You Know More Than You Realize

Learning to accept that you are, in fact, an expert on many things.

The other day, I was having a conversation with an old colleague from my early days in marketing, Jeff Abracen. (You should follow him if you're looking for creative inspiration.)

He was asking me about my book and how I got over feeling like an imposter, or how I came to believe in my knowledge enough to think it was worth putting into print.

I hadn't really thought about it, but he was right, I did have a long journey to getting to this point. It took me years to feel like I had something worth saying, something that needed to be said and that I hadn't seen anyone say before.

But why did it take me so long?

We landed on a simple idea: We all know more than we realize.

When you work in a particular field for enough time, and with enough passion, you can't help but develop expertise. The problem is, because we're in it every day, our knowledge starts to feel obvious. We forget that there was a time when we didn't know these things. We forget that others don't know them.

It's like the fish who said to the other fish, "The water is nice today," only to have the other fish respond: "What's water?"

We all do this. We take our knowledge and experience for granted.

But imagine how much further you might be today if you could go back and teach your younger self all the things you've learned in the intervening years.

It's not about ego. It's not about saying, "Look at me! Look how smart I am!"

It's about helping people out and giving them the head-start you wish someone had given you.

Sharing knowledge and expertise is an act of service and kindness.

Do it for the younger you.