The Rearview Mirror Test

Hey there!

Two years ago, I was sitting down with a friend of mine for lunch. He is one of the most famous fitness authorities in the world and has trained world-class athletes like Lewis Hamilton.

But he started with zero followers and zero training a decade ago.

I asked him: “How did you figure out how to create such compelling content?”

His answer changed my view of expertise forever.

“I write every piece of content like I’m speaking to myself five years ago.”

It was a lightbulb moment. All of this time I had spent trying to figure out if I was credible enough to build a platform… when the entire time I was sitting on expertise I couldn’t see.

And everybody has this problem: not because you lack skills or knowledge or experience. You have those. But when someone asks, "What are you an expert in?" you draw a blank.

You scroll LinkedIn and see people confidently claiming expertise. You wonder what they have that you don't.

Meanwhile, you’re dismissing the things you’re actually good at.

“That’s not expertise, everyone knows that”

Here’s what you’re missing: you don’t need to be the world’s best at something to be an expert. You just need to be an expert to someone.

And you are. You’re an expert to the version of yourself from five years ago.

Think about it. The problems you solve effortlessly now? They would have stumped you then. The decisions you make in minutes? You would have agonized over them for days.

Five years ago, your current self would look like a master.

But because you lived through the learning curve, because you're inside your own head, you can't see the distance you've traveled.

The gap between who you were then and who you are now is your expertise. And there’s an easy way to find out what it is.

I call it The Rearview Mirror Test. The test helps you see your expertise and gives you permission to share what you know with the world.

Take my Rearview Mirror Test on ChatGPT to get detailed insights into your areas of expertise, including ideas for content that showcase what you know.

But first, let’s talk about why you can’t see it. It’s called the Dunning-Kruger Effect, and you should absolutely be aware of it.

When you start learning something, confidence spikes early. A few wins and you think you've got it figured out. Then reality hits – you realize how much you don't know. Confidence crashes.

Most people are climbing out of the valley, so focused on the experts ahead of them that they're blind to how far they've climbed from where they were.

You're comparing yourself to people 10 years ahead instead of looking back at yourself from 5 years ago.

Five years ago, you were probably at the peak of overconfidence or sliding into the valley. Today, you're well up the slope. That vertical distance? That's your expertise.

And it shows up in four distinct ways:

Five years ago, certain tasks intimidated you. Today, they are muscle memory.

Maybe it's cooking a meal without a recipe. Running a meeting. Having a difficult conversation. These things used to require intense focus, but now you barely think about them.

This is expertise. You just don't see it because it feels easy now.

You've internalized information that others are still searching for.

The questions that people ask you? Those used to be your questions. Whether it's how to negotiate a raise, what to do when your kid won't sleep, how to read a contract, or which tools actually work – you've figured things out through trial and error.

That accumulated knowledge is expertise.

Five years ago, every decision felt high-stakes. Now, some choices are obvious.

You know when to speak up and when to stay quiet or which relationships to invest in. When something is worth your time and when it isn't. You've developed instincts that only come from making calls and living with the consequences.

Your judgment has been earned through experience.

You notice patterns others miss. You understand how things really work, not just how they appear to work.

You spot red flags in situations before they blow up. You recognize when someone's struggling even if they don't say it. You've been around long enough to know what matters and what's just noise.

This is the hardest expertise to articulate, but often the most valuable.

Don’t forget to take my Rearview Mirror Test. Hit reply and tell me what you learned. When you’re ready to share your expertise with the world, tag me in your posts!

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