(ThyBlackMan.com) 1And Moses answered, But behold, they will not believe me or listen to and obey my voice;
for they will say, The Lord has not appeared to you. – Exodus 4:1
I am under-qualified… for lots of stuff. The job I currently hold? Under-qualified. So it never ceases to amaze me when people are pleased with something I’ve written. I live in Atlanta – Land of the Lettered. Folks down here believe in education. They have degrees on top of degrees and it can be intimidating. When I first arrived in Georgia, I wondered how in the world I would ever compete in the Atlanta job market. Later, as I invested time and energy into developing my business, I found myself directly competing with PhDs, journalists, communications majors and those who are already carving 
out their niche in the media space. Surely, I was out of my league. And I’ve been told exactly that! I’ve been turned down for writing projects on multiple occasions. But very often employers will follow-up and ask me to “just give it a shot…” on their dime.
At that, I giggle. Because I know for sure I lack the credentials that make people comfortable. There’s been no committee of suits plugging my experiences and education into some algorithm to determine if I know what I’m doing. If that were so, the abacus would consistently churn out one answer – not this chick; she’s woefully under-qualified. And I would agree.
2And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? – Exodus 4:2
But I’ve discovered two things about the state of “being qualified” to do something. First, qualifications and ability are two different animals. Most of us can probably empathize with the frustration that results from following the leadership of someone who is clearly incompetent, while in the background, the person who probably should be in leadership is executing the right plan to progress the team as a whole. Second, qualifications are highly subjective and mutable, in that the right relationship can result in tasks (even job descriptions) being manipulated to reflect your qualifications and not the other way around.
10And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not eloquent or a man of words, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and have a heavy and awkward tongue. – Exodus 4:10
Me too, Moses. Me too. Growing up, my parents were the risk-takers of the family, so I learned that risk isn’t something to avoid, it’s something to negotiate. Mama was all swag and fearless. She taught me that each experience builds in you the tolerance for more intensive experiences. If I’m still standing after the last challenge, I’ll soon be ready for the next one.
11And the Lord said to him, Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or the deaf,
or the seeing, or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall say. – Exodus 4:11-12
I’ve discovered that more often than not, whatever goal I’m running toward, I’m already prepared to meet the challenges associated with that goal. Everything I need, is usually already in my experiential arsenal and while I may be scared to death and completely psyching myself out because no one else has co-signed my particular dunamis, that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of performing. And I always have to remember that anything I don’t know, I’ll learn as I go.
13And he said, Oh, my Lord, I pray You, send by the hand of [some other] whom You will send.
14Then the anger of the Lord blazed against Moses… –Exodus 4:13-14a
The tragedy of being qualification is that many people exclude themselves from participation just on the suspicion that they aren’t qualified to do something. Shame too. A friend of mine told me, “You never disqualify yourself. Let them do it. All they can say is no.”
There are some great advantages to being under-qualified.
- Growth. When you’re in over your head and you can maintain the right attitude about it, every single day is an adventure and every day you add to your intelligence. That’s called growth.
- You make the rules. When you don’t know the rules of a particular game, you don’t always know when you’re breaking them and that can be a good thing. Your game, your rules.
- The Dynamo – Very often ignorance coupled with innovation that works looks like a fresh, new perspective. When you’re not haunted by precedents, theories and other’s previously failed experiments, it can be easier to dream up just the right solution.
My all-time favorite motto for venturing out into the deep, particularly when I know I’m under-qualified to do so is, “How hard can it be?” Then I shrug it off and start planning.
Staff Writer; Sorilbran Buckner
For more info on this talented writer feel free to visit; Atlanta’s Writing Diva.
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