How to Deal with Imposter Syndrome

Have you ever been worried that you’re not doing a good enough job, or that you shouldn’t even TRY to teach something, or provide a service when you don’t know everything about that subject?

Yep, I get it.  

And I want you to know that it happens to everyone! Even me.

When I started working and starting my own business. I thought, “I don’t know how to run a business. Who am I to do this?”

Or “How can I teach marketing when I don’t even have a degree in marketing?”

 But I just kept at it, and I learned and I grew, and I found the answers as I went along.

And I educated myself – I’ve read hundreds of books, done tons of research, and run systematic experiments.  And let’s not even talk about the number of conferences, courses, and coaching I’ve purchased – pretty sure I’ve spent close to a college degree if I add it up.

I’ve even written 2 books myself!

I thought there might be a point where I would finally feel like I’ve “made it” but even now I still get imposter syndrome!

 There are  two things you need to know about imposter syndrome:

  1. Everyone has it (I’m pretty sure). At least everyone has it to some degree. I have it. It comes up for me at different times.
  2. It doesn’t really completely go away.

Once you recognize those two things about imposter syndrome, you can relax a little bit and realize that it’s a normal feeling.

In fact, impostor syndrome comes from the desire to want to do a good job. And that’s a great thing!

So when you find yourself questioning, “Who am I to teach this or do this thing?”

I want you to flip the question to, “Who are you not to?”

You have gifts, you have talents, and you have a desire to help and change the world. So you need to just go with that and get your gifts out into the world, and don’t worry about making a mistake because we all do. The important part is to learn from them and move on.