Be a Player not a Bystander. Get in. Get Mucky

Foreword: I wrote this in January and wasn’t quite prepared for the effect it had on myself and several others. I’m reposting it this morning as it might help you too.

The irony of this entire blog and some of the articles I have written here is that sometimes I do not even follow my own suggestions I choose to share with you. There is a very good reason for this, I’m looking forward to sharing this with you and hope that you follow suit.

These are the fans that are stood at the side of a game, it doesn’t matter who is playing, the point is, you are stood there doing nothing, wishing you could play, thumb up your bum, where as the players are already playing and enjoying their game.

Players only get good through practice. Professional’s only become great when they research and know the game backwards. Do you think David Beckham got good by having his haircut? Do you think I know the stuff I know, by sitting on my arse and wishing I did something else?

This is part of the definition of an Expert from Wikipedia:

An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain.

An expert, more generally, is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study.

Let’s break this down so it’s completely ‘Matt proof’:

An expert is someone

YAY, we’re at an advantage there we are talking about someone, that is a human, just like me and you.

widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely

So, we’re still talking about a human and they have scored some recognition for their achievements. Remembering they are human, they have probably made some royal screw-ups too, mostly likely not so well publicised.

is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain.

They gained this recognition by most likely their peers or some governing body. This could be as simple as the people you work with or it could be recognised body such as AACSB (the Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) who themselves are recognised by their peers as being distinguished. I wonder how that happened?

An expert, more generally, is a person

Sorry no Dolphins. I hope you’re getting my point, we’re all human.

with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study.

Now here is the mother-load. Prodigies are over-rated and are you one? Didn’t think so, I’m certainly not.

How do you think this person, gained ‘Extensive Knowledge’. That’s right he got-in-the-game and played. And played lots.

So back to my original point, sometimes I do not follow my own advice, at these times, I decide that by being in the game, I can learn a lot more about the game by playing.

Meeting peers, playing with peers and ultimately gaining the experiences that leads to being pronounced and being an ‘Expert’ by your peers.

Seeing a very experienced MD be intimidated by my knowledge & experience last week is quite an achievement. I play hard. I know my arena. I’m extremely passionate about my game, this shines through. You can too.

I’m amazed by the frequency of certain visitors to this site. I’m not publishing how many hits I get, but I am extremely pleased on this blog’s success. Four months in, its known amongst the right people, I’ve been told to STFU twice and have even had to apologise three times. But I’m in the game and playing. Where are you?

• Is there something that is holding you back?
• Are you scared of embarrassing yourself?
• Scared of other ‘experts’?
• Blah blah blah

Who fucking cares.

No one is ‘lucky’, you make your own luck.

No expert was born an expert, they played hard.

That’s why in places this blog sucks. But that is OK. I am in the game and I am playing. Get in the game regardless of what’s going on. Right Now.

Come join me, I need you, the other players need you. Let’s play.