Act Like the Expert and You Will Become One…

My dear friend and mentor Sarah Canepa Bang uttered those words to me at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Oregon many years ago. I was there all day hosting a league event. I got a message from the front desk to call Sarah at the office. This was before cell phones, remember those days?

On a break I went to the pay phone to call her. She simply said, “Can you meet me after the conference at the hotel bar?” “Um, sure,” I said. Of course I couldn’t concentrate the rest of the afternoon. Was I getting fired? What did I do wrong? Think. Think.

Sarah offered me a new job/opportunity. I felt wholly unqualified and told her as much. That’s when my professional life took an abrupt turn.

She had confidence in me – but I did not. I suffered from a well-known disorder called the impostor complex. I didn’t have a college degree. The person who was vacating this position had one – it was in Biology – but it was a Bachelor’s.

I won’t go into the reasons/excuses I didn’t go to college, that’s not the point of this post. But rather, to help people understand that you really can do anything in this country if you have the vision, passion and discipline.

I meet people every day that have amazing visions. I am surrounded by passionate people, on the internet and in my community. Discipline is the roadblock for most of us. As Malcolm Gladwell points out in his groundbreaking book Outliers: The Story of Success, it takes about 10,000 hours of commitment to move from novice to expert.  At a full time 2080 hour work year, that’s just under five years. IF you’re focused.

I leave for Gearhart, Oregon in a couple of hours. I’ve rented a little cottage, with a tiny kitchen and a wood stove. I am going to finish my book The 2020 Vision of Marketing: A Focus on Purpose. It has become an albatross of sorts.

God’s great equalizer – time. We all get 24 hours a day. You cannot earn more or be punished with less. You decide how to use those hours. I’ve been saying “I don’t have time,” when I am really saying “I’ve not been willing to make the time.”

So, here I go. Acting like the expert. Without a single writing class under my belt. Just a laptop, a flipchart, books I admire and a vision.

I’m going to blog each morning about my progress. It’s a great way to start the day, and I hope you’ll all be rooting for me as well as shaming me into completion.

Oh, and if I get the chance, I plan to dig my own razor clam, shuck it, and make chowder, like my Granddad and Nana used to do. That will probably be the scariest moment this week.