We're All Faking It

Throughout my life I have been given a lot of advice. Some hasn't stuck with me, and some I knew was just wrong. But there are two things that I was told to me right before I entered the workforce that I have lived by since then. The first as that if you don't try at something, it is the same as failure. The second thing, nobody else knows what they are doing either.

That last piece of information seemed crazy to me. How is it that nobody knows what they are doing? Surely somebody has it all together and sees the forest among the trees. Right? Wrong. Sure everybody has an idea of what it takes to make it to the end of the day or quarter, but nobody really knows what they are doing. If you don't believe me, ask your mentor if they know what they are doing. I'll wait...what did they say? I bet it was something like, "not yet" or "I do now". Note that the latter is a half lie. Or better yet, ask a parent where they learned to be one? I bet you will get laughed at.

A lot of people are tossing are the term of Impostor syndrome. The idea that you can do something but fear keeps you from trying. Everybody at one point in their life goes through this feeling, and if they say they didn't, they're lying. This is the opposite of impostor syndrome. You don't know what you're doing and dive in anyway. This is what separates successful people from the rest of the world.

“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Don't let the idea that you don't know what you're doing stop you from trying something. Remember, at one point you didn't know how to use the internet. It was this thing that you kind of understood. You could type in some words, and get to places. Now here you are, reading a blog post from some guy in Kansas City who should probably be working on something instead of sitting here rereading a blog post.

Don't let the fear of the unknown or fear of failure stop you. Failure is always an option, just make sure that you learn from it. Remember, if you don't try, it is just as good as failure anyway. So you might as well dive in and try. You just might surprise yourself at how well you can complete a task that you don't know anything about at first. Change can be scary, but without it nothing can grow.