Rising Above Self-Doubt Through Faith & Creation: Cassidy Beck's Story - Latter-Day Lights

What happens when divine identity collides with self-doubt—Can our fears become the doorway to purpose?

This week on Latter-Day Lights, fellow author, podcaster, and life coach Cassidy Beck shares her deeply personal journey through imposter syndrome. After interviewing her father during his final moments on Earth, in an attempt to write his life’s story, she found herself creatively blocked after his passing, in doubt that she would ever be able to write without him. From then on, she studied impostor syndrome, its causes, and all the tools she’s learned over the years to overcome it. Her main mantra? Ordinary stories—and the people behind them—matter far more than we think.

Cassidy also opens up about the six-year journey behind her children’s book “Sheep Chronicles: Baptism,” from writing multiple versions to facing publisher rejections and questioning her own worth. Through it all, she’s learned that our efforts can still fulfill the measure of their creation. And, most importantly, that remembering who God says we are is one of the most powerful answers to self-doubt and rejection fatigue.

Join Scott, Alisha, and Cassidy in this enlightening discussion about navigating fear as a creative. With all three having walked their own paths of inspiration, this episode offers a uniquely heartfelt look at how God shapes us through the act of creating—and how our most vulnerable moments often become our most meaningful offerings.

*** Please SHARE Cassidy's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/WwKcpW9DnqU

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To READ Cassidy's book, "The Sheep Chronicles," visit: https://a.co/d/1GqHhQx

To CONTACT Cassidy as a coach and publisher, visit: https://www.sageversepublishing.com/

To LISTEN to Cassidy's podcast, "Verses & Visions: Creative Conversations," visit: https://www.sageversepublishing.com/podcast

To READ "The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women and Men," by Valerie Young, visit: https://a.co/d/85lZJgn

To READ "Impostor Syndrome No More," by Jill Stoddard, visit: https://a.co/d/aTpNfuv

To READ Scott’s new book “Faith to Stay” for free, visit: https://www.faithtostay.com/

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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Chapters

• 0:00 “Faith to Stay” by Scott Brandley
• 0:30 Intro
• 1:00 Welcoming Cassidy Beck to the show
• 2:15 Introducing Cassidy’s topic
• 4:20 Cassidy’s father’s spinal infection
• 7:40 Introducing Cassidy’s character “Walter”
• 9:30 Cassidy finding her purpose as an author
• 11:55 The Quantity vs Quality Experiment
• 13:40 Cassidy writes 5 versions of 1 book
• 15:25 About Cassidy’s book “The Sheep Chronicles”
• 17:00 What is impostor syndrome to Cassidy?
• 18:25 Cassidy’s special moment with her daughter
• 20:50 All stories matter
• 23:25 Rejection fatigue
• 24:35 Why 5 versions?
• 27:40 The Temple is the Lord’s university
• 30:00 Fulfilling your measure of creation
• 33:50 The life cycle of impostor syndrome
• 37:40 Scott’s reflections on impostor syndrome
• 41:25 Creation is a part of our DNA
• 44:45 “The Singularity”
• 48:50 Using impostor syndrome for good
• 53:00 How Satan uses impostor syndrome to belittle us
• 54:35 We are our spirits
• 57:00 Where to find Cassidy
• 58:00 Final thoughts
• 59:15 Outro

Transcript

Scott Brandley: 0:00

Hey there, as a Latter Day Lights listener, I want to give you a very special gift today. My brand new book, Faith to Stay. This book is filled with inspiring stories, powerful discoveries, and even fresh insights to help strengthen your faith during the storms of life. So, if you're looking to be inspired, uplifted, and spiritually recharged, just visit faith2stay.com. Now, let's get back to the show. Hey everyone, I'm Scott Branley.

Alisha Coakley: 0:31

And I'm Alisha Coakley. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth, and inspire others.

