Imposter syndrome is when you start to have some success at something, or you’re just trying something new, and you feel like a fake; you feel like you’re an imposter and that you shouldn’t be doing it. A lot of times, new business owners will start to have some success and then they sabotage themselves because deep down they feel like an imposter.
I’ve felt the same way and so have some of the most successful people that I know. It’s always going to be there a little bit, but the more you practice your craft, the less you’ll have to deal with imposter syndrome. You’re going to be bad at something when you first start. You need to accept that and be okay with being bad at something.
The first way to get past imposter syndrome is practice and preparation. Don’t try to do it on your own; find somebody who has been where you want to go and study what they’ve done. Study it over and over and over.
The second way is when you’re new at something, be honest about it. Work for free or guarantee your work to get clients. This lets you be straightforward about your situation and not provide risk to the client.
The third way to overcome imposter syndrome is to accept that you will never be perfect. You don’t know what’s going to happen with a new marketing campaign until you launch and see how the market reacts. You can do your preparation so it’s a calculated risk, but you’ll never know for sure what’s going to happen
The fourth way to deal with imposter syndrome is to feel the fear and do it anyway. A lot of people want to wait until they’re no longer afraid to try something. They think if they prepare and practice forever then eventually, they won’t be scared anymore and can move forward. Everybody is scared, but the more you do something, the less scared you’ll be.
Imposter syndrome is completely normal, and no matter how successful you become, you’ll probably always have imposter syndrome. If you learn how to manage it, you can realize your wildest dreams.
If you’d like to learn more about overcoming imposter syndrome, go to https://www.christianmartin.org/podcast