Is it just me or are we all just winging it here?

I'm done waiting to feel like an expert.

It's April 19th, I'm sitting at my Delta gate, hand writing this post like a letter to all of you before I get on my plane. Tomorrow I'm giving a presentation to more than 60 nonprofit leaders in Omaha, and I am nervous.

It seems like the more I write, the more people call me an expert, which scares me.

Don't get me wrong. I know I'm a good writer. But right now, for whatever reason, I feel jittery, like I'm an imposter, and tomorrow everyone's about to find out.

By the time you're reading this blog I will be back in Minneapolis, my presentation behind me, butterflies in my belly gone.

But I'm not sure if that feeling will ever go away; this looming, doomy feeling that one day, my clients are going to discover I'm a phony, and I've been fooling them all this time.

At some point, I have to make a decision:

Either I give up on the whole thing entirely, or I proceed even though I don't feel qualified; I move forward even though I'm young; I give this presentation even though I hate public speaking.

There's the common, prevailing misconception floating around: that you don't have the right to be an "expert" unless you feel like one. (Does anyone feel like an expert? Honestly, I'm curious.)

I don't know a lot, but I do know how to write.

You may not feel like you know a lot, but you know your zone of genius.

So today, let's start that next big thing before we feel ready.

Write those blogs before you feel you're qualified.

Start posting reels on Instagram even if you feel like people will make fun of you.

Give that presentation even if you're nervous.

Because I have a feeling we're all just winging it here.

Ok... time to board my plane. I'll go first, I suppose.