The humbling work of starting again (when you’re supposed to be the expert)
There’s a particular kind of discomfort in starting over after you’ve mastered something.
For most of my career, I worked in spaces where I was confident and competent — leading leadership development, advising senior teams, coaching executives through uncertainty. But building my coaching practice Clarity has been a different kind of challenge. Suddenly, I’m the beginner again — learning business development, marketing, visibility — all in public.
It’s humbling. And honestly, sometimes it’s hard not to want to retreat to what I already know I’m good at.
But here’s what I’ve realised: mastery can quietly become a comfort zone.
When your identity is built around credibility and expertise, it’s easy to forget what it feels like to learn from scratch — to risk looking unpolished, uncertain, or wrong.
And when that identity starts to shift, the question isn’t just “How do I learn this new thing?”
It’s “Who am I if I’m not what I’ve worked so hard to be great at?”
We often tell ourselves we fear failure — but what many of us actually fear is looking foolish, especially once we’ve built a reputation for competence.
Leaders face this more than most: stepping into new industries, taking on bigger roles outside their functional areas, or moving from corporate life to building something of their own. They’ve spent years being the expert, the one with answers. Now, they’re the learner again. That shift isn’t just about new skills — it’s about loosening the grip of the old identity.
When that happens, a few things help:
1️⃣ Let go of needing to look capable all the time. Growth isn’t always graceful, and that’s okay.
2️⃣ Let yourself be seen in the middle, not just at the end. We often share only once we’ve mastered something, but there’s power in letting people witness the messy middle — it gives others permission to try too.
3️⃣ Stay close to curiosity. On the days you feel like you should “already know this,” curiosity can help loosen the grip — it turns the discomfort of learning into discovery again.
So if you’ve recently taken a big step into something new — if you’ve felt the fear of letting go of hard-earned mastery to start again — here’s to you! Because the courage to begin again, especially when you don’t have to, is its own form of mastery.
You may also like: When Strength Becomes Armour — how the very strengths that once defined us can become the armour that holds us back.
