Faking it is hard work

On the early group of American’s trying to travel and meet with coffee growers to find good coffee:

Back in 2001, Peter [Guiliano of Counter Culture Coffee], and Geoff [Watts of Intelligentsia], had not idea how all [of their travelling] would develop. In fact, they didn’t know much except that they were deperate to get their hands on great coffee. “We were bewildered by all we had to learn as coffee buyers, and we were making it up as we went along,” remembers Peter. “When you are faking it, you work extra hard. You don’t want to be exposed as a fraud. That drove a lot of us at this time.”

-God in a Cup, p.69

The best people though can make it up as they go along. I’m in a room full of people right now who are faking it, but that’s OK. Eventually they won’t be faking it anymore. This is why learning how to LEARN is worth a lot more than technical training in a specific field. This is why studying classic literature is maybe help you be a good welder more than taking a skills class on welding. The one will give the fish and the other will teach you how to go get your own fish. You have to work hard to fake it, but it’s not being dishonest unless you intend to just sit on your butt. How do you learn anything? By just jumping in and doing it.

I love the story about Walt Disney as a young man. It goes something like this: He was broke and looking for a job. A circus band he knew of needed a trombone player. Walt told asked the leader for the job, without telling him he’d never played a trombone before. After it became clear he didn’t know what he was doing, the band leader asked why he didn’t tell him he’d never played before. He said, “Hey, I didn’t know if I could play it or not. I’d never tried.”