JORGE RODRIGUES SIMAO

While you are questioning your beliefs, why not question your beliefs about the experts of this world? It's easy to be intimidated by people with a lot more experience and credentials to their names than you have to yours. What experts are really good at is making a great case for why something won't work. They will convince many people along the way because they are great at putting up brilliant arguments. The problem is that they don't give consideration to why it may work 

A recent experience of an well-known author comes to mind. Shortly after complete  one more book the author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free, sent the manuscript to twenty-five major American publishers and ten British publishers. He thought that he would have no problem getting a publisher, but the opposite happened.

Much to his  surprise, all twenty-five American and ten British publishers that received his manuscript felt there was no market for retirement books, or if there was, the market was too saturated with too many similar books. He estimated at the time that there were anywhere from one to two hundred retirement books published in English, with the likelihood of many more to come.

Notwithstanding the major publishers' negativism about the potential market for retirement books, he decided to self-publish after Ten Speed Press agreed to distribute the book for him in the United States. He felt that he had likely written the best book in the world on the personal aspects of retirement and that it should eventually prove itself in the marketplace through word of mouth.

It's a good thing, as things turned out, that he refused to be intimidated by what the experts thought about his book. Taking the financial risk paid off big time. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free has now sold over 100,000 copies and has seven foreign publishers. Just as important, given that he is Canadian, he have experienced an incredible amount of satisfaction from seeing the book do so well in the United States market when so many major American publishers felt it had no potential.

There is a major moral associated with his aforementioned experience so much for listening to the experts! Since most "experts" don't even come remotely close to knowing whether something innovative will work in their line of business, why not take some chances and disregard what they have to say? In fact, it is wise not to listen to the experts even if they have been in the business for thirty-five years and you are a recent newcomer.

My personal experiences have taught me to be wary of those who try to impress me with their vast knowledge of their industry based on how long they have been there. People who rant and rave that they know more than anyone else - because they have been in a particular field for a number of years are often the people who don 't know all that much. This is likely the reason that they have not moved on to another more rewarding line of work.

I have discovered that often my best bet is to be "unreasonable" and not listen to the "experts." Instead, I find out for myself what can be done and what can't be done in a particular industry. The core of the matter is that individuals who achieve creative success are willing to confront their fears and take risks that others - even the experts - won't. As Robert Heinlein wisely noted, "Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it."

Do not - regardless of your limited knowledge - subordinate yourself to experts. "It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar," observed Henry Kissinger, "and that of the leader to transcend it." No matter how impressive their qualifications, it's foolhardy to allow experts to make important decisions for you. Financial planners, bankers, medical doctors, and real estate agents may know a lot about their field. But what do they know about where your goals, abilities, aspirations, and dreams fit into the larger picture of the universe?