Photo by Ana Flávia on Unsplash

Ever wonder how many interesting and inspiring voices in the world will never be heard because they convince themselves that they aren’t an expert? That they don’t have enough experience, or simply feel that nobody would listen?

From the Desk of Ajay Karwal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

People are great at making excuses. How many times have you told yourself,

• “I’m not experienced enough to tell others what to do”
• “[Person X] is much better with a huge following. How can I compete?”
• “I’m not good at public speaking”
• “I don’t know how to build a blog”
• “I can’t afford a nice camera to start a YouTube channel”
• “I don’t have time”

Any of these sound like you?

If so, just remember that feeling inexperienced or like an imposter is completely normal. Everyone goes through it in some form, but it’s just a feeling, not a fact.

If you’ve ever talked yourself out of sharing your ideas, keep this in mind.

You don’t need to be experienced

Abi Jones, a UX Manager at Google says,

“You don’t have to know everything about a topic to give a talk about it.”

You just need to know enough to be able to explain it to others.

Being a complete expert on a topic may even make it more difficult for others to learn from you as the more experienced you become, the further you become from being a beginner, which is where many of your audience may be.

The most important thing is to start.

Everyone has an audience

Remember, you can be the best in the world if you make your world smaller. While you may feel that the content you’re sharing has been shared a thousand times before, this is the first time you are sharing it and the first time your audience is consuming it from you.

Adding your own commentary and unique perspective to a topic may be exactly what resonates with your audience.

Let people know what you think.

Mistakes are ok

Malcom Gladwell says in his book, “Outliers: The Story of Success” that it takes around 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert (or around 3 hours a day for 10 years).

That’s a big commitment to become and expert and it’s probably not the position you’re in today. I know I’m not!

So while you’re also on this learning journey, you’re inevitably going to make mistakes, which is okay. Just admit to it and own it.

You only make mistakes by taking action in the first place.

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I hope this inspires you to overcome any self-doubt you may have and to share your own ideas, regardless of your level of expertise. We all have something valuable to offer, and the most important thing is to start and let our voices be heard.

Ajay