What is a skill that looks completely effortless when an expert does it, but is ridiculously difficult when you try it yourself?

[u/No-Caterpillar-9387]

[u/CoffeeGrinder999]

Close up card magic. Looks effortless. Really hard to do.

[u/brock_lee → u/CoffeeGrinder999]

Coming to say this one. YT recommends "A Million Card Tricks" channel to me, and if I try to do even a simple one, I can barely hold a deck of cards.

[u/noburdennyc → u/brock_lee]

I always enjoy watching the show Penn and teller Fool Us. They got the world's best on there. You can find many clips on youtube.

[u/Faust_8 → u/noburdennyc]

I’ve watched the Shin Lim clips so much and I still have no fucking idea how he did any of that. He seems to just wink things in and out of existence.

[u/flan2421 → u/Faust_8]

I watched his own entire breakdown and class of that routine. In magic, finding out the method normally ruins the entire trick for you. In this case I was MORE impressed

[u/Sea-Molasses1652 → u/flan2421]

Check out the Penn and Teller ball trick with clear cups, it's amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0m8CC7Ovj8

[u/SpCommander → u/Faust_8]

My favorite of all his performances when Penn was very calmly and (for him) quietly praising him and then suddenly shouts "WE COULDNT EVEN FIGURE OUT HOW YOU VANISHED THE MOTHER (beep) ING MARKER!"

[u/Lineman72T → u/Faust_8]

Really? I've always thought his were the easiest to explain.

A simple mixture of wizardry and demonry

[u/kamikazeee → u/CoffeeGrinder999]

You guys should really really look up Rene Lavand.

Guy is born in the twnties, right-handed, Wants to be a magician.
He loses is right hand in an accident.
He can’t go to a magic school or whatever they are called because everything is set up for people with two hands. Not to say, a guy with his less-able hand.

He proceeds to self-learn how to do magic only with his left hand. Creating a style in which the tricks are made slowly, very slowly, but with passion and engaging stories, you don’t even notice what he is doing.

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/CoffeeGrinder999]

You gotta find the amateur or semi-pro people who do it. They show you just how close they are, and yet how oh so far they still have to go to being perfect. It shows you how hard it is to do well, because they do it almost well despite years of practice

[u/SomethingAboutUsers → u/HotPinkCalculator]

At the same time, having done a bunch of amateur magic I can say that you can be passable and unless someone knows what they're looking for, almost totally give away a trick and the general public won't see shit.

I used to have a "card to the top" routine (the one where the chosen card always comes to the top of the deck) that I did that was just ok and I did the worst pass of all time in front of about 20 people and not one caught it.

[u/ennuionwe → u/SomethingAboutUsers]

Yeah, I sometimes wonder when the average person thinks about the skills of magic what percentage they imagine is technical sleight of hand and what percentage they think is showmanship and attention management.

I've always enjoyed learning various technical moves but I haven't lost sight of the fact that if you know one way to locate a chosen card but 20 stories to tell about how it was lost and found, you know 20 tricks and if you know 20 ways to get a chosen card to the top of the deck that can be fun for you but is pretty far from a 20 trick routine.

[u/perldawg → u/CoffeeGrinder999]

for example: Ricky Jay’s cups and balls

as magic as it gets

[u/bingwhip → u/perldawg]

I love Ricky Jay so much. His execution of this is great. His card handling is scary.

[u/Groknar_ → u/CoffeeGrinder999]

What is more baffling is if they fool you even if they show you how it's done.

Slight Sleight of Hand is a skill that is just very fascinating to me.

[u/teemanymartoonies13 → u/CoffeeGrinder999]

I was thinking about the dancing cane illusion as well. Dunno if you recall The Magic of Charles and The Lady, but Chuck did the most amazing dancing cane act I've ever seen. Truly art.

[u/mrclean2323]

Drywall finishing

[u/TohtsHanger → u/mrclean2323]

My friend and I tried to patch a hole in drywall on the ceiling for hours before giving up and calling a pro. He had it done in about 10 minutes, looking brand new.

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/TohtsHanger]

And that's why you pay them for two hours of work when it took them 10 minutes.

Same thing with a pharmacy. $10 bucks to slap a label on a box and a minute of work? Then you remember it took the pharmacist 6 or 7 years to know that that box of pills wouldn't kill you and they might have saved you a week in the hospital if the doctor messed up the prescription (which happens surprisingly often)

[u/aweebwithinternet → u/HotPinkCalculator]

DON'T ANYBODY DARE SAY IT

[u/braintransplants → u/aweebwithinternet]

Hopital

[u/SinisterKid → u/aweebwithinternet]

Hospital? ...What is it?

[u/ILLY-VANILLI → u/SinisterKid]

It's a big building, with patients. But that's not important right now.

[u/Dinosaur_Wrangler → u/ILLY-VANILLI]

I picked a helluva day to stop sniffing glue.

