What is it? It’s experience. Experience looms over me. My superiors, my colleagues, and clients all have it. Some have varying degrees of it, but the majority of them have a lot of it. They have a deep understanding of business and are extremely well-versed in marketing strategy. They are seasoned veterans who know the ins and outs of the industry—their strategic high-level thinking together with their ability to drill down “into the weeds” and proficiently address minor details is incredible. They know the answers. They know the next steps. Their minds have developed over time to become solution-generators. It’s second nature to them, but something that I’m only beginning to truly develop. I listen, observe, and soak up as much as I can. Very often I’ll witness one of these sharp marketers do or say something extremely insightful. It makes my eyes light up and my mind do a double-take!
(This isn’t some ploy to gain favor with the individuals I am speaking of—trust me, they have better things to do than read my posts. I’m simply expressing my desire for their level of ability. On the off chance that they do come across this though…boom! Brownie points secured for sure.)
I work in an environment where most of the professionals I interact with have been around awhile. They’ve been in the working world long enough to speak of “past lives”—previous jobs or even entirely different careers. To put it into perspective, the Creative Director of the agency I work at has done work for companies beginning with every letter of the alphabet! I imagine you’d have to be around awhile to have done work for a “V,” “X,” “Y,” “Z,” or “Q!” It blows my mind. When a lot of these folks were earning their first promotions I was just getting out of diapers! Obviously I have some catching up to do.
I cannot help but think about the skills, talent, and knowledge all around me and the experience that developed and refined it. It’s amazing, it’s intimidating. It frustrates, yet inspires. I love it. I hate it. I want it!
How do I get it? With such a gap between myself and the professionals around me, how can I join in their ranks?
I've found that these two qualities do the trick.
Confidence
Believe and trust yourself in the workplace. Don’t be afraid to perform. When you are doing something new or something you are unsure about, approach it with focus and then respond to the outcomes proactively. Trust the experience and education you've cultivated, regardless of how it stacks up against everyone else’s. Picture who you want to be and be it, picture what you want to do and do it.
Not too long ago, I read Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill—I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to accomplish something amazing, but needs a little motivation and perspective. He discusses keys to success. One concept that came to mind as I was writing this was autosuggestion, “the agency of communication between that part of the mind where conscious thought takes place, and that which serves as the seat of action for the subconscious mind.” Put in another way, it is all of the stimuli you create that reach your mind. Hill conveys the importance of autosuggestion by stating its implications: “Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind… [those thoughts] will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into physical reality.” Essentially the thoughts that you feed your subconscious mind will become reality. Hill says that if you consistently feel yourself in possession of that which you desire, it will eventually be yours.
If you consistently internalize the idea of having experience and abilities beyond your current state and are confident that you will attain the heights you seek, your actions will work to that end and you will have what you want.
Persistence
Being the best at what you do isn't easy. Getting better and better, improving over time is much easier. That’s persistence. You need to show up every day and consistently give it your best shot. Be mindful of what you have done so you can change moving forward. Mistakes and failures are just guideposts, or rather caution flags, for future action. Always cultivate new knowledge. Ask questions, find answers, figure how things work, and how those things work together with other things and you’ll be on your way to true understanding that usually only comes with time.
Do you want to be the person everyone looks at and says, “Wow, I've been in his shoes” or, “Yeah, I remember when I was just starting out like that?” No! You don’t want to be that person. You want people to look at you and say, “That kid just keeps coming back for more! He’s going to do something big one day.”
I realized you don’t have to have it all figured out. The experience will come, but until then you just need to keep on keepin’ on and never skip a beat!
And remember, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Boom!
