Wait just a minute – some of you are either lying, overestimating yourselves, or both. I suppose it can’t be avoided. Read on. If, at the end of this article you decide what I wrote was nonsense then all I can say is, “I told you so.”

I have been knocking around the spiritual world for quite some time now – long enough that there are very few things I do that don’t hurt. The good news is that no matter your particular area of interest or expertise, this post is relevant to you. Read on, or admit that the title applies to you!

Remember when you first started pursuing your area of passion? You likely read everything you could get your hands on that was even remotely related to your area of interest. You may have engaged in formal study, but you also pursued knowledge on your own. Seminars, webinars, presentations, speakers, and discussions doubtless piqued your interest.

Fueled by all of this knowledge, your practice of your craft doubtless improved. You may have noticed you had more insights into the problems you confronted and solved them faster. Still ravenous for more tools in your toolbox, you continued consuming information and expertise. Gradually you began to notice a certain amount of redundancy in what was available. Being a charitable sort, you wrote those experiences off to the greater need for introductory material than for advanced material. You labored on! Professional friends recommended resources, including professional groups you might join. On their recommendation, you joined those groups – and were disappointed.

Soon all the allegedly wonderful resources did little more than provide new and diverse sources of irritation. You didn’t even want to think about the time and money you had wasted. Here is the worst part – you wasted the time and money because of your own stubborn refusal to recognize your own expertise! The search for knowledge led you to a succession of decidedly mediocre people who had sold themselves as experts but in the end were more qualified to speak about self promotion that their alleged field of expertise. You were and are the expert, shopping the discount racks of used and dated intellectual tripe.

Let’s do something about that. Those of us who have expertise should leave the introductory presentations to the great unwashed masses already providing that information. We should focus on developing presentations, books, and curricula for those ready and able to take the next step. This will mean getting over our need to stroke our own egos in front of packed auditoriums and focusing instead on leading handfuls of eager students in graduate seminar sized classes. We will need to appreciate quality over quantity. Presumably we already made that connection in terms of the alcohol we drink, the restaurants we choose, and our sex partners or we would be drinking ripple with our McDonald’s drive thru dinner before going to Walgreens to fill a penicillin prescription. Now it’s time to do the same for our professional lives.

If you have experience to share, share it with people who are already established in your field. They should have some idea how to do the basic tasks of their careers and no be looking to improve themselves. They know how to tie their shoes, now they want to design a better sneaker. This is the environment where you will flourish. Your frustrations will greatly decrease. Perhaps most importantly, your work will find new significance. Or, you could keep on hanging with the idiots. It’s up to you.