Why Less Talented Creatives Are More Confident Than You (and How to Fix It)

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Why is it that the creatives that know the least are always doing the most? Now, I'm not trying to point fingers, but you know who I'm talking about. You know that person that you follow or that you see that has a minimum level of talent but maximum confidence. It seems like that the less they know or the less skill they have, the more ability they have to go out there and put themselves out there. Meanwhile, you're sitting here, you've got a bunch of education, a bunch of talent, a bunch of knowledge, but you're holding back because you don't want to be seen as being all out there or being a know it all.

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But yet people who know less seem to have no issue with showing what they have, even if it's not that much. Why is that? And what can we do to combat that so that you can show up on the stage, on the platform, in the place that God presented to you and is asking you and calling you to without feeling that weird tension between humility and promotion? I'm going to help you with that on today's episode of The God and Gig Show. Give me just a moment to welcome those of you who are new to this and we will get right into this really important conversation.

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Hello and welcome to our show. If you're new to God and Gigs, let me introduce myself and tell you why you're in the right place. My name is Allen C. Paul. I'm a musician, creative coach and author.

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I wrote The Devotional Your Art, God's Heart as well as our book God and Gigs succeed as a musician without sacrificing your faith. And you are here as a musician, entrepreneur, content creator, artist, someone who knows that they have a Christian or a faith focused background. And you want to solve your temporary creative problems with timeless spiritual principles. That means you're in the right place. You're among friends, you found your tribe.

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 So make sure you subscribe to this show, to this channel, so that you can catch everything we share to help you become the creative that God created you to be. Now, about this issue of feeling like people who have less ability show up with more confidence and you have a little bit of a problem and a frustration because you have a lot of ability and you know you do, but you show up with less confidence. Now, I just heard this podcast. I follow this podcast, amazing history podcast. I'll put a link to it in the show notes so you can follow it as well.

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If you're a history buff or someone like me that just loves to learn, you're going to love this podcast. But I listened to it and he shared this study that's called The Dunning Kruger Effect. Okay, so you may have never heard of Dunning Kruger Effect, but you have heard of this idea about people who know less, but seem to think they know everything. And the study showed that the less people know about something, in other words, not knowing what they don't know, the more confident they appear to be. You know that saying, ignorance is bliss?

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Well, this is kind of what it means. It means when you're ignorant of how little you know, it's pretty easy to get kind of hyped up about what you do know. And it's pretty easy to show up on stages. Maybe that might get you embarrassed, but still you've heard it and you've seen it. We've even made TV shows about this.

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People who have an outsized view of their own talent. And then we put them on talent shows and we laugh because the people and the judges are like cringing. And these people are showing up and they think they've got it all together. They have this amazing voice and it's because their knowledge is limited of what they really have. But you know what's really amazing about that is that they did get on the TV show that even with their little or nonexistent talent, even if it's in an embarrassing situation, they have the confidence to step out in front of these amazing artists and present their gift.

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And sometimes we end up making them kind of stars in their own right. We follow them and they become viral for their ineptitude. Let's just be straight up. That's what it is. Yet you, the creative, the entrepreneur, the musician, the artist that has a ton of talent, would feel absolutely mortified to show up in front of those people because you say, I need to prepare.

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I need to be ready. I'm not there yet. I would never want to show up and not be fully at my best, and I need to be even better. Which means I need to wait. I can't go out there like that.

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I have to wait. I have to kind of prepare myself. Then even when you get out there, you still feel this lack of confidence because you feel like, you know, you're not that good. And therein lies the issue of the Dunning Kruger effect. This has been studied scientifically.

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The more that you know, the more you realize you don't know. And so that becomes that impostor syndrome effect where you because you know and have this kind of humility about yourself because you know you're not all that. You're more aware of what you can't do, and you magnify that. Meanwhile, people who don't know what they don't know show up. Like they got it all together because their capacity to understand it is so low that they can show up with confidence.

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How do we combat that? We're not going to talk anymore about the people who show up with all this confidence, who show up on Instagram, who get more followers than you, who get more gigs than you, who get more opportunities than you. And you look at them and like they're not as good and you don't want to say it out loud. I know you. I hear you.

