At the start of September, I had never spoke at a conference before.
A few weeks later, I’d done it five times.
We tend to assume that becoming qualified for something is a gradual process. The idea that confidence leads experience (“fake it ‘till you make it”), though, is not what I’ve found to be true.
From what I can tell most people are more prepared than they realize, even if their own self-perception has not caught up.
Days after speaking in Huntington Beach at Future Proof, I flew to Houston for Robinhood’s HOOD Summit, where I woke up early to record a live episode of Full Signal before moderating a second panel that same morning.
Then I returned to New York just in time for my company’s inaugural Silvia Investor Summit, where I joined my friend Anthony Pompliano to discuss market charts and investments I personally own in my portfolio.
In the whirlwind of flights and hotels and last-minute preparations, whispers of doubt and jitters would creep in.
But then, each time I stepped onstage, focus replaced my nerves. Like muscle memory, my mind simply fell back to the hundreds of podcast episodes I’ve recorded the last year.
The novelty of the moment would suddenly feel familiar.
What I had anticipated being a sudden leap forward really was just the same practiced moves making themselves visible in a new format.
I know I’m not the only one who draws imaginary boundaries according to the things I’ve already accomplished.
And thinking this way makes sense. If you’ve never done something before, it’s natural to believe you have a long way to go before you’re up to snuff.
But what the last month revealed to me was the subtle but yawning gap between lack of experience and lack of preparation.
You can be the first as long as you have the second, but you’re cooked if you lack both.
The reminder I’m leaving for myself, as I write this on a Friday night in the office, is that just because you haven’t done something before doesn’t mean you haven’t been preparing for it.
That’s all for now folks.
Phil Rosen
Co-Founder & CEO, Opening Bell Media
Chief Market Strategist, Silvia Inc.