Have you ever lost confidence in your ability to do the job you do? It's awful.

originally posted by: nonspecific
We got it done and I remember laying down in this customers garden unable to move and hearing the other guy trying to get up and then just having a little cry.

I have a day rate of £350 for that kind of work now so to avoid ever having to go through something like that again.

Hahaha!! Brilliant story, funny as!
It was all barrows, scaff planks, and buckets up final steps today, so I can totally understand.
I do love the paid workout though, way more muscle groups used than at a boring gym...just I wouldn't do a shift like today for more than three or four in a row.

I'm painting an empty 2 bedroom flat next week, rental style Magnolia and brilliant white, emulsion and gloss.
I'm looking forward to rollering the ceilings and walls, but the cutting in and gloss work, ohmygosh I'm definitely going to have Absolute radio on or I'll kill myself through the absolutely soul destroying boredom.
I loathe painting...but it is a good earner next week, so, you know.

originally posted by: nonspecific
a reply to: grainofsand
How much would you charge or would it be a freebie?

Lol, what for, putting amusing lamp shades on lights fitted in an unusual attic style?
I did an attic a few weeks ago, loads of faces/reveals due to they way it was converted...I didn't think I'd charged enough after finishing it, still a good earner but I mugged myself in the quote...not the first time and won't be the last haha!

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: nonspecific
Fair play, nails need knocking in flush and screws want that 1mm min rebate.

The plastering bastards still need to clean up their snots.

Hahaha again!
I sometimes leave loads of muck snots to dry on the floor if I know a certain labourer is going to end up doing it...he is lazy with screws in plasterboard. Fairs fair.

I use a strategy that makes sure that my confidence is not misplaced, along with making sure I am ALWAYS learning as well as innovating.

My field(s) tend to be technical, so it facilitates it. But, I have applied it to many other activities.

The first part is that I always make sure I am participating in some basic "tutorials" of any given topic. The internet helps with this immensely, but it also includes 101 type books. Most people do not see the value in this, so ill just leave it at that.

I also always try to have two types of projects running alongside the "serious" (I.e. paid) work. One is some project that pertains to the paid work directly, but is for me, or family. So, if I did some remodeling, I would try to have some project around the house where I can continue to practice on my own stuff. The other type is innovation-based, where I try to implement some new idea or process of work. This frequently overlaps with the first type of project, and if it works well, eventually makes it into the paid work where it can be refined even further.

I also try to find someone that is interested in training and learning. It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn, when teaching someone else.

There are a few other things, like performing experiments on materials and parts, but the above stuff is the "core." I feel like I'm forgetting something too, but.. meh.

How this strategy eventually ends up is that it transfers the uncertainty to the inventive, personal side and uses the paid work to refine things where I already have confidence. It also allows me to create some neat stuff and processes, enabling me to offer the benefits of those advancements to clients as well as myself.

First time I've tried to put it all into words, so hope it makes sense. I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that others do something similar, so in sharing with each other, might learn something new and useful

a reply to: nonspecific

I hate it when that happens!!!

This was me headed to an important work assignment a while back:

"Oh God. I have somehow unwittingly manipulated these people or even tricked these people into thinking I know what I'm doing! I don't! I can't do this what was I thinking! I should go home. Just go home and play with my dogs where I belong. I'm over my head". EEEEEEKKKK. I should call and tell them I'm sick. Or car wreck. Grandmother died.
Tripped and broke my ankle. HEEELLP!

...So I switched gears. " I'll just go in and pretend like I know what I'm doing. That's the ticket. I'll fake my way through this."

So that's what I did, and I calmed down. I pretended like I knew what I was doing, until it came to me that I actually did know what I was doing. Everything was fine. I did well.

Anxiety. Overload. And I guess a bit of "fake it til you make it". All I really had to do was stop thinking about myself, and focus on the tasks at hand.

But yes, it's a horrible feeling. Has more to do with our emotional state du jour than our competency I think.

Fun thread

a reply to: nonspecific



EGBOK

a reply to: nonspecific

I have been there recently. I was working with scientists and engineers and I got intimidated by them and left. When you know you most of the people around you are much smarter, brighter and cleverer then you, it erodes your confidence etc.

a reply to: nonspecific

We all have those days. I'm a builder and I spend half my time laying bricks the other plastering whenever I switch from one to the other after a long time concentrating on a certain discipline I go through a transition period where I sometimes doubt my abilities. I once had a day where I convinced myself I'd forgotten how to plaster properly.