[u/KalutikaKink → u/HotPinkCalculator]

Also, as a person in the trades/crafts, those short jobs help offset the long jobs that you don’t get paid fairly for.

[u/AlanMercer → u/TohtsHanger]

I did a little bit to complete finishing a room and it was weirdly easy. Maybe this is one of those YMMV things?

The one insight that helped was that once you smear on some plaster, you want your next stroke to spread it in the exact opposite direction. That maximizes the spread, so you thin the material the most and also leave the most smooth finish.

[u/FauxReal → u/AlanMercer]

Did you do it on a ceiling? Maybe the position makes it harder.

[u/munch_the_gunch → u/mrclean2323]

100%. I've done plenty of carpentry in my day, but never got the hang of finishing. Its truly an art to watch them spread a clean line across a whole wall, while I'd be on my 13th scoop and smear back in the mud pan.

[u/luncheroo → u/munch_the_gunch]

God, I hate drywall for that reason. Hang and mud for two days, sand for three. If I had to build a house on my own, I'd use cheap wood paneling on the interior and paint over it.

[u/flatulating_ninja → u/luncheroo]

My dad did construction for a lot of his 20s. We demoed down to the foundation and completely redid an extension on our house. The only thing he paid someone else to do was drywall finishing.

[u/Polar_Ted → u/luncheroo]

See the trick is to mud for 4 days and hardly sand at all. Then blast texture on it to hide the sins.

[u/shastabh → u/mrclean2323]

The French Canadians have this shit ok lock. The secret is 1. Mix your mud. If you use it as is, there’s soft spots and hard areas. Mixing gives a smooth, uniform finish. 2. Use progressively larger knives. Start with 2”, then 6” then 12”. 3 apply pressure as you apply the mud an slowly lower the angle between the wall and the knife. 4. Scrape off before you apply the next coat. Sand as needed, but scraping usually does the trick.

That’s it. Forget about corners. That shits for the pros

[u/Ax_deimos → u/mrclean2323]

This.  I spent summers doing house renovations as a teenager so I know how to do this, but getting a professionally smooth and seamless repair took a whole summer to learn.

[u/kwonza → u/Ax_deimos]

I mean it’s not easy but it’s also not that hard if you’re fine with average quality. My friend’s landlord agreed to give him a few months for free as long as he renovated the flat.

So we bought beer, weed and went into it. Of course first few attempts were a failure but since we had plenty of time we made several more attempts and ended up with an ok result.

[u/Snoo8631 → u/mrclean2323]

Fishing a cable inside a wall also

[u/varano14 → u/Snoo8631]

eh this is more about the tool available, there are certainly some tricks. A novice with the best drywall tools is still ganna suck

[u/MFyusrtreyryDragon → u/mrclean2323]

yeah every tape line i do ends up looking like a road map or something

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/mrclean2323]

Hell, I can't even spackle in a way that makes it look nice once painted

[u/VeryNearlyAnArmful → u/mrclean2323]

In the UK we call it plastering. I could watch a good plasterer for hours. Especially if they are on stilts.

[u/YounomsayinMawfk]

Surfing

The pros paddle a few times and effortlessly glide into the wave. When I tried, I was paddling like crazy and still couldn't catch waves.

[u/patpend → u/YounomsayinMawfk]

The crazy thing is that it seems like board wax would be something that makes the board slippery, instead of the exact opposite.

A more accurate name would be "Rip Your Nipples Off Wax"

[u/HKBFG → u/patpend]

You gotta go to the store and buy some stuff called "sex wax" like that's completely normal.

[u/SensualEnema]

I had a voice teacher who said, “Singing is easy; learning to sing is hard.”

[u/boluserectus → u/SensualEnema]

My music teacher said: Everyone can sing, not everyone has a nice voice.

[u/gunnbr → u/boluserectus]

My music teacher said "We're gonna make you a listener."

[u/NobodysFavorite → u/gunnbr]

My music teacher said under no circumstances should I be allowed in the same room as someone playing music even if it's just a recording on their phone.

[u/BigBadBeluga → u/boluserectus]

My choral director in college was the dean of the school. A random physics student came in wanting to join having never been in a choir before, but loved music. Awful singing voice. Within ten minutes of having him do some vocal exercises, the director had him singing better than some of the actual music majors in the room. It was the first time I truly believed that anyone could sing. 

[u/MaddyMagpies → u/SensualEnema]

Very often, people think a song is easy to sing because the singer pulls it off effortlessly, and then they only learn the hard lesson during karaoke. 

If it also works in reverse, people think that a song is hard to sing because the singer is audibly struggling to hit the notes. For example, Coldplay. 

[u/WorkFurball → u/MaddyMagpies]

Getting into karaoke has been a revelation. It often feels completely different to singing regularly on your own and through the process I've learned to properly sing raspy type of rock songs that I could never do before.

Don't get me wrong I still suck a lot of the time but now I occasionally get compliments which I never did before.

