Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

For me, the easy part is creating. If I can get into a groove and stay with the commitment to finish, I can get projects done. The hard part about making a living comes after I'm done creating. The hard part is promoting and selling. Just like so many people I talk to, I have an inner voice that likes to tell me what other people are tired of hearing, and at the top of the list is anything I'm getting ready to promote. This insecurity is the most common obstacle between people and the success they've dreamed of. It's built into a lot of people, especially and including me. Yet another psychological protection that ends up keeping me less than satisfied with the life I'm making. I've worked on this much of my adult life and I've never found a way for those inner voices and impulses to go away. I've only found ways to do the things I need to do in spite of them. If you hear me promoting something I'm offering, I can assure you that behind the sound of ...

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 exercis...