When you don’t know enough

Over the past couple of weeks, I watched as a good friend — a consultant — struggled with delivering her latest project, a new course. I’d seen her go through this before. I’d always come forward to give suggestions and to offer my moral support. But she still felt overwhelmed and uneasy…even when she finally developed a super end product on time and with great fanfare. She always emerges on top, but getting there is a huge battle for her, when it comes to developing courses and teaching them.

Last night, I asked her if she’d ever considered taking one of the adult education courses at a local college. I mentioned that I took the certificate before I got into teaching. She was blown away. She’d had no idea that you could take a course in teaching. Suddenly, the burden of developing the course seemed a bit easier. If she could just get through this project, she could go take the certificate and feel better. Six nights and $700 would change her world.

If you feel like you’re overwhelmed by the work before you, don’t look at this as failure. It’s merely an opportunity to strengthen your skills and learn from your mistakes. As I’ve mentioned before, great people make lots of mistakes, too. It’s the asking for help and looking to improve that will make the difference. And practice. Lots of practice.