A couple of weeks ago, I made an Instagram post of a graph that I found showing the difference between a expert and a beginner. BTW, if you aren’t, you should be following me on Instagram, I have a ton of content up there. That post has created a lot of buzz and a ridiculous amount of likes, comments, and shares in social media. I absolutely loved the message and want to share this with everyone.
I recently came across this graph and was really floored with how accurately it depicted our evolution of knowledge and expertise. This has become more and more relevant with social media allowing everyone to have an opinion and to self proclaim expertise. ⠀
When we first start out, we have a period where we rapidly progress from feeling like we know nothing to feel like we know everything. Maybe it’s false self confidence or maybe it is just ego, but it’s pretty common. You then often proclaim expertise. Some people get stuck here. Others soon realize that what they thought was true, may not be true! The humble people amongst us will progress and start to realize there is so much to learn! Congrats, you made it.
At Champion, we always discuss this concept with our physical therapy students and strength and conditioning interns. They all want to start a website and social media branding, and often try to do it by pretending they are experts. Essentially, they are using the “fake it ’til you make it” mentality. They’ll learn something and then the next day talk about it on social media as if they were now experts on the topic.
I always advise our students that anyone with experience will see this lack of authenticity and it will ultimately end up hurting their brand in the long run.
Trust me, when I see some posts on Instagram I shake my head.
Often times it’s proclaiming something that with a little more experience, they would realize maybe isn’t the best idea. And if you are too vocal about your stance, you’ll end up defending your position in the future instead of keeping an open mind and adapting as you learn and experience more. ⠀
What can you do about it?
Rather that self proclaim expertise, embrace the fact that you are learning and share your journey. That will help you grow more personally, and all of us on social media will grow with you.⠀The key to becoming an expert has less to do with how much you know and more to do with realizing how much more there is to learn.
