In over your head is a state of being, it’s a place where you are forced to produce, react, and progress quickly. If you are any good at learning on the the fly, winging it, or thrive under pressure then it is likely that you live in over your head. Frankly this is the perfect state to be in, constantly learning, being challenged, and pushed outside of your comfort zone. This state of being has steadily been preoccupying my mind, I’m intrigued by the fact that many of the most successful people in history pretty much live consistently in over their head. The thought first sparked after reading Julien Smith’s blog “In Over Your Head” and more specifically his essay How To Change Your Life, in that essay he says this:
In over your head” should be the state you are always reaching towards– not knowing entirely what you’re doing, having taken on too much, being too ambitious because you’ve made ridiculous promises, etc. All these things are good because they will make you extremely resourceful.
I really couldn’t agree with this more, not because of what he says makes sense, in fact what he says can seem terrifying, but I agree because I’ve lived it, still live it, and for the most part thrive in it. Hell this blog started with me not knowing what the fuck I was doing at all, completely outside of my comfort zone, and now I’m progressing quicker than I ever could’ve had I not started it. Besides the blog, I have a tendency to take on ridiculous amounts of challenges when I go into a new project and most of the time it works out great, I learn a shit ton more than I would’ve if I went at it in bit sized pieces. However, it doesn’t always work out, and when it doesn’t it typically is a fantastic fireworks show. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact with the right perspective it can be an incredibly good thing for one simple fact, it makes you humble. Having to tuck tail and explain to a customer you won’t be able to meet the deadline or something went horribly wrong is a very humbling experience and you will only grow from it. Being in over your head rewards the thick skinned, strong willed, and resourceful.
Always having multiple things going on that vie for your attention can result in a lot of forward momentum. Here though we need to be careful that we are not allowing unimportant things like tv, junk blogs, nonsense social media, or any of the distractions that only pull us away from doing great things. For example, currently I am a writer, photographer, IT Systems Administrator, business manager, web content creator, and IT consultant. I am for all intents and purposes consistently in way over my head but for the most part most these things are only vying for my time versus my attention. It can still be difficult at moments keeping everything straight and especially keeping my mind on task.
No matter how in over your head you are and how well you are functioning with managing your tasks there is always something that is trying to distract you. Your brain says you can use a break, lets watch this tv show, hang out on social media, etc. We need to resist, just like there is such a thing as junk food nutrition and “junk food” sex, I believe the majority of our digital landscape consists of junk food content. It doesn’t bring us value, it just gives us a temporary shot of sugar and endorphins and then we crash, needing more to sustain. This is what we avoid, the junk food phenomenon.
All the greats are constantly getting in over their heads, it’s one of the main reasons they’ve been so successful. Richard Branson went from being a high school dropout to a billionaire to a space adventurer because he was ambitions and was always in over his head. Do you think he knew how to run an airline company before he started one, absolutely not, he learned on the job and did it well because people depended on it. Richard Branson is just one example of nearly every highly successful person in history. Rockefeller, Gates, Zuckerberg, Branson, Lincoln, Aurelius, Wilder, Rowling; what do all these people have in common they consistently were in over their heads, always taking on new challenges and pushing themselves outside their comfort zones. The things that made people successful tens, hundreds, thousands of years ago doesn’t change, they took on the world and the majority of the time they were way in over their heads.
I think it is important to know that we have the ability to be great but it doesn’t come from taking bite sized chunks and hoping to do astonishing work. Sure it is a valid method but doing it in bite sized chunks you may only be able to do one great thing in your life whereas if you are constantly living in over your head you can do tens or even hundreds of great things in your life. When we become resourceful at balancing and accomplishing herculean tasks we become better equipped to learn quicker and accomplish more. Much of the learning process of being in over your head is failure. Failure is what makes us great, not success. Failure gives us unique insights into our limits and boundaries. It gives us a personal education that no one else receives. Part of what makes the great and successful people of history great is their tolerance of failure, taking on challenges, and pushing the limits of their comforts. They all have faced and experienced failure and impossible challenges numerous times over but the difference between them and the average person is they see failure and hardships as opportunities and the average person sees it as a failure and gives up. Thomas Edison once said “I failed my way to success”, after testing over 1600 materials to find a filament that worked (including one of his lab assistance beard hair) he finally found the filament that would work for the light bulb. If he had viewed failure as failure then after 10, 50, 100, 1000 he would’ve given up and we may not live in the world we do now. Lights could’ve been decades behind. As an example as how Thomas Edison say failure this is what he had to say “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” In over your head but not giving up.
Being in over your head is a good problem to have. It breeds intelligence, resourcefulness, quick thinking, humility, grit all things that make a great people great. Removing the junk food distractions we can better focus on the real goals in our lives, the purpose that brings value. The most successful people in history have all lived in over their head, it gave them the edge. Viewing failure not as failure but as opportunity makes living a life in over your head satisfying and highly successful.