Being an enthusiast vs. an expert

08/09/2022

One of the things holding me back from posting content online is that I have a desire to be perceived as an expert.

It is a learned belief. It comes from the media, from academia, and from the idea that credentials are the source of actual value. And it's completely false.

Experience is the source of actual value.

Instead of putting that pressure on myself, why not share in a way that causes people to perceive me as an enthusiast?

Posting like an enthusiast means sharing what I am already doing and learning about. An enthusiast is more relatable to others because it reflects that passion that other people may have for a topic or subject. An enthusiast can build a community of like-minded friends.

An expert is put on a pedestal and is less relatable because the expert is separate from the crowd.

In the world of social media and content creation, the expert is usually building an audience, not a community.

I don't want to spend my time growth hacking my way to an audience. I actually want to just have a community of friends to share the cool things I'm building and learning about. I don't want to niche down into just one thing because I have so many interests that I want to cultivate to expand the world I inhabit.

Expertise is developed through time and experience in a field.

I know I'll achieve expertise in many different areas in the next few decades.

Therefore I'm not trying to rush into positioning myself as an expert right now. I want to show the messy process of being interested in so many areas and topics and how to cultivate curiosity. The challenge for me is finding ways to expand my taste so that I can see and experience more of what the world has to offer.

It's about giving myself the permission to explore the topics I'm truly excited about.

I want to be the ultimate enthusiast, someone who can connect with the most excited and passionate people around the topics I actually care about. I want to build communities of practice, to connect people through shared interests. I want people to recognize themselves in my own journey to mastery and to provide the space to start asking questions and cultivate curiosity.

What am I an enthusiast of?

At the moment, I'm excited about fully expressing my creativity.

I've been writing consistently for the past few weeks. Writing is an area I have developed flow in and doesn't require me to think very much to get my ideas out onto paper. It is one of the areas that I've spent a lot of time thinking about and learning about, and now I'm putting in even more time into writing my 1,000,000 words in an organized way.

I can see the progress I'm making in this area as I'm publishing 1000 word essays.

I think that the source of enthusiasm comes from the capacity I see for myself to create amazing works in the future.

The best fitting interests to cultivate long term are the ones that match with our core values. My core values include: joy, authenticity, growth, mastery, and contribution. If I find topics and interests that match all five of my core values, then I know I'll have something that I'll be cultivating for the rest of my life.

Writing ended up being an area that is supported by all of my core values.

At the moment, I'm exploring music production, video creation, AI art, community building, and food.

Of these interests, I think community building is second area I've developed a lot of enthusiasm around.

I find joy when I'm connecting people together around shared interests. It is authentic to who I am as a person because when I was younger I felt alone in my passions and interests and I want to create the communities I want for myself and for my inner child. I am always growing in this area because I'm put into situations where my work and life calls for this type of skill. I know I am developing mastery due to the amount of time and experience I've gained in the last decade.

And I know that the world needs more communities and that what I'm doing is contributing to others.

Ikigai is defined as "a reason for being"

Community building fits the four categories necessary for Ikigai - what I love, what I'm good at, what the world needs, and what I can be paid for. Ikigai is the intersection between passion, profession, vocation, and mission. It started out as one of my passions - what I love and what I'm good at. It turned into my profession - what I'm good at and what I can be paid for. I then realized that it was my vocation - what I can be paid for and what the world needs. And I know now it is one of my missions - what I love and what the world needs.

Ultimately I think that cultivating these two core pillars is the driving force for the direction of my life.

It is something that has unfolded through my life experience and it is what I gravitate to naturally.

Communication and community building are the tools to express my purpose in life. As I'm exploring other interests, I tap into these two core pillars as a way to translate what I'm learning into something that can be shared with others. No matter what I'm doing, I'm always writing and I'm always building communities.

I still don't consider myself an expert in these areas, I just know that I'm enthusiastic and passionate about these areas.

As I learn more and more, I know that my field of knowledge in these areas and learning just expands further and further.

Even spending almost a decade in these two areas, I feel like there is so much more to learn. And I have all of these other interests I want to cultivate in my life so that I can live in a richer world. I don't just want to limit myself to talking about writing or community building, I want to apply these skills to create a world where I am connected to others and expressing myself authentically.