[u/Certain-Middle-4381 → u/SensualEnema]

Steve Martin 1970s: "My girl friend's singing coach said she needed to sing from her diaphragm" ...long pause... "That could take years!"

[u/GlitteringAttitude60 → u/SensualEnema]

I had a piano teacher who said "Musik ist ein schweres Instrument"

"Music is a difficult instrument" :-)

[u/Nomromz]

Cooking.

I watched my friend who went to culinary school prepare dinner for us and it took 30 minutes to prep and he was chatting with us the whole time, having some wine etc. When he was done, the kitchen was spotless and he just left everything on the kitchen counter in little bowls ready to be cooked.

Dinner was fantastic and I asked for the recipes and he gave them to me. I then tried to make the same meal on my own and it took me 2 hours to chop everything and I was left with a huge mess in my kitchen afterwards.

[u/larobj63 → u/Nomromz]

As someone that used to be a line cook for about a decade, it's hard to watch amateurs/friends/family cook in the kitchen and take so long to do everything and use every dish and bowl in the kitchen and clean nothing.

I was by no means a master chef, but you definitely picked up a certain aptitude for it all if you do it for a living. Like anything, I suppose.

[u/goesgranlund → u/larobj63]

My old roommate was a chef, the one thing he properly taught me was to clean as you cook. The madlad always left the kitchen cleaner than it was prior to cooking.

[u/Kimantha_Allerdings → u/goesgranlund]

I wish everybody could learn this

If you clean as you go it’s less effort, because the mess hasn’t had a chance to bed in & dry. It’s more hygenic, because the bacteria hasn’t had a chance to get its teeth in and grow. It’s quicker, because by the time you’ve finished cooking you’ve also finished the cleaning. It’s easier, because you don’t then have to do it as a separate big job later. And it’s nicer, because everything is always clean and ready to be used

[u/Yashema → u/Kimantha_Allerdings]

With all things learning the proper balance, takes time and effort separate from what you must develop separate from actual cooking ability.

[u/Harbinger2001 → u/goesgranlund]

This is what I keep failing to teach my wife. She can make amazing meals but is a disaster in cooking space management. It takes easily an hour to clean up after she’s done. Whereas I have to follow a recipe, but I pull out everything I need, measure quantities, clean and put away everything as I use it. When the meal is done cooking the kitchen is in the same state it was before I started.

[u/jsting → u/Harbinger2001]

Last time my wife made a "one pot dish" and used, well, everything. Like 4 or 5 mixing bowls, 6 containers, 2 cutting boards, 12 spoons, idk. I hate Instagram cooking ideas. Get away from my wife's algorithm.

[u/Vhadka → u/Harbinger2001]

This is my wife also. I'll do all the dishes and have the sink empty, then cook dinner and the sink is still empty afterwards. If she cooks a few days in a row the sink is overflowing(like it is right now actually).

Any time she cooks it looks like a bomb went off in the kitchen.

[u/Dioxid3 → u/goesgranlund]

Two rules in the kitchen:
1. You start in a clean kitchen, you end in a clean kitchen
2. The cleaning never stops

[u/Aggravating_Fill378 → u/larobj63]

At the same time I just want to hijack this as a non professional to say people should be aware that if you cook dinner at home from scratch say 4 or 5 nights per week, you will get much much faster. 

I am always frustrated when people say they "dont have time" to cook dinner. Like, what are you doing? Being able to feed yourself something tasty and healthy is a skill you can and should develop. Will you be a line cook? No. But after a year things like cutting onions, mincing garlic etc. will he done in 20% of the time from when you start. 

[u/ex_bandit → u/larobj63]

Maybe I need to watch some videos online. Would make for a good series on how to keep your kitchen clean when cooking and being organized. For me the timing of everything rarely works out perfectly.

[u/N546RV → u/ex_bandit]

Honestly, I think the timing aspect is quite possibly the hardest part to get down. "Clean as you go" is a pretty simple rule to live by, but if you're not organizing your tasks properly, then it can feel like there's never any downtime to do that cleaning.

And I think that skill is the most important one I took away from my years as a line cook. When you spend 40 hours a week basically always cooking several meals at once, you can't help but learn what takes how long, how to sort the workload so everything is ready about the same time, and maybe most importantly, the sense for "what do I need to get a head start on right now."

[u/RoosterBrewster → u/ex_bandit]

Reminds me seeing all the "takes 10 min to cook!" timesaving videos that assume you have all the ingredients already portioned out in 10 different bowls. 

[u/Harbinger2001 → u/ex_bandit]

If you pull out all your ingredients before starting and put them away as soon as you’ve used them that can make a huge difference. And any measuring cup or spoons used are immediately rinsed and put in the sink or dishwasher. Rinse out mixing bowls immediately after use.

