Read This If You Have No Idea What You're Doing

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Well, for starters; congrats.

This is the part where I go on and on about how no one knows what they're doing.

Like this kid in the picture. Get real. He doesn't know how to read that book.

I'll then go on to conclude one of a few platitudes:

1. No one knows what they're doing, so you're justified. Just keep going.
2. No one knows what they're doing at first, so you're justified. Just monitor yourself until you get there.
3. Some people know what they're doing but that's because they worked really hard and now they know things.
4. We each have our unique "thing" that we know how to do and life is about finding that thing and sharing it with the world.

Oh, man. I feel like I could keep going, but I'll just stop at 4.

All I want to do is ask you to pay attention to how you're feeling about this.

Where does this feeling of "not knowing what you're doing" come from?

• Is it literally a lack of expertise?
• Is it because you've never done anything like this before?
• Is it imposter syndrome?

None of these questions are impossible to answer.

And none of the answers are impossible to reconcile.

These feelings are just indicators. They're kind of like the check engine light in your car.

They tell you something is wrong, but then you have to actually run a diagnostic check to figure out what's going on. You might be able to do this at home, but you may have to enlist help.

2 Minute Action:

The point I'm making is that I'm not going to tell you "keep trying!"

I'm telling you to identify the feeling and go after it.

Understanding the indicator will help you chase the solution.

If you're afraid, follow the fear.

If you're confident, follow the confidence.

Your 2-minute action might be literally taking 2 minutes to reflect.

It might also be taking 2 minutes to schedule a phone call with a mentor or close friend to talk through this feeling and help you identify it.

Whatever you're doing, it can take just 2 minutes to get the ball rolling.

Anyone Else Trying To Do This and Failing??

The 5 E's.The 6 Step Method.The Secret Formula that will 5x your output.

We're all looking for it.

This collective search is the definition of a "market;" a group of people simultaneously in need of a service or product.This means that we are subject to headlines and programs and blogs and online courses that promise big, life-changing results.I've done it on both sides; as a producer and as a consumer.But you already know the truth.You know when you get that funny feeling in the pit of your stomach that squints and says: "this is too good to be true."Because it is--and you're right--almost always.So how do we get tricked into more online courses and products that make big promises that we never implement?Here's the hard-to-handle truth: we don't trust ourselves. We may have built a track record of big dreams, hopes or a string of half-started projects. So if this is our data, why should we trust ourselves?We could be wrong. This lack of confidence in ourselves leaves us open to influence.

But remember:

Big, hairy audacious goals are made up of lots of little, achievable tasks.It's only after we conquer these small things, and build a new track record of success, that we'll trust ourselves with the big stuff.Then we'll have more confidence in that little skeptical voice that's trying to tell us something important!Trust is built with others the same way it is built with ourselves--yet, most of us are completely clueless.Everyone is starting with the big stuff and failing when the REAL secret is to start with the small stuff.Small, daily, relentless actions."Publish a book" is a big goal, so it's not a small task.But "call 5 publishers" is an achievable, measurable goal."Write a book" is a big goal, so it's not a small task."Write a blog post" is an achievable, measurable goal.Big goals are not checkboxes. You can't do it in one move. They're made up of small, achievable, measurable tasks.

2 Minute Action

What's a big "someday maybe" project you've had on your list?What's a smaller, achievable task you can check off in the next 2 minutes?Is it an email to a friend? Is it a sales call to a supplier? Is it a Facebook Live video asking for critical feedback on your work?Start there. Don't plan everything else out. Just do that, today. Once you do that, the next step will become more clear--and you'll have the momentum of success to move you forward.This is building trust with YOU and you've got to start before you can see the ending. This is the difficult, invisible stuff that stops us from making it.But you know better.