When you’re a new member in a group or organization, it can feel uncomfortable — particularly if everyone else knows how the system works and they know what to do.

It’s not incompetence; it’s uncertainty. Not a lack of ability, but a question of what to do and when.

This can happen in a larger context, too. It’s easy to tell ourselves the story that everyone else knows what they’re doing. That everyone else knows the system and that we’re an outsider.

But again — real or imagined — this has less to do with ability and more to do with learning how a particular game is played.

When this kind of discomfort arises, remembering to trust yourself is a good first step.