Why You're Not As Smart (Or As Dumb) As You Think You Are

So recently, I got a TikTok, and it reminded me of this concept called the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It was-became, like, super relevant at the time because it never fails that when I teach classes, I will have some sort of somebody say, "Oh, well, I already knew this stuff," or, "This is just validating what I already knew." And no offense to you, my friend, like at all. Okay?

If you've had these feelings before, no tea girl. But, but my rebuttal is like, first off, I mean, I think there's always more to learn no matter what. I, I, myself, uh, when I was a brand educator, I took the same product knowledge class 10 times, learned something new from it every single time, was reminded of something every single time, broadened my ex- my, my understanding of it every single time, burned it into my memory every single time even better so it actually took effect, right? And I think that I, I heard about this concept, and it really reminded me of these people.

I, another person that comes to mind is, uh, uh, there was this... Hopefully he's not listening to this, but I think that he... I don't know if he would care or not, but shout out Norm. Your- Norm's a badass.

Okay? He's this cool dude. He's been doing hair for decades, and he's this guy who was a senior stylist at my first salon that I ever worked in. I was like a kid, and I like was learning a lot from him, and he was just like this old school dude who was making a great amount of money, had super loyal clients, et cetera, et cetera.

And I remember I asked him if he was going to be, like, coming to a class or something like that, or maybe it was even like, "What did you think about the class?" 'Cause one thing about him was he was al- he was always coming to the classes, but I would ask him, like, what he thought about the class, and he would say, "Well, I already learned this," or, "I already knew this," like every single time. And as like a kid, like hearing that from him made me feel like I never wanted to be that person. Yeah.

When I was like that far into my career as a hairstylist, I never wanted to be the person that was like, "I already have been there and done that, and I already know everything, so I'm just going to sit in this class with a little bit of an ego just like thinking to myself that like, you know, I already know all this stuff," or like self-validating myself that I already know all this stuff, because that's not helpful. And, and I think that like even just walking into a class with a mindset of that is just going to automatically block your ability to receive new information that you may have not been privy to prior. Right? So Dunning-Kruger Effect.

This is where because of your lack of experience or knowledge within a certain topic, you believe that you are much smarter in it and more, um, uh, equipped in it with, with knowledge than you actually are, because if you actually had true experience and knowledge, you would understand all of the expansive nuances and different angles and nooks and crannies of this specific topic, and then that would make you have to think harder and broader, which then would make you reconsider your thoughts and understanding of the topic because it's so much broader in your brain and in your thoughts. Did I spill that correctly? Did I, did I illustrate that correctly? Yeah, absolutely.

I think it's like just the, the more knowledge you have, like the more capacity you have for doubt. Right? Yeah. Because then you understand the depth of that nuance.

I think you said it perfectly. Great. Great way of putting it. And so then therefore, you are second-guessing yourself, and you are doubting your knowledge and experience within the topic because you understand how nuanced and big and crazy it is.

Yeah. But when you're ignorant to something, you automatically are going to think that you already know it all about it because there's only so much that you know. Like if there's no much more, if there's not much more to consider beyond what you already know, then why would you think that you're not smart in it, you know? Yeah.

And w- I actually... I'm very confident in my teachings and my consulting, and I'm confident because I, I know I get people results. Like I see the actual numbers moving upwards for my students, and I see the wins that they have. Right?

And so like I... And I'm also just generally, like I b- I become very proud of myself when I'm able to come up with solutions and when I'm challenged and, like all of this stuff. Right? Like I'm very confident in the fact that I'm, I'm very good at my job.

And so I saw this TikTok explaining the Dunning-Kruger Effects that I just went over, and I, and then I went into like a death spiral of like, "I'm really confident in what... I'm really confident in like what I do every day, so then does this mean that like I'm like dumb within this topic?" And so then I... Uh, me and Jodie were like recording a podcast a couple weeks ago, and sh- and I was like, and she asked me if there was anything that was top of my mind that would maybe be a good topic for an episode, and I was like, "Well, I don't know if this is a great topic, but this is on my mind right now, and I'm kind of spiraling about it, so I'd like to just flush it out, I guess."

Um, and I, you know, maybe I, maybe I do think that I know more than I actually do, but my caveat to that is like, uh, in the same breath, I'm always, always open to learning more. I'm always willing to be proven wrong. Like for example, like recently, I have been, like telling everybody in my classes, like old school referral programs are dead. Like if you have a referral program that is actually working for you right now, like a classic referral program that's actually working for you right now, let me fucking know so I can stop saying that they're dead and I can start teaching people what's actually working.

Yeah. And if somebody were to come to me and tell me something that's working, I'd be like, "Okay, great. I was wrong. I'm gonna stop talking about this, and I'm gonna stop, you know, nailing this into the ground."

And I'm willing and open to learn and be proven wrong. Right? I would say also that like during that conversation that we had when we were flushing out this idea for this episode, I think I pointed out the fact that you are constantly wanting to caveat things. Right?