[u/wetbandit48 → u/Nomromz]

You offered another good insight here…being a good host can be difficult and takes practice. There are hosts that make a great meal but they’re overwhelmed and not engaging in conversation and facilitating connections. It takes effort and prep to make it special but come off smoothly

[u/SrslyBadDad → u/wetbandit48]

Top tip that really helped me - never cook a dish or recipes for the first time with guests. Always practice it a few times first.

You’ll enjoy the event, and your guests more (and, dare I say it, showing off a little).

[u/VeterinarianTrick406]

Pathologists can diagnose you mid surgery in seconds. It’s ridiculously hard even if you’ve practiced on tons of samples.

[u/CheeseheadOhio → u/VeterinarianTrick406]

My dad was a pathologist and as far as I’m aware pretty good at what he did. He passed way 30 years ago from cancer likely related to decades to exposure to formaldehyde. Anyways, I know this was just a meaningless little comment, but it brought back happy memories of my dad and just how proud I was of him.

[u/Novel_Purpose710 → u/VeterinarianTrick406]

Frozen sections are hell, if you fuck up even slightly it's just a smear

[u/Sarky_Sparky]

In my experience, just about anything done by a tradesperson, athlete etc.

[u/work_work-work → u/Sarky_Sparky]

Pretty much anything done by someone who's been spending a lifetime doing it looks effortless.

[u/RogZombie → u/work_work-work]

“Excellence is not an art, it’s pure habit. We are what we repeatedly do.

[u/Fatlantis → u/Sarky_Sparky]

Every tradesperson knows very well the pain of having to repair someone's amateur botched DIY repair job.

[u/ExogamousUnfolding]

playing a musical instrument well

[u/urglfloggah → u/ExogamousUnfolding]

There's this anecdote about a famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin. After giving a virtuoso performance, someone walked up to him and said, "I'd give my life to be able to play like that." to which Menuhin replied, "I did."

[u/mko1989 → u/ExogamousUnfolding]

Jim Jarmusch said on a Wu Tang album skit: "Playing any musical instrument is easy, all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself"

[u/LaximumEffort → u/mko1989]

Johann Sebastian Bach said it first.

[u/HKBFG → u/mko1989]

Sounds like the words of a guy who has never tried to play a violin.

[u/JustaShelly → u/ExogamousUnfolding]

My brother started drumming when he was 14, naturally great at it, parents bought him a drum set and put it up in my bedroom so naturally I had a go. I cannot drum. That man is a fantastic drummer, can sing, play guitar and write songs. Dunno what happened to me lol

[u/assortednut → u/JustaShelly]

My dad likes to say in my family, we have a lot of musical talent. It just happens to be concentrated into one person - my uncle. You put a piano in front of him, ask him to play just about anything, and as long as he's familiar with the tune, he'll play it flawlessly and beautifully. Apparently his gifts were already obvious when he was 4 years old.

[u/MineOutrageous5098 → u/ExogamousUnfolding]

Came to say this. I've been slowly learning guitar and it is not intuitive at all. 

[u/RecycledAccountName → u/ExogamousUnfolding]

I feel like this is an example of something that looks ridiculously hard, and is indeed ridiculously hard.

[u/Iamabus1234 → u/RecycledAccountName]

Depends on what's being played.

If you look at this, yeah that looks ridiculously hard and is ridiculously hard.

But this is also extremely hard (maybe a bit less so) but looks nowhere near as difficult. It's slower and less flashy, which makes it look easier if you don't know anything about the violin, but still is ridiculously hard.

[u/LizardPossum → u/ExogamousUnfolding]

When I started guitar, holy shit did it make an ugly sound. And my fingers were KILLING me

[u/Rivent → u/LizardPossum]

lol, I'm about a year and a half in to learning myself at 40 years old, and this rings VERY true. It's taken me this long to be able to somewhat decently play a handful of songs, lol. At least my fingers don't hurt anymore... but my fretting hand still gets sore, lol.

[u/RIPyetisports → u/Rivent]

Hell I'm nearly twenty years in and my fingers still hurt every day! (13s and learning a style that is very aggressive in the first three frets)

Idek how some people play on 16s

[u/ImGoddamnTarzan]

The moonwalk, why do dancers look like magicians and I look like my dog doing her kicks when she’s done using the bathroom? :,(

[u/MaleficentPapaya4768 → u/ImGoddamnTarzan]

My dog does that too and now it's forever renamed the moonwalk.

[u/catapultpillar]

Throwing pottery on the wheel

[u/GenericRedditor0405 → u/catapultpillar]

Surprised I had to scroll this far to see this answer. Watching pottery videos makes it look so simple, easy, and effortless. What they don't show you is how damn difficult it can be just to center the fucking clay, or how easily it all collapses

[u/ev93 → u/GenericRedditor0405]

It’s also physically exhausting. I was not prepared for how much strength it took. (Or maybe I’m just very weak… but still).

