24 May Imposter Syndrome; The Silent Killer Of Business Growth
Imposter Syndrome – The Silent Killer of Business Growth
Imposter Syndrome is more common than you think. Trust me, I myself have been there more times than I can count. Anytime we put ourselves out there and try something new that we REALLY care about, it can get scary, and we can begin to doubt ourselves. The more emotionally tied to the outcome, the easier it is to overthink, doubt, and let fear talk us out of going for that dream. We can become fixated on the end result, obsessed with it being completely perfect and done as quickly as possible. This turns to stress in the form of “I can’t do this” which turns to, Imposter Syndrome. Very commonly linked to careers and work life.
You are not alone in this and there’s ways of overcoming this feeling of fear and doubt that plays in your mind. I have put together some simple steps that you can follow to overcome this pesky, progress killer!
The Signs;
When you’re building a new business, you’re pushing comfort zones big time which is when imposter syndrome can sneak in and kill progress. It shows up as a feeling of not being good enough or feeling like you need to know more before taking action. It leads to hiding, not putting yourself out there and getting distracted working on small easy tasks that make us feel busy and productive but don’t really move business forward.
Break The Silence; Awareness is key to breaking through this momentum killer. When feelings of doubt creep in, acknowledge it’s just fear talking. Talk to a friend or a family member. Venting your feelings to someone you love and trust can help you overcome it a lot easier. Learn to set habits when these feelings are triggered. When fear and doubt arise in your mind, try doing something positive each time this happens. This will then turn this trigger into a positive thought and eventually the new habit will overcome the fear and doubt. You can train your mind to recognize when these fearful thoughts are happening, and turn them into a positive trigger by developing a positive habit to go along with it, each time it happens. For example, if they start to creep up on you, immediately change your state. If you were siting, stand up and stand confidently with a smile (body language 100% changes your state)! Do a superhero pose, chest out, hands on your hips…BOOM instant confidence boost! If you’re stuck in worry and doubt, write down 3 things you are grateful for to snap you out of that state. Do something quick that you enjoy.
Separate Feeling From Fact;
Ask yourself if that fear is actually logical…most of the time it’s not. If you’re going to doubt anything, doubt your fear, not your greatness. I know someone that started a new job role, they became a retail manager. They aced the interview with their amazing people skills and proven past experience. They aced the first day. Fear and doubt took over, they started to convince themselves that they didn’t deserve to be there. That everything they said and did didn’t account for anything and that they were a big bad phony. This friend soon realized what imposter syndrome was. She began to understand that it was simply just fear and it wasn’t logical, at all. It didn’t take her long to get her mind passed these thoughts and continued on her new career path, smashing it all the way.
Ask Better Questions;
You’ve established this doubt and fear may not be logical. Now – ask yourself “What’s one small action I can take today in spite of not feeling ready? Build momentum in the positive direction. When you waken each morning, write down 3 small, realistic goals that you can achieve that day. You don’t need to get everything done at once. This also comes with imposter syndrome. Thinking that you need to get everything on your to-do list done in the one day, and it has to be perfect or you shouldn’t be doing it at all..NO! Not the case. We need to give ourselves a realistic amount of work and a realistic timeframe to get it done. Start messy, start small, and remember…every expert was once a beginner!
Accentuate the Positive; Ask yourself where you have had awesome success in the past. Where have you stepped up in the past even though you were scared? What wins have you had when you pushed fear aside and just took action instead? Make a list of those moments to remind you next time you’re stuck in doubt.
Develop A Healthy Response to Failure & Mistake Making;
Henry Ford once said. “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Instead of beating yourself up or falling short, do what players on the losing sports team do and glean the learning value from the loss and more on reminding yourself, “I’ll get ‘em next time.”
No one is perfect, and no one has to be. The beauty of mistakes is that we learn from them. If anything, mistakes are good because they allow us to grow and develop, understanding which areas we need to work on. They push us to become even better than we were before! The only person you should be comparing yourself to is who you were yesterday.
Push to be just a little better each day than you were the day before. Can you imagine how far you’ll come after a year of practicing this shift?
