The struggle is real!

Early on in my learning journey and with a desire to write about what I had learnt, I suffered from some severe levels of imposter syndrome.

“Who would read about what I had to say?”
“Nothing I can say will be original!”
“There are already experts, why would anyone read this?”

The above are just a few of the questions/statements and essentially put-downs I would ask myself during these times. This was my internal saboteur at work.
It wasn’t until a few years ago after reading an article by an amazing young lady, Ali Spittel (@ ASpittel on twitter), which said

I’m an expert at…
Nothing — which I am actually okay with!
(quote from here)

This statement helped change how I saw myself and the value I could bring to the table forever.

Why would people care?!

First, there will always be people earlier on their journey than you. Who have yet to start and not sure how to.
These people will always exist and will gain value from pretty much anything that you are writing. What is evident to us will often amaze others, and I have found it is usually better to learn from a guide than a guru/master.

“the curse of knowledge” — C.S.Lewis

The reason for this is, coming “down” from mastery to help beginners is challenging and often, these masters forget what it is like to have to start from the beginning. I experienced this both as a teacher and a student.

As a teacher, I tried to teach graduates who had never coded before or even used version control and found it extremely hard to remember where my journey began and how to help them on the path. As a student learning guitar, trying to convey to my tutor how difficult I found learning the notes on the fretboard and being told: “it will eventually come to you” with no clear path to understanding it.

By writing down what you have learnt and trying to convey it educationally will not only help you to learn more profoundly but will also to retain things better. This learning journey is why people will care and read/watch your content, as they too are trying to figure out how to take the next step.

You are unique

One of the most important aspects I changed in my thinking was that I am unique as a person, and there is no one more expert on me and my perspective than me. So although you may be rehashing something done before, you are putting your unique spin on things. Your unique perspective is what makes your posts, blogs, videos etc. interesting and valuable.

But how do I get started?

The best advice I have been given and gave has been, start small. Like all habits, it takes time to build up momentum.

Start creating content every couple of days, after reading something, an article, part of a book etc. Take a quote from that source, something that resonates with you or you find interesting. Then post that quote with a few lines of your perspective on what it means to you. I am a big fan of Linkedin as a platform for doing this in the professional arena, but you could use Facebook, Twitter etc.

The key to success is consistency. Build a habit to write something every day . If the pressure of posting every day is too much, start with once a week but be consistent.

In Summary

No, you may not be an expert, but you have plenty of value to contribute to the world, and there are masses of people that will benefit from both your journey and your learnings.

Be brave, courageous and start today. Let me know how you go.