What it takes to be an expert.

It’s easy to forget how much we know about things that really captivate us or the areas of life that we’ve been imbued with isn’t it?

I was in a conversation with some people who were talking about a previous co-worker. They were talking about them with the curiosity that only hindsight seems to bring to challenging work situations, and I offered some perspectives that they didn’t seem to be seeing.
What I didn’t notice was that I talked for about half an hour to what turned out to be a captivated audience. They were blown away by the depth of knowledge I was sharing and of the multiple reference points that I was leading from.

I left that conversation thinking to myself, why was my conversation so exhilarating for them when what I was sharing was reasonably basic information?

I’m still not sure to be honest, but after some contemplation, I think that what is basic knowledge to me on that topic isn’t really basic to others who haven’t imbued themselves in human behaviour like I have?

I started reading about human behaviour when I was about 24, and since then I’ve had my nose, ears and eyes in any book, audio book and documentary that teaches anything about what drives us to do the things we do and the broader perspectives of how all of life, what we think and do, is connected to the broader structures of our planet and universe.

I’ve had a deep interest in survival behaviour and what we do when we’re highly stressed and what’s happening inside our minds that either leads some to end their lives and others to take similar circumstances and use it to leverage themselves to greater things. I’ve read and listened to Chaos Theory, Complexity Theory, philosophy, and all kinds of authors who are essentially researchers that pull together amazing books on high performance, life philosophies, aging well and living a happy life, and most of them multiple times.

I’ve studied NLP Practitioner 6 times and NLP Master Practitioner 3 times over the last 10 years, just because I like to keep refreshing and I’ve also listened to the 40+ hours of audio teachings for both levels, multiple, multiple, multiple times.

I’ve read over a hundred memoirs, autobiographies and biographies that have all ultimately shown me the real life application of all of that in action.

I guess that’s what makes anyone an expert in anything? It’s that constant layering in of knowledge from every angle, over and over and over again? Building in your mind the knowledge like a city full of overlapping roads, underground systems, interesting intersections and constant movement connecting it all and keeping it buzzing.

What is your special area of expertise and how long have you been imbuing yourself with it?

#knowyourself #knowyourwhy #knowledgesharing #pyschology #humanity #healthymind #perspectives