Scott Brandley: 0:39

On today's episode, we're going to hear how facing imposter syndrome is fueling one woman's passion to inspire others to rise above self-doubt and walk confidently in their divine destiny. Welcome to Latter Day Lights. We're so glad you're here with us today, and we're really excited to introduce our special guest, Cassidy Beck, to the show. Welcome, Cassidy.

Cassidy Beck: 1:13

Thanks so much, Scott. Thanks, Alisha, for having me.

Alisha Coakley: 1:16

Yeah, of course. We always love being able to collaborate with fellow podcasters. It's like, ah, you're not nervous at all. We're totally fine.

Cassidy Beck: 1:28

Let's stick with that. I am a little bit nervous. I think like my role is totally different. So I have done a whole lot of interviews, but this is my very first on this side of it. So I I am excited. I'm very excited to be here.

Alisha Coakley: 1:44

Good, good. I always tell my kids the only difference between fear and excitement is the meaning that you give to the feeling that you're having. So like you can still get the butterflies in your stomach and the sweaty palms and the elevated heart rate and all of those physical feelings are exactly the same. So just go with excitement. You're excited, you're not scared.

Cassidy Beck: 2:06

That's right. I love it.

Alisha Coakley: 2:08

Yeah. Perfect. Well, Cassidy, why don't you uh take a second to tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself?

Cassidy Beck: 2:15

Great. So my name is Cassidy. Um, as Alisha mentioned before, I am a podcaster and it was really fun. I had the opportunity to uh speak with both Scott and Alisha before on my podcast. And I just I feel like there were a lot of things I really connected with you and just wanted to further the conversation. Um, so I've spent the majority of my life living in Utah. Uh, just a little bit over two years ago, um, my husband and myself and our three kids moved to Meridian, Idaho. And it was quite a time of transition for me because uh we knew one person, we knew one family in the entire state. And in addition to that, like trying to come in and get settled, my youngest daughter it was going into the first grade. And for what that meant to us was that this was the first time that she had been in all day kindergarten, like that she had been in school all day. All of my kids were in school all day, and so it was interesting because I had all these questions of who am I? And what is my purpose? And I had more time to kind of stew in it. And so I feel like a lot of times um as Latter-day Saints, we are a purpose-driven people and we need to fill that purpose. And there are a lot of times that we're in transition, and I feel like when you were on our sh my show, that was one of the things that came up then with each of you going through different transitions, and so I kind of wanted to talk about that self-doubt and imposter syndrome and fear uh that kind of motivates both the podcast and a lot of my writing.

Alisha Coakley: 4:05

Gotcha. I love that. Well, I think we just get to it then. How's that sound? You wanna go ahead and tell us where your story all begins?

