Confidence and Carbohydrates

The more skilled you are, the more practice you’ve put in, the more experience you have, the less sure you are of your ability in comparison to others. As you strive to improve, you begin to better understand where you need work. You start to see the complexity and nuance; you discover masters of your craft and compare yourself to them and see where you are lacking.

On the other hand, the less skilled you are, the less practice you’ve put in and the fewer experiences you have, the more certain you become of how great you are. Your peers don’t call you out because they know as much as you do, or they don’t want to hurt your feelings. Your narrow advantage over novices leads you to think you are the shit.

A really fun site on all things mental. I have always felt that there are two definitive ways to tell wether or not you are a star or a fraud, a faux-comet (or somewhere in between):

Do you win, or, Does it sell?

If the former, boasting becomes fact, and in the latter you have created a demand for your work, which is, well, better than starvation.

In all cases, however, we have found through extensive experimentation with the scientific method, that:

THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEBODY BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER OR SMARTER, and NET PROFIT IS RELATIVE.

Bottom line: Zip it and do what must be done.

Pancakes are from The Diner in Poulsbo, a terrific, tiny greasy-spoon with old style spinning stools at the counter and a waitress that talks smack to all customers. Their cakes are bigger than the plates and a copy of the Seattle PI is always on the seat next to you. Topics of conversation I overheard yesterday were of logging, pulling a truck out of a ditch, chickens, the rain, and of course, Obamacare. Mama always told me not to talk with my mouth full, so I mostly listened. These cakes are perfect the morning of a marathon, btw.