Last week one of my clients launched her first e-course.
About 72 hours before the first launch, we were on the phone and she asked me, "When did you know you were an expert?"
I had to take a moment to think about it, and I realized that the feeling of "expert" never really comes.
I easily have the 10,000 hours under my belt (also the bad eyesight that comes with staring at paper/computer screens for that long), I have my degree in writing (and the loans to prove it), and I my adult career is as a writer.
All along this path, there was never a moment where I declared myself an expert. No light shined out of the sky giving me super writing powers. No one crowned me an expert.
This is the secret you learn along the path: Even experts realize how far they have to go and how much they can still learn.
You'll never feel ready, that's why you have to start anyway.
Even Napoleon Hill was terrified to write Think and Grow Rich; one of the most popular books of all time. He thought that he wasn't an expert and had no credentials to write that book.
He also mentioned one of the greatest fears we all face besides thinking we aren't experts: Fear of being criticized by those we know.
After being on the internet for over 10+ years now and constantly putting myself out there, it is true that the negative comments can get to you. I haven't figured out a solution to this problem yet, but as soon as I do I will let you know.
Recently I have been getting in my own way and I'm sharing this with you because I want you to know that sometimes even after years of experience, it doesn't always get easier.
Sometimes you still feel like a newbie.
Sometimes you still wonder if you're good enough.
Sometimes you wonder if you should just quit and become a stripper.
You still have to share your gifts anyway. We all have to.
There are so many people who need the knowledge that each one of us has inside of our brain, even if it doesn't feel like it's enough.
You never know who you can help. You never how you might change the world.
Even if you get in your own way as you go, get back on the horse.
The only time you truly fail is when you quit forever.