Between LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and G-d know what other sources are available in print or online, there are experts at everything nowadays. Many experts are self-proclaimed. But also bountiful are those with third-party credibility because there are so many “news” sources running 24 hours a day that need experts to provide “authoritative affirmation” of whatever opinion the aforementioned news outlet is trying to avow.
Feeling like you are missing the boat? Like you are too willing to think that you have more to learn and are not the true definition of an expert: “a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.”
Don’t despair. There is still time for you, too, to be an expert in something. Here are three ways to get started.
1. Study hard and stay with it (or be the only one or the one who knows the most about a subject).
Okay—this one would be the true definition, actually learn more than anyone else about a particular subject and stick with it for a very long time. That was the definition given by Dr. Robert Rotenberg, my Anthropology professor at DePaul. Seemingly the more narrow, the more depth, and the longest length of time are key to this.
Think of this in terms of big pond/little pond. You could be a world-renowned expert on international tax law, let’s say (big pond) or you could be the only one in your community (small pond) who knows every single existing mushroom genus (Hi, Jann!).
I can still picture my sister’s thumb and forefinger in the shape of an “L” on her forehead when I was paged by the media as the “expert” in all of Chicago to give a quote about the mating habits of Alewives for the evening news (those are the fish that show up dead on the beaches of Chicago every 4 years or so—no, the water is not polluted….they mate and then die on a four-year cycle.)
That was all part of being the Marketing/Communications Manager for Chicago’s Lakefront Region of the Chicago Park District at that time. I also got to present to Mayor Daley about all things smelt.
So, you could get a Ph.D. or just position yourself to know odd things.
2. Outlive anyone else who is doing it.
For this one, you might have to wait until you are 80+ to get the recognition—but if you just keep at it, your day will come.
Tao Porchon-Lynch, the world’s oldest yoga teacher at 98, was still in high demand at all the conventions and had been on Dr. Oz and more (she passed away in 2020 at 101).
So, keep practicing and outlive everyone else. Eventually, you will be the expert.
3. Find something that no one else is doing and become the best at it.
The other option, and a great one if you are averse to competition, is to find something that no one else is doing and become really good at it. For example, look at the guy at the top of the post who can make 50 spoons stick to his body—do you know anyone else who can do this? One on the nose, sure, but 50 on your shoulders? That’s a skill. He must be an expert (among the 39 who set the “strangest world records ever” according to Business Insider.)
A newer one is the guy who paddled 38 miles down the Missouri River in a hollowed-out pumpkin. Did you ever think of trying that?
Short of all this… Can’t wait to talk to today’s guest, Sarah Victory, who is the expert at helping people figure out their one thing and amplify their voice around it.
I’ll have to tell her my smelt ratatouille recipe.