The people worth looking up to didn't get there by measuring themselves against everyone else's ignorance.

I've been stuck in the dreaded “business advice” TikTok algorithm loop. You know the one.

The lighting has that neon glow. The audio is crisp… asmr-level crisp. Those big, graphical subtitles popping up at lightning speed. Someone who looks barely twenty is sitting in a perfectly staged apartment telling you the three things that took them from “broke and confused to a six-figure salary and a corner office”.

And in that list, almost every time, is some version of this:

“Don't wait until you feel ready. Nobody knows what they're doing anyway.”

Surface Level, It Sounds Great

I get the appeal. It's meant to be encouraging. The idea is that imposter syndrome is universal, that the people above you are also figuring it out, that you don't need to have everything together before you take the next step. I agree actually (shocker).

But here's where the logic falls apart:

The moment the encouragement shifts from you can do hard things to nobody really knows what they're doing anyway, we've changed the conversation entirely. We've moved from confidence-building to comparison. And comparison, especially when you're early in your career and trying to figure out your own footing, is a shaky thing to build on.

How am I supposed to know what someone else knows? Why is their knowledge (or lack of it) the benchmark for my readiness?

What I Actually Respect About Successful People

When I think about the people I genuinely look up to, the designers, the leaders, the professionals who have built careers and reputations worth studying, I'm not thinking about their salaries. I'm not thinking about how young they were when they got promoted. I’m not thinking about the amount of views and likes and comments displayed on their videos…

I'm thinking about how much they know.

I'm thinking about the depth of their experience. The quality of their judgment. The way they can walk into a complex situation and actually understand what's happening. That's what I respect.

So when a video tries to convince me that the people at the top are mostly just winging it, and that this should make me feel better about where I am (bleh), something firey in me resists. And resists HARD. Because it's not encouraging. It's quietly lowering the bar.

And I don't want a lower bar.

I'm Not Faking It

Hot take but, I don't actually think I'm faking it right now.

I'm early. I'm learning. There are entire rooms I walk into where I'm the least experienced person present, and I know it. But I'm not pretending. I'm using what I actually know: the skills I've built, the training I've invested in, the experiences I've sat inside of long enough to learn from… and I'm doing my best work with those things.

That's not fake. That's early. Those are not the same.

“Fake it till you make it” suggests that the performance comes first and the substance catches up eventually. Orrrrr maybe it doesn't, and you just keep performing. Ew.

I want the substance. I want to actually get good at this.

Take the Risk, But Take It in the Name of Learning

I'm not saying don't leap. I'm saying know why you're leaping.

Stepping into something before you feel ready is valuable, genuinely, profoundly valuable, when the goal on the other side is growth. When you're moving toward an experience that will stretch your thinking, build your skills, and give you real knowledge to carry forward.

That's a risk worth taking.

But if the justification for taking that risk is “everyone's just figuring it out anyway”, then what are we actually building toward? What does arriving at the destination even mean?

I want to earn where I end up. Not because I performed confidence well enough for long enough, but because I actually became someone who knows what they're doing. Because I took the risks, stayed in the discomfort long enough to learn from them, and let that process make me genuinely better.

Excellence Is Still the Point

There's a version of this type of content that could be genuinely useful: the stuff that talks about courage, about imperfect action, about not letting fear of inadequacy keep you stationary.

But somewhere along the way, that message got tangled up with something a little more troubling: the idea that expertise is overrated, that knowledge is optional, that the hustle matters more than the craft.

I disagree.

I think the craft matters. I think excellence is still the goal. I think the world needs designers, and leaders, and professionals of all kinds, who are genuinely, deeply good at what they do.

Take the leap. Step into the unknown. Do the scary thing before you feel ready.

But do it so you can learn.

Do it so that when you're sitting in that room, in whatever role, at whatever level, you actually know what you're doing.

Because that's what I want for myself. And I think it's worth wanting.

What's your relationship with "fake it till you make it"? Is it a mindset that's helped you, or one that's held you back?

Stop Trying to Make Me Feel Better About Not Knowing Things!!