pressed the kettlebell up. My arm shook as it fought against gravity, with the added wobble of 6kg pulling awkwardly from a metal handle.

“It’s hard to balance,” I said.

The kettlebell just felt too bulky for my arms to lift cleanly. I brought it back down and set it on the floor.

“Yeah, so how do you get better?” he countered.

Bro’s got a point.

I picked it back up, rested it on my upper arms, and tried again. A little less wobbly this time.

“Exactly.”

I think about that moment every time I encounter something hard. How often am I tempted to swap the kettlebell for the dumbbell in my own life?

Shortcutting the growing pains. Sticking to routines that feel familiar. Veering further into the comfort zone. Telling myself that lifting a heavier dumbbell is somehow better than attempting the same weight in a more unstable form.

But comfort will not push me to grow.

Trying new things will feel wobbly. But I look back at the past year, I realise how much I’ve learned just just because I was willing to endure the awkward start.

I couldn’t jump rope a year ago. I opted for high knees instead. But my instructors coaxed me into trying, and now I can slowly do it.

I couldn’t imagine leaving corporate a year ago. But I took the leap into the creator world, and to my surprise, passed probation.

I couldn’t shoot film in manual a year ago. I… still can’t today 😂 but I’ve got plenty of underexposed shots to prove that I’m trying.

Point being: there will always be the temptation to swap out the kettlebell for the dumbbell.

But there’s only one way to be better at kettlebells.

Go for the wobble.

The gym really is the place where I train to be the person I want to be. A related essay: One More Rep.

Update log:

📣 Did my third Hyrox doubles with my friend! It’s so much better to do the race on home turf. I bumped into about 20+ people I know on the track, who were judges, and of course - the cheer squad rooting for us from the side
🚗 Pulling a car is easier than doing a sled pull in Hyrox
👩‍🏫 Built a Notion dashboard for my friend to track all her students’ assignments. Honestly a 10/10 way to spend a Saturday.
🥲 Had a lil menty b on Monday so I just did a reset: cry, nap, eat good food. And of course, exercise
💪 I can do a chin up now. A little jumping is involved but I think a pull-up is coming soon
💼 Learning how to pitch myself to a client. I still have no idea what I’m doing but I'm so grateful to have a bunch of people in the creator space to lean on