We often hesitate to act on our desire to create something because we don’t feel competent, expert, or credentialed enough to do it.
You don’t need a credential or someone else’s permission to create the thing you want to create.
You can act first and build the competence as you go, but how far you push depends on the circumstances. A simple “what’s the worst that could happen?” test tells you when to keep going and when to hand it to an expert.
The Project I Taught Myself to Do
When I lived in Arizona, I often did presentations for our community Mac/iOS interest group. I wanted to demo software and operating systems without risking a live demo failing in front of everyone (which seemed to happen to other presenters all the time).
The problem was I didn’t know how to create a screencast, and I couldn’t justify paying someone for one-time, unpaid talks.
Instead, I researched and found screencasting software. I bought an app and taught myself how to use it.
From then on, my talks had slide decks with screencast demos built in. I became competent by doing it and learning as I went.
While I was doing that, I looked forward to learning other things I didn’t yet know how to do. I felt like someone in over his head, but I did it anyway.
Nobody Is Going to Hand You a License to Create
I had no credentials or permission to be a screencaster, but I wanted to make something. So I acted and built the competence on the way.
My experience showed me that you don’t need someone else’s credentials or permission to create what you want to create. You can move forward and take action without credentials.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff, in her excellent book Tiny Experiments, encourages us to take action to bring benefit to others, whether we feel confident or not:
“Instead of waiting for someone to sign off on your competence, build your experience by turning your interests into action, focusing on how you can create value for others.”
Todd Henry reinforces this concept in his book Daily Creative:
“Don’t wait for permission to act on your idea. No one is going to give you a license to be creative.”
You’ve Got the Order Backward
The order most people assume, “feel competent, then act,” is backward. Action produces the competence.
In my experience, when I decide I want to learn a new skill to produce something, my early success builds my confidence that I can figure it out and keep moving. Then, looking back, I feel competent because I took action.
One way to build confidence as you learn something new is to nest new skills inside existing ones. As Todd Henry writes,
“All new skills are best learned within the context of skills we have already mastered… Consider learning a new skill that’s an extension of your existing skill set or nests well within your existing experience.”
Almost everything I have taught myself has connections to what I already knew, with a clear picture of what I wanted to build. It was just a matter of learning a few new skills to get there. Screencasting nested inside my existing skills: giving presentations, knowing the software, and explaining it to people.
The Project I Walked Away From
A couple of months ago, I bought a smart lock I wanted to install on our door into our garage. I hoped the pre-drilled holes in the door frame and the lock mechanism would line up so I could do the job myself by following the instructions.
I dismantled the existing doorknob and found that the deadbolt hole was off-center and too shallow for the new smart lock. I realized my existing tools and skills wouldn’t do the job well no matter how much time I spent.
In effect, I ran a tiny experiment to see whether I could likely complete the project on my own. This coheres with Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s advice in Tiny Experiments:
“Turn doubts into experiments. Confidence is built through action. When in doubt, run a personal experiment using a pact—a time-bound commitment to a repeatable action… I will [action] for [duration].”
I’d need new tools, and the risk was that if I botched it, I’d permanently damage the door frame, then have to pay someone to fix it and install the lock. I decided this wasn’t an appropriate project for me and called a locksmith, paying to have it done right.
Why I Finished One and Quit the Other
Why did I act on and complete one project (screencasting) and decide to back off and pay someone else to do the other project (smart lock)?
It wasn’t that one was more difficult than the other. It was about whether my existing tools and skills were close enough, and about evaluating the cost of failure and reversibility.
Screencasting risked only my time and was recoverable. Installing the lock risked permanent damage to my home and required expertise and tools I didn’t have.
How to Know When Learning Isn’t Worth It
Knowing when not to chase competence is a skill in itself. Sometimes it’s worth going for competence; other times, it’s not.
When I’m considering a project that involves learning new skills, I often ask myself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
I typically move forward when the worst-case scenario is investing some time and a little money. If I reach a stopping point, I haven’t lost much. I stop when I realize the worst case is a bigger, more expensive mess where an expert would have to both undo my mistakes and finish the job.
You have to judge when learning something will take more time and effort than the ultimate result is worth.
You don’t have to have a credential from someone else or permission from someone else to create something that you want to create. You can move forward and take action without credentials. How far you act on it depends upon the circumstances.
Read the Cost, Not the Confidence
The screencast and the smart lock started in the same place: me, wanting something done, without the skills to do it yet.
What separated them wasn’t difficulty or confidence. It was the cost of getting it wrong.
Learn to read that difference, and you’ll know when to teach yourself into competence and when to call an expert. Either way, you stop waiting for permission you were never going to get.
Stop waiting for validation and start producing something that proves you can help. Competence is claimed, not granted.
Note: I wrote this blog post myself using my own words and thoughts for the initial draft. I used AI only to suggest headlines, section headings, images and text improvements.
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