I don’t know anything

This was literally what I was thinking. I was sitting in a big conference room filled with people who, well, knew stuff. And I was the person in the room, in charge of the team that was going to produce “visual communication” EXPLAINING the thing, that I didn’t know about. I had been recently promoted (somewhat against my will I might add), I was new to this industry, and big marketing teams (man they love their acronyms), and I thought “I don’t know what the heck they are talking about.”

In those moments we are often right. “I don’t know anything.” Owning that fact is pretty important. Because, if you have a growth mindset, you can add one word to the end of that statement. “Yet.”

“I don’t know anything, yet.”

That helps me know what to do, even if it’s go talk to someone who does know something. Then I go to the next thing I don’t know, and the next, and the next, and then, well… now I know something.

Every time I start a new brand consultancy project I am overwhelmed. The nature of the work is that it contains subject matter, an industry, a product, ACRONYMS, that I know nothing about. But I just go back to the one thing I kinda know, and I keep pulling that thread until a clear(ish) picture starts to emerge.

It’s also worth mentioning that there’s also a difference between “I need to know something” and “I need to know everything.” before beginning. That can paralyze you from action. That’s no good either. You need to know enough to move forward. To take action of some kind no matter how small.

So, you’re right. You don’t know anything. Yet.

You should go do something about that.