Opportunities for Incompetence

I hate feeling incompetent. (Isn't that synonymous with being a lawyer?) Truth is, I have a long history of being compelled to be "the best" at whatever I do. When I was eight and won an honorable mention in an art contest, I was sure that I was never going to be an artist and I quit drawing. Second chair clarinet wasn't good enough so I quit that in middle school.

This week, I've put myself in several situations where I got to feel incompetent. Working on this web site, I hit a technical challenge that I haven't been able to figure out, even with the help of my team of geeks and a Drupal forum. On Sunday, I went sailing for the first time and spent a lot of the race trying to figure out what side of the boat to be on. And on Monday, I got to try to do Michael's job. He wasn't feeling well so I took the camera and went on the appointments. I had a great time talking with Barry and Dan and I hope that I got them on tape. Michael thinks his job is easy but I couldn't even figure out how to turn the camera on, much less do the "white balance" (whatever that is) and lighting. I hope Michael is able to edit the videos enough that we can share them.

Luckily, I am competent at a lot of things and I've learned that giving myself some space for being incompetent actually allows me to learn new things and get even smarter. ;)