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by alexpotato 2572 days ago
I always think of this story from from Walt Boomer [0].

Backstory: It's right before Gulf War I (1990).

Paraphrased from Gen. Boomer: "General Schwarzkopf asked me 'Boomer, can you get everyone we need to this location by X date?' and I responded 'Yes sir! 100%'.

Immediately after I said that, I thought to myself 'I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how to make that happen.' But we figured it out and that's what happened"

I always think of this because if one of the most experienced and highly trained members of the US armed forces can have that moment of "How the hell am I supposed to do this??", it's ok for the rest of us to have it.

In fact, maybe it's just part of the human condition that we hear that voice no matter how many times we succeed.

That story has gotten me through several tough times and hopefully it can do the same for you.

0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_E._Boomer

1 comments

That's sort of how I felt when I took the job -- just kind of thrown into the deep end. I had no idea how I was going to complete my first assignment. I think it's tempting to want to seek comfort in your profession (or anything you do, really), but I guess comfort doesn't necessarily spur much growth.