Cassidy Beck: 4:18

Let's do it. Okay. So um the story starts with my dad. Um, he woke up one day, he had a pain in his back, and we didn't know at the time, um, but what was happening, he had an infection in his spine that was um deteriorating the discs in his spinal cord, and it it was so aggressive that he had bone on bone in his spinal column. And so there was a period of time that was very difficult where he was totally immobile. Um and kind of during that time, I had noticed a little bit of a trend, and that was when my family went to go visit my parents, there was just kind of a natural gravitation that would happen. And I would go just kind of chat with my mom. Meanwhile, my husband would plop down next to my dad and kind of just talk with him. And I was talking with my oldest sister, and I I had wanted to do something, I wanted to engage with him in a meaningful way that would kind of um, I guess, disrupt this natural rhythm that we had gotten into. And he was able to get surgery on his spine, and so that he was able to get uh his independence and some mobility back. And during that time, it was about a year, I interviewed him and I worked with him to write his life story. We talked about his childhood, we talked about going through high school. He is a very successful businessman. We talked about his success in business, um, and we talked about his relationship. Um so he was 78 years old, and that time where he was not able to move really took away, and he passed away before we could finish the book. And at that time, there were two things that were there, like that I knew immediately. Um, the first thing was that his story needed to be shared. Um, I had to finish it, and the second thing that I knew was it felt impossible to do it without him. Um I would sit at the computer and I would just weep. I it is very hard to write as you can't see anything on the screen. I haven't experienced writer's block before, but that was just it was just a solid cement wall that nothing could come on the page for it. And the it was interesting because I felt such pressure at that moment. My youngest was three, and I felt like this was the way that she was gonna know her grandpa. And so it was like really, really important that his story mattered, and it was really important that I write it down. So this is where Walter comes in. Now, who is Walter? Walter is a fictitious um character, someone that I completely made up. He was really easy to write about because there was like no attachment to him, right? And so it was very easy to write about him. And so that is where I started. And it was interesting just being able to write. Um, it I mean, there was a turned out to be kind of a heavy story, but it helped me process my feelings in such a way that I could return to write about my dad. And um that was the more important story. Uh, and I actually, so I did finish his work and I did it in a way that like um I am one of six. There are six of us. So I included all of us spoke at his funeral, and I included all of my siblings' um funeral talks. So you could get um the most important thing to my father were his relationships, and I think that it was a way that you could see more about the relationships that really mattered to him. So um I I finished this. This is my dad's story, and it just really solidified more for me that stories matter. I also finished Walter's story, which is this one. And again, um I think stories matter. And I thought like writing these that would kind of help silence my self-doubt that I have been experiencing and these feelings of imposter syndrome. Um, but it did not. And I think what helped a little bit through that was um figuring out the purpose of these books. Like, what was their purpose? Um, a lot of times as an author, I I kind of sometimes daydream. Scott, I know you're an author, Alisha, I know you're an author as well. Um, it's just something that has that you guys experience as well, like the daydreams that kind of happen in the background. Right. And and so you kind of think like, wouldn't it be awesome to land on a self, like on a on a um best selling list? And these books were never intended for that. Um, and I think I had to kind of go through a little bit of a process about understanding what success meant and what um their purpose was. There's a line in the scriptures um and in the temple that every living thing shall fulfill the measure of its creation. My question is, do you think that that could also be applied to the works of our hands? And my answer to that question is yes, I do. I think that we can figure out what the measure like to have our things fill the measure of their creations. And I think that each of those books filled the measure of their creations. It was never about how many were going to be sold. Um, my dad's book was about preserving his voice and his legacy. Um and I would also add that writing a book certainly isn't the only way to do it, but that's what resonated in how I wanted to do it. I think each of my siblings has tried to preserve his legacy and his voice in different ways as well. Um, and I think that Walter's story was more about coming through a difficult time and about moving through grief and mourning. So I really liked um, I've listened to a couple of your podcast episodes. I really liked, I can't remember her name, but the Australian woman that came on just recently. And um, I I like the quote that she said, I'm not gonna get it exactly right, but she said that like the gospel isn't a magic wand that just like suddenly takes away all of the things. And um, I think you know, we need to find different ways that that we are able to navigate through the trials of our life. Um so soon after my father's passing, I was camping with my extended family, and we have a sheep ranch that's been in our family for generations, and that's where we were camping. We were all around the campfire and we were talking about kind of next steps. Um, I knew that I had wanted to be an author and had been working on different things, and we were just kind of brainstorming. My um brother-in-law told me about this study, and I thought it was really interesting. It is the idea