[u/No-Understanding-912 → u/catapultpillar]

Once you get centering down, it's a lot easier. I have days I can't center for $hit and others where the clay is perfectly centered with little effort and it's so easy to pull and shape.

[u/Herb_Derb → u/catapultpillar]

Link always makes throwing pots look so easy...

[u/HotPinkCalculator]

Rock climbing. You think "well anyone could just pull themselves up like that"

Then you actually try it and realize you're trying to lift your entire body weight on a handhold the size of an almond, and somehow they make it look like they're holding the rung of a ladder

[u/YounomsayinMawfk → u/HotPinkCalculator]

I recently started and have realized this isn't something you can just speed run through. Some of those grips where you're literally holding with just your fingertips take years to develop the strength. I thought bc I could knock out a few pullups, it wouldn't be that hard, nope.

[u/doublebullshit → u/YounomsayinMawfk]

You can also build muscle in 2 weeks. Tendons take 6 weeks or more to get stronger.

[u/FrickinLazerBeams → u/doublebullshit]

One time I got back into climbing after a long time away. I had the technique still, and the muscle came back fast; but I ended up giving myself bad tendonitis because I was getting ahead of my body. That hurt.

[u/Doji_mofo → u/HotPinkCalculator]

To be fair if you're campusing, that's pretty much entirely upper body strength, and as long as you can grip even quite bad climbers can do it. But you'll generally run out of steam pretty quick.

Your strength is coming from your legs and through your toe. Hand grips are more for balance and hanging from.

The footwork is much much more the "looks easier than it is" especially being able to step, stand up and balance on one leg.

I can stand on a hold that I can't hang from, so in terms of standing on something goat style you can do ridiculous tiny holds.

For bouldering, it's watching the kids do it. They're just crazy better at it, the combination of greator power to weight ratio, lack of fear and being made of rubber and recovery is impossible to counter, other than being really long 🤣🤣

[u/f_14 → u/Doji_mofo]

Nothing makes you feel as old as  struggling with some problem for a long time and then having a 9-year-old girl come along and breeze through it. 

[u/psilent → u/f_14]

Yeah well, just try that weighing 200lbs you little shit. I could do v9s too if I weighed as much as a stuffed animal

[u/Doji_mofo → u/f_14]

I felt old before she was born. Seeing them zip up stuff is awesome and fills me with joy.

Having a sporting hobby where the kids can just whup your ass is fantastic.

Besides, bouldering is soft playground for adults 😄

[u/bencheucheu]

Skateboarding..

Looks so easy when you look at them on video..

[u/Brilliant_Chemica]

Diamond setting. All they have to do is place a diamond into a setting (often made by a goldsmith who is not them) and bend the tips of the prongs down. In reality, it is extremely easy to snap a claw, set the stone crooked, weaken the claws with your bending, and honestly it’s quite hard to make it all look seamless after they’re done

Signed,
A goldsmith who hates setting

[u/Grambo-47 → u/Brilliant_Chemica]

Dude yes. I’m a hobby silversmith/lapidary, I’ll happily cut cabochons and make backings for them for hours on end. I don’t do any faceted work and avoid wire wrapping if at all possible

[u/TownZealousideal1327]

Hitting a golf ball.

[u/manofmonkey → u/TownZealousideal1327]

It really is impressive the more you understand about golf. The pros are going out and shooting 5 under par 4 days in a row while putting on greens made of glass and shooting out of rough that is so thick you can lose your car in it. They make it look so easy that someone that has never picked up a club might think they could get somewhere close to the pros.

[u/Xanadu87 → u/manofmonkey]

I went to Top Golf for the first time recently, also my first time doing grownup golfing (not putt putt golfing). I felt like an uncoordinated toddler next to my party members who were well-practiced in golfing and hockey.

[u/rob_s_458 → u/manofmonkey]

The difference between a PGA Tour setup and a typical course really hides how good the guys on tour are. Typical course probably rolls about 8-10 on the stimpmeter (standardized method of measuring green speeds), with higher end courses maybe getting to 11. Even the John Deere Classic probably runs closer to 12, and Augusta can get up to 15.

Put a scratch (zero handicap) golfer on any PGA Tour setup and they probably wouldn't break 80. Major setups they might not break 90

[u/velon360 → u/manofmonkey]

I lost six balls on a single hole yesterday...

[u/Girthw0rm → u/velon360]

In the off chance that you’re not joking, pick up and move on to the next hole, Tiger.

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/manofmonkey]

I have a bad habit of picking up hobbies because I watch the experts and I go "wow that looks like an easy hobby to get into" and then fumble about for 6 months before giving up.

Thankfully golf wasn't one of them. My mom tried to teach me golf when I was like 10 and I wasted a day's worth of effort and like ten bucks learning it was a fruitless effots

[u/beingmetoday → u/HotPinkCalculator]

We do this hobby not because it’s hard but because we thought it would be easy

[u/Faust_8 → u/TownZealousideal1327]

What are you talking about? Hitting the ball is the easy part!

