🌿 I Don’t Know How To Do This Yet

From: Office of Onboarding
To: All Offices
Subject: I Don’t Know How To Do This Yet

The Office has recently been considering what happens when an opportunity requires skills we do not yet have.

The pattern is familiar.

Something interesting appears.

A new role.

A new responsibility.

A new system.

A new skill.

The first thought is:

I would like to do that.

The second arrives shortly afterwards:

I don’t know how.

Then the gap becomes visible.

Other people seem more experienced.

The terminology is unfamiliar.

The technology is changing quickly.

There are things we have never used.

Things we have never done.

Things we suspect everyone else already understands.

The opportunity begins to look considerably larger than it did a few minutes earlier.

And eventually:

Perhaps this isn’t for me.

The Office has been examining an alternative response.

Not:

I can definitely do this.

Because sometimes we genuinely do not know that yet.

Instead:

I don’t know how to do this yet.

Then:

What is one thing I could learn?

Read about the unfamiliar concept.

Watch an introduction.

Ask someone how it works.

Try something small.

Understand one piece.

Then another.

There is no requirement to become an expert today.

There is also no requirement to wait until we feel completely capable before beginning.

Observation

Being new can feel remarkably similar to being incapable.

They are not the same thing.

A capability gap may simply mean there is something to learn.

The Office also notes that confidence frequently arrives later than expected.

Sometimes after we have already started.

Recommendation

When something feels too large, do not ask:

Can I do all of this?

Try asking:

What could I learn next?

Then start there.

The opportunity can remain open while we find out.

—

Office of Onboarding
Department of Self Love

“Not knowing how is sometimes simply where learning begins.”