Like case in point, just caveating right now to make sense of the nuance and to give everyone all these different angles and ideas of looking about it, and we often have to like rein that in a little bit. So I would say that, you know, you are someone who I think understands nuance like beyond what the average person does when it pertains to their topic for sure. Watch-... bites me in the ass.

And that is what brought us to actually decide to record this. Yeah. Because I then started to recognize that this is very relevant to high performers, because I even will remember, like, the beginning of my career feeling this Dunning-Kruger effect, where like, I felt like I knew everything. Like, I, I, I felt like, I was like, "Okay, I'm Gen Z and I can move to this rural area and I know how to post on social media.

Like, I know exactly what I need to do." So, I moved to this rural area, kept on posting all these things on social on a consistent basis, was delivering an amazing experience, was going out to the mall and handing out my cards everywhere, and it didn't fucking work, right? And I was like, "Damn, maybe I don't know as much as I knew," you know? And I, it really killed my confidence.

And, but, me thinking I knew everything, I think very much gave me a lot more courage and confidence to go out and do those things. Yes. Like, it made me more assured in the thing that I was doing, and it gave me the, uh, because you're confident or you have confidence, you'll actually be more likely to execute, right? Now, same thing for my education business.

Like, I was just out here, like, you know, figuring it out, and I really felt like I knew marketing very well, I knew sales very well, I knew operations very well from my business education and experience being a hair stylist. And so, I was able to make really big swings that a lot of other people probably would be a lot more nervous to go ahead and do. And that has got me to where... That gave me my big start, was like, just being so confident and assured in my decisions, and just being like, "Fuck it.

We're gonna go ahead and do this." And I think it was because of my lack of knowledge and experience that I'm willing to take these big swings 'cause I'm so confident in them. Yeah. But, now that I'm five to six years in, and now that I have so much more knowledge and so much more experience, it's like I'm second-guessing and triple-guessing every single move that I make.

Everything feels so much more slow, and I'm always in this consistent battle with myself of, like, whether this is the right decision or not. I'm thinking about every single little detail before I actually, uh, go ahead and execute. And it really, traditionally holds me back, but then a lot of other entrepreneurs back, because, as we know, done is better than perfect. And I've been trying to instill this, this, this understanding, in not just myself but in my students recently, because a lot of people will hold onto something that they've worked on or want to roll out for so long, waiting for it to be perfect or reiterating it to be perfect, or waiting for the perfect time, because they're second-guessing themselves so much.

And maybe it's because you actually do have knowledge and you're thinking about all of the different factors and nuances and y- y- what happens if this and what happens if that. And the longer that you wait, the longer you are doing yourself and the people that you're serving a disservice, because you're not gonna be able to get fast enough feedback to actually make a difference. For example, I w- have rolled out some really cool tools in Modern Stylist Movement recently. So, like, for example, we have an AI consultation note taker.

So, you can open up our app that I've created for you, you can press the recording, and then it'll record the audio conversation, or it'll record the conversation between you and the client. And then you press done, and then it'll summarize your consultation. It'll, uh, uh, give you, like, a follow-up email to send the person. It'll save it to their profile, so that way you have the notes for next time, all this stuff, right?

And it's in beta. I don't know if, I don't know what I'm, th- I don't know wh- how the app needs to be iterated. I don't know how it's going to break. I don't know what other features need to be added until real people actually start using it.

Mm-hmm. Like, you don't know how your clients are gonna react to something unless you actually put it out there for some of them to try. And then it'll actually show you what you need. Or like, the form that you're about to put out there, you don't know what questions you'll need to ask until you actually put the form out there and you get some submissions, and then it'll make you realize, "Oh, I need to ask this question in a different way," for example.

And the longer that you wait, the longer you're holding yourself back from growth, the faster the idea gets expired and stale in your brain, but also just in the way that it could've been effective for you in your business. And it's not very healthy. And some of the most successful companies are ones in which the CEO makes the fast decisions and is willing to take on the risk of that to f- find out quickly, iterate quickly, learn fast, and then be able to make smart decisions moving forward because of their, uh, activeness. But if you are at a space in which you've gotten here because of you being really confident and courageous, and now all of a sudden you're finding yourself second-guessing everything and being very self-aware and holding back a little bit from taking risks, it might be a little bit of an indicator that you have gotten to this next level and you've gotten very sufficient and educated within this space.

And it's, I think, something that really plagues high performers. And I know it's something that I have to coach my people through in Mastermind all the time. Yeah. This is something I've experienced too, and I think it is that, just that depth of knowledge in a specific topic, and it leads to that analysis paralysis.

'Cause at the beginning, you just don't know enough to, like, weigh out all these different things that could happen, and also, you don't have as much to lose, so those decisions feel less weighty. And I think you're right. Like, money loves speed, right? And, and that is something where you're gonna learn so much more from getting feedback and being able to iterate than just keeping something in your brain forever.