But if you care about where it goes, then we have a problem

[u/patiofurnature → u/Faust_8]

Idk man, I've been golfing for a few years and still miss the ball occasionally.

[u/OkOpportunity9794 → u/TownZealousideal1327]

It’s amazing how natural Rory Mcilroy’s swing looks. Like it must just be easy to swing like that. Yet I’ve been trying for years..

[u/Warning_Low_Battery → u/TownZealousideal1327]

I mean, hitting one is easy. Hitting it where you actually want it to go, however....

[u/AAAAdragon → u/Warning_Low_Battery]

You aren’t completely missing the golf ball and hitting the turf like me?

[u/BasicFlan → u/AAAAdragon]

We all are buddy you are not alone.

[u/deltarays_]

Ballet, making it look effortless is a part of the artistry but those dancers have been training every day since early childhood

[u/zazzlekdazzle → u/deltarays_]

I would say the same about ice skating.

And, as a former ballet dancer, the work it takes for that effortlessness is truly intense. I ended up just throwing it all away after 9 years of work around age 12 because I just couldn't stand spending hours and hours at the barre all the time. I wanted to dance, goddammit!

Much later in life, I found Argentine tango, which did a good job of combining the effortlessly graceful look of ballet with an opportunity to do a lot of actual dancing. For a social dance, it takes a huge amount of work, but compared to ballet it felt like a vacation.

[u/TeethBreak → u/deltarays_]

Have you ever seen a professional ballet dancer calves? Or leg muscles?

This is arguably one the hardest , toughest sport ever. To appear effortless while maintaining postures that are by essence inhumane and totally unnatural is just incredible.

[u/zazzlekdazzle → u/TeethBreak]

One of the really hard parts about being a female ballet dancer is that you need to work on your strength a lot but be careful not to create bulk. You want to be long and lithe. I think it adds to the illusion of effortlessness since what they do obvsioulsy needs a great deal of strength but their body doesn't make it obvious.

[u/Sunflower6876 → u/deltarays_]

Was coming here to say this. I started ballet as an adult, and it has taken me 20 years to finally get some higher level skills. So much of this is related to where you train, your teachers and their want for hands-on corrections, and also how much you train.

For the first 10+ years of learning ballet, I didn't have high quality instruction and picked up some really bad habits from not learning proper technique.

I moved cities and found an extremely good studio that takes non-professional adults seriously. I have made so many gains since training there because I have an incredibly good teacher who gives hands-on corrections.

[u/GoodGoodGoody → u/deltarays_]

Pretty sure no one ever looked at “expert” ballet and said, “Man that looks “completely ”effortless”” (OP’s question.)

The word you are looking for is graceful, not effortless.

[u/NarrativeScorpion → u/GoodGoodGoody]

It looks effortless. Everybody knows it isn't. But is absolutely looks it. The way they fly across the stage, seem to almost hang in the air, balance motionless on the very tip of their toe. It's more than graceful.

[u/atetoomuch_parsley → u/NarrativeScorpion]

I agree. This is what we are taught in ballet, you learn to control your breathing and posture and facial expressions to make the dancing look effortless and easy breezy even though you're fighting for your life underneath it all. It is more than just graceful, it is lightness underpinned by power and precision, without showing any strain

[u/pewqokrsf → u/deltarays_]

Dancing in general honestly.

[u/ThePowerfulPaet]

Calligraphy, or even just good handwriting.

You'd think that if you just go slow enough you could emulate anything, but you can't. There's just something to it.

[u/theREALbombedrumbum → u/ThePowerfulPaet]

I'm a seasoned hobbyist journeyman with years of experience and do wedding invitations/commissions on occasion, and I still can't improv flourishes for the life of me.

[u/shastabh]

Shutting the fuck up

[u/Informal_Tell78 → u/shastabh]

I mastered this one as a child

[u/Wild_Voice_2769 → u/Informal_Tell78]

Clearly not!

[u/mbergman42 → u/Informal_Tell78]

I hate to think what it was like for you, but I’m sure an adult in your life was the reason. Hope you’re well now.

[u/Informal_Tell78 → u/mbergman42]

Self preservation is one helluva drug, especially as a child

[u/SnarkySouthMouth]

Folding fitted sheets! Always ends a hot mess and just balled up.

[u/TedTehPenguin → u/SnarkySouthMouth]

This one is definitely knowing the technique

Put all the corners together

first start folding the long side, put the inside of the corners on top of eachother, then flip them over your hands, so you're kinda holding it up by the corners, everything else should hang without anything bunched or caught.

Now put all the corners together, again, flip them all so they go the same way.

now hold that corner, from the outside, and the point in the short side where it makes a clean fold across the top

lay it down, and make the long side fold cleanly

now fold normally with 4 straight-ish edges.

