At some point, the growth of experience becomes expertise. But, we sometimes forget the path we’ve taken, and what we’ve achieved.
Years ago, a friend was struggling with what I thought (not as an expert, I must add) was impostor syndrome, which became a weird sort of paralysis.
“You’re lost on the side of a mountain?” I began to
describe, using a visual metaphor.
“Yes.”
“Lost in mist … fog, with no idea where you’re going?”
“Yes!”
“But, if that fog were to lift, we’d see a long chain of maintains that you’d summited… all of them.” Or words to that effect — it was a long time ago.
I then listed each of the qualifications they’d acquired having conquered those distant mountains.
I watched as shoulders became less tense and tight and a once wrinkled brow smoothed as a growing, almost Sisyphean appreciation took hold, from a perspective not seen before, allowing them to appreciate everything they’d achieved.
What remained was the understanding that the exploration of academic success came with challenges: routes not taken; becoming lost; losing things; retracing steps to find a new route forward. But exploration also builds strength and resilience.
What I’ve described is transferable to almost any domain.
Once in a while, we have to lift our heads, shift our perspective, and enjoy the journey as much as the arrival.
Am I an expert? I don’t think that’s not for me to decide, but the plan is to begin running a few talks, perhaps workshops to help people understand what makes us less efficient and how to turn that around — that’s the plan, at least!
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