pinkhairthing

Hello people. Here is something wonderful for you. A survey was done a couple years ago at Cornell University where a bunch of people were interviewed on their skill and knowledge level at a certain job. Not altogether surprisingly, the people who knew the most felt they knew the least, and those who knew the least felt they knew the most. The wonderful part is the commentary:

But beneath the surface, the Cornell study touches on a truth far more complex than the notion that it's the idiots who are always most certain they are right. Indeed, what's most telling is the very ease with which the study lends itself to carping zingers about everyone else's stupidity. It speaks directly to our anxious desire to distance ourselves, as loudly as possible, from incompetent people - as if incompetence were subject to that same you-are-or-you-aren't dichotomy as pregnancy. But of course, you can be a little bit incompetent. All of us are. My father often says (in a reversal of the adage), "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly." What he means is, there is no shame in being a beginner. There has never been an expert who didn't start out as a rank novice. Without initial blindness to our own ignorance, we'd all be so paralyzed by self-doubt that we would never be able to start any new venture.

Amen. Hallelujah.