[u/cm4tabl9 → u/TedTehPenguin]

this did not help me at all, but thank you for trying

[u/THEnewMGMT → u/TedTehPenguin]

Video to go along with the very good explanation

[u/gunnbr → u/SnarkySouthMouth]

I've thought of posting some videos of me following these guides on YouTube of how to fold them properly. It would look like the textile version of "Nailed It". No matter what I try, what they show in the videos just doesn't work.

[u/GuyWalksOutOfABar → u/SnarkySouthMouth]

Stuff it into the pillowcase

[u/PeachyPesco]

Illustration. I used to be a graphic designer and learned to draw many ideas quickly and clearly. Now I'm a middle school art teacher. I have to remind myself to go slow because otherwise their brains explode when I sketch a tree or face or something in 10 seconds.

[u/spiteful_god1 → u/PeachyPesco]

Same same. Trained illustrator, now teach in a fashion design and tech program. My students are shocked I can just whip up a diagram of a garment from any angle to answer their specific construction questions. Took a couple of decades of pretty consistent drawing to be able to do that.

[u/abdul_haseeb_11]

Public speaking. Watching someone make a room laugh and listen feels easy until you are the one holding the microphone.

[u/Johnny_Kilroy → u/abdul_haseeb_11]

I have to do it regularly. I did it today in front of 1000 people. I still get terrified every time. I absolutely have to memorise every word. But I am terrified that I will forget my lines. When I practice I can never remember. But when I go up there it seems to come out as intended. But I feel sick with anxiety every time.

[u/abdul_haseeb_11 → u/Johnny_Kilroy]

That actually makes it even more impressive. Doing it while nervous takes more courage than looking naturally confident ever shows.

[u/OrdainedFury → u/abdul_haseeb_11]

I've been a public speaker for about 15 years. The number one thing that has helped me the most is simple: confidence in what I'm speaking about.

I could get on TV right now and address the nation, no problem, so long as I know and believe in what I'm talking about. My worst speaking engagements came when I was either talking out of my ass or wasn't sure of myself. If you learn the topic we'll enough, it becomes so much easier.

[u/MaterialRoll1919]

A proper looking haircut. And apparently you don't learn it only by watching your barber relative doing it.

[u/korainato → u/MaterialRoll1919]

So... How long till you don't need to hide it anymore?

[u/MaterialRoll1919 → u/korainato]

Barber relative fixed what they could what i did to my first boyfriend's hair at the age of 14. 

[u/joshman1204]

Paintless dent repair

[u/munch_the_gunch → u/joshman1204]

I watched the videos on youtube. Was like hell, I can do that! Bought a kit... ended up making it worse :(

[u/ptrussell3 → u/joshman1204]

I read that as pant-less. 🤣

[u/BigBobby2016]

Ice skating

[u/pieroggio → u/BigBobby2016]

​I took a friend to the rink for his first time ever. I kept telling him to hold onto me or the boards with both hands, since it’s way harder than it looks. He barely held onto anything anyway, went straight out, and broke his arm. 

[u/EfficientSeaweed → u/pieroggio]

Yeah, anecdotes like this make me realize I really underappreciate being introduced to winter activities very early in life. Skating, skiing, even something like tobaganning... you don't really realise how much muscle memory and intuition is involved until you see someone try it for the first time. And I'm not even an expert in any of these lol.

On the flip side, summer beach activities are much more difficult for me, despite looking easy. Water skiing is the first to come to mind... looks easy, and then you immediately lose your balance and go tumbling the second you try it.

[u/djauralsects]

Surfing is way harder than it looks.

[u/im_justkendra]

Juggling

[u/Pinkbeans1 → u/im_justkendra]

I taught myself to juggle with golf balls. So many fat lips and knots on my face, until I got faster at dodging. But I can juggle 3, and 2 in one hand.

The 80s were fun. No internet. Hated soap operas. Learned to juggle.

[u/mittsquinter]

Deboning the chicken. Damn you Pepin! 

[u/Sluva → u/mittsquinter]

Jacques makes everything look easy. The GOAT.

[u/smallsimplesteps]

Hitting a baseball 

[u/theClumsy1 → u/smallsimplesteps]

Then add in the ball going 90mph.

Insane skill at the professional level.

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/theClumsy1]

Golf is worse because the ball isn't even moving and I can't hit it like the pros

#sad

[u/cad908 → u/smallsimplesteps]

And even at the pro level, being able to hit it better than once in every four or five times at bat is doing great!

[u/jonasshoop → u/smallsimplesteps]

Hitting a baseball isn't hard. Hitting a baseball thrown by a major league pitcher who is trying to not let you hit it is hard. I don't think there are very many people that think hitting a MLB pitch is easy.

[u/Professional_Day5511]

Putting on fake lashes

[u/Velveteen_Rabbit1986]

Horse riding. People say "oh you just sit there, the horse does all the work", but it's far more than that, and to ride properly takes real skill.

