Why Is Everyone Improving But Not Me?

You ever notice that everyone around you is suddenly getting good? Like, one week your homie is still tic-tacing out of kickflips, and the next they’re casually switch back-tailing the ledge you still can’t ollie up to. Meanwhile, you’re stuck in groundhog day, battling the same crooked grind you’ve been claiming “almost locked in” since 2021.

It’s not just you. Scroll Instagram and you’ll see some 14-year-old in Brazil doing tricks that look like they were generated by AI. Your crew’s posting stories of them learning something new every session, while you’re still hyped on landing a clean shove-it. It starts to feel like skateboarding has turned into a group project where everyone else is carrying the grade.

But let’s be real: skateboarding has never been about equal progression. It’s chaos. Sometimes you level up fast, sometimes you plateau for years, and sometimes you even regress (ever try to tre flip in winter after months of hibernation?). Improvement isn’t linear, and comparing yourself to others is like comparing pizza spots—it’s pointless because the whole point is that each one’s different.

Still, why does it feel so brutal when it’s you who isn’t improving? A couple reasons:

• Skating isn’t fair. Some people just have freaky natural balance, or skated gymnastics as a kid, or don’t work 40 hours a week. They’re gonna progress faster.

• The algorithm lies. You’re not seeing your friends’ 20 slams, you’re seeing their one landed clip with the fisheye inches from their truck.

• You might be too comfortable. If you only skate the same three spots doing the same three tricks, your brain’s on autopilot. Progress needs discomfort.

The harsh truth: you might not be improving because you stopped treating skateboarding like something you learn and started treating it like something you repeat. And that’s fine—there’s no rule that says you need to evolve into Tiago or Yuto. Some people’s skate lives peak at a clean kickflip, and that’s beautiful.

But if it’s really bugging you, here’s the secret sauce:

• Skate with people better than you, even if it bruises your ego.

• Try stupid tricks you’d never normally attempt, even if you never land them.

• Film yourself more, because nothing exposes your bad habits like slow-mo shame.

• Most importantly, remember that the point isn’t being “better,” it’s being out there, in the session, sweating and laughing and maybe landing something new once in a while.

Everyone improving but not you? Maybe that’s just the phase you’re in. Skateboarding has always been about phases—your tricks, your spots, even your motivation. And sometimes, the only way to move forward is to stop obsessing about forward at all.

So relax. Your friends aren’t really leaving you behind—they’re just writing their own chapters. Yours is still happening, even if it looks like the same clip on repeat.