I often hear clients express doubt about their capabilities and identify feeling like imposters.

During a recent session, a client talked about feeling pressed to have all the answers. After all, they explained, they had advanced education, and were deemed to be an expert in their field, so if someone asked a question, it stood to reason they should have the answer.

Believing they had to know all the answers because they were an expert in their field was putting profound pressure on them. 

Together we explored the question, “What does it actually mean to be an expert?” 

Interestingly, the word expert has the same Latin roots as the words experience and experiment. They all come from the Latin word experiri, which means “try.”

When I put ‘expert’ next to the words experience, experiment and try, I feel very differently about the word expert.

I see the possibilities inherent in the word – the possibilities to try and try again, to experiment, to learn from trial and error, to bring the spirit of indefatigable curiosity and wonder.

Instead of giving me the image of an ossified know-it-all, the word expert holds the freshness of mistakes and insights ever evolving. 

During the course of our session, my client also reawakened their sense of wonder, and reclaimed the idea of expert as meaning they could be a questioner, rather than someone who always has the answers. They could draw upon years of study and scholarship to make connections, and cast light on ideas that others with less experience might miss.

In the end, they left the session feeling more powerful and willing to respond to people who ask questions by saying, “I don’t know, let’s explore it together.”