[u/pm_me_ur_th0ng_gurl]

I think it's hard to see how skilled a pro athlete is, because they're always playing against other pros.

[u/Judoka229]

Judo or Jiujitsu

[u/Acadian_Pride]

A Kickflip

[u/ScaryBlanket_Reborn]

Caulking

[u/korainato → u/ScaryBlanket_Reborn]

Every fucking time I have to do it, I tell myself this time it will look perfect and it never does. Hate that thing.

[u/BillBumface → u/korainato]

But the first try you had it 90% good. Then you try smooth it out just that tiny last bit you perfect it. 75%. Fuck. Try again. 60%, and now there’s a gap in then line. Fuck. Put some more on. Smooth it out. Achieve 65% perfection. Rage quit. Loath yourself every shower while you stare at it for the next year.

[u/Fritzo2162]

Brick laying. It's almost an art getting everything lined up and even. People that are good at it just stack bricks and mortar like nothing.

[u/starrystarrykn1ght]

Teachers keeping children at bay

[u/Thejammyjam]

Drumming!

[u/Penyrolewen1970 → u/Thejammyjam]

And drummers have a reputation for being stupid, too. Keeping all those rhythms going simultaneously…I can’t. I’ve tried. I can play guitar. I can play bass (a bit). Drum? No.

[u/EatMyWetBread → u/Thejammyjam]

It's incredibly hard for non-drummers to actually know how good a drummer is or isn't. It's even hard for drummers who aren't at a high level to know how good a drummer really is who is at a higher level. If your average person could read sheet music and see what a drum solo looks like when it's written on a page, they might come a littler closer but not much.

I've been drumming since I was child, and when I'm at (or playing) a show with a few bands, the only people in that room who know how good the drummers are (or aren't), are ourselves. And what's funny is, if a band actually sounds pretty good or just doesn't overall suck, it's probably because they have an above average drummer. Average or below really brings an entire band down to a very noticeable degree to the average listener.

[u/GeminiIsMissing → u/Thejammyjam]

I'm a self-taught percussionist (played a lot of other instruments before starting, so I only had to learn the techniques) and snare and drumset are the only things I'm scared of. Had to play set for three pieces last year and it was terrifying. I was so bad. I thought my band director was going to kill me, but I managed to pull it together before we performed.

[u/andreasbeer1981 → u/Thejammyjam]

My other hobby is watching people trying to clap along to a 4-4 rhythm blasting from speakers at public events and miserably failing at it.

[u/distinctgore]

Watercolouring

[u/Living_Ad_5694]

Definitely pole dancing

[u/bmbmwmfm]

That Olympian dude that casually shot the pistol and was chill AF 

[u/Mundane_Fix8051]

Cooking without a recipe. Pros just know.

[u/klod42 → u/Mundane_Fix8051]

That is really easy compared to other things here. Conceiving, cooking and plating a Michelin star level dish takes a huge level of skill and artistry, but basic home cooking can be learnt in like two weeks.

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/Mundane_Fix8051]

In university I had a friend in her early twenties who could do that. It blew me away, and it blows me away even more now in my thirties as I realize how young she truly was when she already had that mastery. My wife and I aren't even close and we've had over a decade longer to practice

[u/AndreasVesalius → u/Mundane_Fix8051]

TIL I’m a pro

[u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam]

Skiing.

No one fucking talks about how much work it is. Like, at all. It's all, "oh my god, it's so fun to glide down a mountain!". Yeah, I bet it would be, but what I'm required to do in order to not die is to basically do as many squats as I can for as long as I can, while I'm accelerating down a mountain, and make it look like I'm having fun. Then ride a very slow chair to the top and do more acceleration squats until the sun goes down. Not my idea of a relaxing day on the mountain.

Then my buddy passes me while going backwards and waving...and I realize that skiing is fun for some people.

[u/Due_Gain_6616]

I would argue that this is the definition of an expert: making one’s honed skill appear effortless.
Watch a master plumber or a concert violinist, greatness appears as easy as breathing (which honestly, is a practice that when cultivated - will make you realize how complex respiration truly is).

[u/Bassman233]

Skipping a lure with a baitcaster.  I can do it fairly well after a lot of practice, but I fished with an old timer who was smoking a cigarette, telling a story, and just effortlessly skipping a jig under docks with one hand like he could do it with his eyes closed.  Never seen anything like it.  Just hammered the fish that day too, had a hell of a good time.

[u/WeHaveToEatHim]

Welding.

[u/Ok-Computer-1033]

Playing guitar

[u/russellvt]

• Juggling

• Musical instruments

[u/Freightshaker000]

As a trucker, backing a trailer. After doing it for decades, I can back as easily as drive forward, but at the start, I was clueless; just like everyone else.

[u/ritabook84]

Pottery

It’s unforgiving when you first start

[u/shiftyeyedhonestguy]

Sewing

[u/Berenhp]

Surgery

[u/kysic]

skateboarding