Nobody likes to play the role of the incompetent fool (maybe the lovable fool, but not the incompetent one). Most of us also realize a person is rarely an expert when trying something new. These two factors combine to create a fear that may persuade us to forego guitar lessons, culinary classes, learning a new language or even walking into a Starbucks for the first time.

Since society has glorified the rare prodigy, we wrongly conclude they are the rule instead of the exception. But even someone prodigious in a few things is incompetent at most. Hence, we’re unlikely to call the same person who unclogged our toilet to perform an angioplasty. And, since beginner’s naiveté is not exclusive to us, EVERYONE is incompetent.

But this logic eludes most of us, allowing our fear of incompetence to invade areas where we may have true ability.

I believe it has for me. No matter how much I write, design or produce; I have a continual fear of being outed as a hack. This thinking impedes creativity and leads to isolation and disconnection. I know it has held me back from opportunities, made me insecure and caused me to settle for less at times. In short, it hasn’t helped me. But I don’t feel I am alone in this thinking, and even if my self-perception was true, the only way past “hack” is through it.

Thankfully, our perception of our personal incompetence may be completely inaccurate. Studies performed by David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University came to the conclusion that incompetent people tend to overestimate their competence while people with true abilities UNDERESTIMATE their competence. This was dubbed the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

So, you may have already “hacked through” your incompetence without even realizing it. Perhaps we should replace our fear of playing the incompetent fool with a dogged refusal to let fear play us like a fool.