Are You Really an Impostor?

In this Coffee Break, I include a couple of short exercises I give to people who feel like impostors. I think we've started to make Impostor Syndrome more of a diagnosis than it needs to be. 

I believe the feelings associated with Impostor Syndrome are normal, and they happen as a part of our trying new things, taking on new roles, and showing up in our social circles in new ways. They're normal psychological protections we have to help us guard against painful relational outcomes like embarrassment, rejection, and abandonment.

Real frauds and con artists don't tend to feel this way. They're intentionally defrauding people to get something they want. Embarrassment, rejection, and abandonment are not their concerns. You are not intentionally defrauding or conning people. You're expanding who you are in the world.

Like every other feeling, these anxieties and fears will pass. Just don't let them push you away from the thing you were inspired to do. Use the exercises in the video to accept that you are entering a new layer of risk and that your feelings reflect what you perceive to be at stake. Whatever you're about to do is very important to you. The nerves are OK.

And if you want to talk through this, I offer a free one-hour call to first-time contacts that you can easily schedule at https://bit.ly/BestNextStepCall

#impostor #insecurity #anxiety