Everyone wants to be seen as valuable and to be seen as having a valuable opinion. There’s a very easy way to accomplish this: do something valuable and have something valuable to say.
Some people do this and make a good living at it. Then there are some who try a different route. They try to adopt special titles such as expert, guru, or specialist. As far as I am concerned, very few people (regardless of industry) have the right to wear these titles. Too many people throw these titles around as if the titles themselves increase credibility.
Here’s a newsflash for you: you can’t fake expert, guru, or specialist. If you are a fraud, you will be found out. Do everyone a favor and think long and hard before you use these titles.
Are you an expert or are you an enthusiast? Are you a guru or are you a dabbler? Are you a specialist or are you an evangelist?
Please think about this before you start throwing nifty titles around.
Ryan Rancatore wrote a post very similar to this earlier in the day. I decided to publish mine because I’d already written a rough draft. Please check out Ryan’s post. He’s a cool guy with some cool thoughts.
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