Experienced

We all strive to become better at what it is we do. We like to tell others that “we’re experienced.”

While it’s certainly important to have experience and to know what it is we’re supposed to be doing, there can be a downside to being experienced as well.

We can become full of ourselves, thinking that we know everything there is to know about our job. We think we’ve reached the peak, ascended the mountain, topped out. We’re the one that everyone else comes to for advice. We think we know everything we need to know to succeed.

While that may be true, we may know exactly what we need to know to be successful, that doesn’t mean we know everything.

Thinking we know everything means that we often miss the new things. It can keep us from seeing the traits and habits that we’ve developed that could really use some tweaking. We don’t see the things that we’re missing, the gaps in our knowledge, the things that really aren’t working for us.

It’s great to think we’re the best at what we do. It’s stupidity to think that there’s nothing else for us to learn.

He who ceases to be better, ceases to be good.

Oliver Cromwell