I’m not a regular reader of the sports page, but a baseball column by Red Smith caught my eye one day many years ago. Touted as “the game’s greatest writer on the game’s greatest years” Red Smith wrote in the article that after thirty years reporting on the sport he thought he finally understood the game.

With that humble admission I felt a bond to this man. Who ever admits publicly that they are NOT the expert, the one with the answers or #1 in their arena? Yet, aren’t we all constantly struggling to keep that game face alive? I know I am, although you may not hear me say it.

Every Monday morning I have the inordinate luxury of being surrounded by like-minded business owners whom I respect enormously and who readily admit, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” I nod in admiration of their courage and honesty. Feeling like an impostor is as integral to being a business owner as feeling like king of the mountain. It just depends on the day.

C’mon. Admit it! You sometimes feel this way too, don’t you? My feelings can’t be that unique.

What keeps me thriving is that I have a place to make such an admission, to show up in my humanness. That I can own my conscious incompetence, as we say in coaching circles, and keep moving forward in spite of it.

Do you have a safe space to allow your humility to show?