Right. Like, if I waited to roll out the consultation note taker, like, forever, then I would just be, uh, the same situation. Like, it would be the same feedback, the same things I need to fix, the same features I need to add. I would just learn that months later after thinking I knew everything or thinking it'd be perfect.

But you don't actually know until it's done, right? I think, like, just a little bit of a side note here you guys, 'cause I'm super ADHD today. I have been ranting Jodie's ear off today. I don't know how the fuck she handles me dude.

Like, I, I truly don't. Like...But I'm feeling very ADHD today. Just another, like little thing here to throw out to you guys, okay, side note, like, fucking don't be afraid to test things, okay?

Mm-hmm. Like, don't be afraid to test things. I can't tell you guys how many times, like, especially, again, the high performers, like, we are in uncharted territory now. Like, when you hit the 100K plus mark, when you are super booked out and busy, you've done all the things that you were supposed to do to get here.

You're now in wild, wild west t- county t- uh, uh, territory. Nobody knows what to do with you. You don't even know what to do with yourself, and that's because there's no, like, linear path for you moving forward, right? It's now a game of you figuring out what is best for your business, and that means starting to do tests of things that you don't know are gonna, aren't gonna work or not.

And we have been able to do really interesting, innovative, cool, unique things with these guys in our mastermind program to solve their specific problems or help them with growth and specific things where we test things and we find out very quickly, and the testing, l- we learn so much from it. Whether it fails or it succeeds, and it, and either way, you don't fail because you always learn something from it. But being willing to test and be sh- be okay with the fact that it's not gonna be perfect and you don't know, I think is very, very important in entrepreneurship, especially at a higher level. I think you're absolutely right, and I literally was just thinking, I'm like, I can't think of a single case of someone overthinking something into being perfect the first time they ever put it out.

Like, I can't think of a case of something that hasn't been iterated at all. So, it's like no matter how much you overthink the first time you put something out, almost guarantee you will have to make some sort of change or tweak at some point. Period. So here i- I, I completely agree, and I can think of so many things that I overthought so hard for so long, and it was just like- Mm.

It's just like, you know, no matter, uh, the little tweaks I made and all the things like that, they really didn't make that big of a difference, and I- Yeah. not s- you're just not gonna know until you throw it out there. And so I'm gonna give you guys, like two overarching lessons here, okay, to round this out, all right? The first one is, if you find yourself ever sitting in a class and you're either already walking in with the attitude that you might already know all this shit and that you've been there and done that, I recommend that you fucking check yourself 'cause you're really holding yourself back from actual real growth.

Mm-hmm. Like, if you're sitting in a space where you're like, "I already know all this stuff," then you are actually probably not knowing all of this stuff. Yep. Period.

The, and I'm even, again, like, this kind of made me self-aware of my own situation, so, like, I am even going to be approaching my education, or if I'm s- hearing somebody listening to somebody, I'm even gonna be more self-aware of how I, how I'm thinking and how I'm reacting in the future. And, or if you are leaving something being like, "I already knew all of this shit," like, "that was nothing new to me," then I would challenge you to figure out what you can get out of it and, like, what you actually can execute moving forward, 'cause again, you're just holding yourself back from what's actually available to you. Also, it's like, girl, why would you be sitting in this class if you already knew this shit? If you already knew this shit, then you'd be doing it and you wouldn't be taking the class.

Mm-hmm. Period. So true. Maybe, that's my own personal, like, feelings about this, these people who say this shit about my classes.

Um, uh, the second thing is, uh, if you find yourself sitting on something, if you find yourself overthinking about a lot of things, if it feels like it's a lot, uh, it takes forever for you to make a decision about things in your business, then, then, uh, it's maybe a sign that you actually are, like, really great as a, as an entrepreneur, and that you are very smart and educated within your space, and you should probably have a little bit more confident in yourself than you do right now. But this is just natural human behavior and you should be kind to yourself about it. But I think it's worth practicing to try your best to make faster decisions. It's, it's a very classic business conversation and topic in, like, books and out there in the ether in one way or another.

Um, I would also just, you know, I'm just gonna tell you that having somebody else in your corner to make you aware of those things, to be able to show you, like, all the different things that you can't see or allow you to even brain dump all the things that you are looking at and thinking about to cut to the chase and actually figure out what's important in this decision, what's not, what are the possibilities, the pros and cons and the risks can actually help move you through the decision a lot faster, and also make, do it in the best way possible from the very beginning, so that way you kill those two birds with one stone. You make faster decisions, and the way that you do it is actually really great from the beginning and the best way that it possibly can be. And that's what working with me does for you. So, you know?

So, if you wanna work with me, my friend, if you're a high performer and you're experiencing any of the above that I talked about in this episode today, uh, you can learn more of where you wanna work with me, if you want to, at hunterdonahue.com/workwithhunter or just hunterdonahue.com, and I would love to help you make faster decisions as a CEO so you, we can get to be moving, the needle moving forward in your business. Thank you so much for tuning in to Modern Hairstyles podcast.

Peace out, girl scout. Bye bye.

End of transcript. © 2026 Hunter Donia LLC.