After two months, I got sucker punched and it still hurts a little. I had written a blog post about something (can’t really remember) and someone commented telling me I wasn’t qualified to talk about any of it.
They said I didn’t go to school and I didn’t have any credentials and I should just quit, ouch. For a long time, that’s all I could think about. At first I tried to ignore it, then I thought about it a bit and laughed.
Then I thought about it a lot, I got angry and bitter. After all of that, I started to doubt myself and my message, I started to question everything I was doing. I already had a lot of doubt and fear, that comment just amplified it.
It took a long time, some counseling, praying and a mindset change to get over it. The biggest problem was the wasted time and how I let it cripple me and keep me from helping people. My goal today is to show you that even if you don’t have the schooling or credentials you can make an impact and help people with something you’re passionate about.
Here’s the thing to understand, our society and many things have changed. School doesn’t mean as much as it used to. These days people take out thousands of dollars in student loans, get degrees and end up at jobs that aren’t related to that degree.
According to the Washington Post only 27% of graduates get a job related to their degree. The point being if you don’t have the schooling for something you’re passionate about, you can still make that dream a reality through hard work.
How can you be an expert at your thing? Here are two ways:
Help people through a situation you’ve gone through
There are things you may have gone through in life that have affected you in a certain way. Now that you’ve gotten through them, you might have a passion to help others avoid or get through what you overcame.
You don’t need schooling or some special degree because you’ve gone through it, you have the best thing that will actually help people: life experience. In our day and age, experience is what people learn from and follow. Talk is cheap, right?
Use your experience to teach and help people, ignore those that say you’re not qualified. Add value, go over the top, people will respond and the haters won’t be able to plant any more doubt.
Learn everything you can about a subject you’re absolutely passionate about
When you’re absolutely passionate about something, without even knowing it, you start learning everything you can about that thing. You read books and blogs, you listen to podcasts and audiobooks. You take in any information you can about that subject.
We’re blessed to be in a day and age where information is readily available, if there’s something you want to get more information on, Google it and boom, you’ve got all the information you need.
What are you passionate about? How much do you know about that subject? Even if you know a lot about your passion, you can and should always learn more. There’s a famous quotation that says “An expert is a student first,” meaning you can always learn more.
Learn so much that no one can question your knowledge or dedication. As you learn, teach and help people get through those difficult situations. At the end of the day an “expert’s” job should be to add value to the lives of others.
Too often we’re crippled by doubt and fear and let it keep us from the life we truly deserve. We let the negative voices of others keep us from the greatness that’s inside of all of us. Let 2014 be the year you make your dream your reality, you can do it!
Will you let a lack of schooling keep you from your dream?