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I see it even like I see it in my mind's eye right now as you're listening and watching, you're thinking, I would never say that out loud. But you know it's true. You know there's people in your circle that are not as gifted and it's not a judgment, it's just a consideration. You know that your talent level evil rivals or is at the same level or exceeds theirs, but you show up with less confidence because you have an understanding of who you are, what you have, and what it takes to be at that level. So let's flip that around a little bit.

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If you are more aware of your gifting, if you are more aware that you need to stay humble, if you are more aware of being that pride goes before a fall?

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Who better to be on a stage like that than somebody who recognizes the limitations, somebody who is not trying to get all the attention for themselves in a boastful or prideful way, but keeps that humility? Who better? Why does God keep calling people in the Bible that didn't think very much of themselves, though? Moses, the Gideons of the world, even people like Joseph and Mary, right? Every time in the Bible someone is called, they usually say something like Isaiah, I'm not worthy.

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Now, that doesn't say that you should keep yourself as a low profile and have a low self esteem. Neither am I saying that you should become this big headed egotistical artist that thinks that everything is about them and that you deserve to be on a platform. No, I'm saying that if you flip that around from the idea that what you don't know about yourself should make you boastful, I'm saying that what you know about yourself should make you confident that you can show up as you are. Humility is not this self defacing, self debasing idea. Humility is simply being no more or no less than what God made you to be and giving what you have, showing up as your authentic self and not trying to either impress people nor depress people's expectations of you.

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And once you're aware that it's not about you anyway, it's really about the gift you're sharing and giving to people through your God given talent. And you divorce yourself of that desire to be totally accepted and you say, this is what it is. It's a gift, it's a talent, it's an offering. Take it or leave it. I still am loved, appreciated, and before I ever sang a note or wrote down a piece or did anything creatively, I was already loved.

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I was already accepted. That freedom that you have in your God relationship is what allows you to show up on stages, confidently show up in your platform, show up on your videos. Even me right now, showing up right now, realizing that I have nothing but myself to offer. I have nothing but what God has given me to offer. And if I have a treasure in clay jars in this clay vessel, then it is what it is.

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You can accept it or you can turn off the video. It doesn't matter because I'm doing what I'm doing based on what I authentically have to share. And yes, I'm very aware of what I don't have, but I'm also aware of what I do have. And I want you to walk in that same confidence. I want you to drop this idea that you have to have this maximum amount of confidence to show up. 

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No, you just need the grace that God gives you for every step and that little bit of faith to take the next step when it doesn't feel comfortable and to stretch yourself past your comfort zone. That's all that's required. And if you do recognize that you don't know something, guess what? You're probably the kind of person who's going to take a course. You're the kind of person that's going to take some advice.

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You're the kind of person that's going to listen and follow and be discipled and be trained. You're the kind of person that's not going to let yourself stay in that ignorant posture very long. So guess what? Don't worry about those people who come across as knowing everything but don't know that much. Don't get bent out of shape when people kind of feel you feel like people get attention when they haven't done the work and you have done the work.

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Just start showing up more in that confidence of knowing who you are, who you are, and that what you have to offer is in and of itself valuable. And you don't have to apologize for it and you don't have to justify it. Are you going to get better? Are you going to continue to grow? Yes.

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That's your character. So keep operating in that. Don't focus on who's doing the most and yet knows the least. Don't focus on that. Focus on the fact that you are loved and that you have something to offer to the world and your creative gift.

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And then let the chips fall where they may. And I have a feeling they're going to be falling more on your side of the table more and more. This has been our creative checkup. I hope this inspired you and helped you. Every time we do one of these, it's all about helping you take the very next step in your creative journey to becoming the creative that God created you to be.

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So I hope you continue to follow us. Make sure you're subscribed. Make sure that you share this episode with somebody who's dealing with that impostor syndrome and that frustration with people who are doing the most and yet know the least, make sure that you're giving them as well, some encouraging words by sharing this with them. And until next time, everybody, thank you so much for watching. Continue to become the creative that God created you to be.

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And I'll see you next episode.

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Thanks for joining us here at the God and Gig Show. Please leave us a review on itunes like our Facebook page or visit godandgigs.com and tell us what you thought of this show. We'll be back soon. In the meantime, go create something amazing.