of um quantity versus quality. Do you guys know the study I'm talking about? Um, so it was kind of interesting because it has morphed a little bit, but the original experiment, it was um about photography, it was conducted at the University of Florida, and he split the groups into two, and the quantity was just going to be graded solely on the number of photos that they produced, whereas the quality had to produce one perfect photo. And the result was that surprisingly, the quantity group produced like their what they were able to produce was way better than the quality because they learned from their mistakes, they kept moving, they kept growing, they kept getting better. Whereas the quality people were more like theorizing about what would make a perfect composition. And so later, that kind of same thing has um been retold in pottery. Um, it was from the book uh The Art and Fear, but they changed the study into pottery, um, with the versions kind of being the same. So, anyway, I um decided to write five versions of a book, and it was about sheep. It was, I think I was kind of just inspired by the setting. And so I wrote five different versions. I wrote a sheep telling you about personal hygiene, a sheep teaching about vanity and overcoming vanity, a sheep um telling you about ADHD and um and um overcoming fear, and finally a sheep that uh found the Good Shepherd. The idea of using a sheep to teach kids to come to the Good Shepherd just hit on a totally different vibration than the others. And so I worked on it and worked on it and worked on it. I think this is something that both of you can relate to. It's been six years and in the making, and it has finally come to fruition. I'm very excited about it. Um the in the meantime, during those six years, I had published, I had um pitched the idea to four different publishers. And each of them really loved the idea, they're enthusiastic about it, they ask for a full manuscript. If any, if there's an author that has gone through that, that is a very exciting prospect of having a publisher like ask for your full manuscript. That's just very exciting. Um, all of them passed. Uh, they they did not approve of it, and they said good luck, and no, thank you. Um, but this story was like written on my heart, and it was something that I couldn't let go. Um, there was one particular rejection that stung pretty harshly. Um, and to tell you a little about it. So the story is it's called The Sheep Chronicles. Um, it's a children's picture book, but it's written in the style of comics. And um this person had told me um to a little bit more about it. Um so Joshua is about to get baptized and he's feeling a little bit nervous. I think the thing that's a little bit tricky with like going through the temple for the first time or with getting baptized, you can't, there isn't a way to like you can learn, you can study, and you could go to classes, you can do all of these things, but experiencing it yourself is just different. And you can't go through it until you're there doing it for the first time. There just isn't a way to experience it other than going through it. And so I I wrote this story as a way to kind of like ease people's anxiety about baptism. And the feedback I got from this particular publisher was um the comics, the rules of comics are that superhero vibes. They the kids are here for the superheroes, and so I was sitting with that, and so that was basically a full rewrite. And um, I I went to my mom's house and I mentioned um we we had um this sheep ranch in our family, and so a lot of um, I guess sheep paraphernalia have been given to my parents um over the years. So, but to go back a little bit, so imposter syndrome for me, imposterism and those kind of thoughts, for me, what that sounds like to myself is um who am I to write this? Like, who am I that people would listen? And like because I don't have a PhD, um, and I don't have like a super high calling in the church or anything, and I don't have a million followers on YouTube or Instagram, and I was on TikTok, but I'm not anymore. Um, and so kind of like, what am I doing? And who am I pretending to be? And I, you know, had these things, and and especially where um this this feedback was, well, these are the rules, and you're not finding it filling the rules, and so you don't really know what you're doing. Um, I had all those in my in my mind, and I was uh as I was going through my um parents' house, there was this wall. Um, they had gone to put all of the sheep in a collection together, and you know, I was just sitting there looking at it, and it was like, this is a story I was born to tell. And um it was interesting because I think the there was a moment. Um, my my daughter was that has recently my youngest is now eight. She was baptized um last January, and I was reading through some drafts with her, and we we had such a beautiful moment where there was um Joshua goes and and he brings his questions. Um, there was a conference talk um that President Nelson uh had. I cannot remember the exact time or the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of, I wish all of you were my grandkids. And so Joshua goes to his grandpa, and his grandpa kind of has that President Nelson-esque vibe of a very loving, tender, knowledgeable man. And Joshua brings his questions, and his his grandpa is patient and kind and understanding and breaks down um baptism using um a parable of sheep to tell the story about why and how we're baptized. Um and he also encourages Joshua to remember, um, to remember the feelings that he had had. Now, my daughter had was her feelings were very upset, and she came down excited. She came into my office and was like, Mom, I remembered. Um she said that she went into her closet and there was some, I can't even remember the situation. Oh, she was probably fighting with her siblings. Anyway, um, that she was upset about and she remembered the feelings that she had from her baptism, and it helped her come to a place of peace and comfort. And I thought, okay, that's maybe this has filled the measure of its creation and we're done. Um, but then I got thinking about the other families that have eight-year-olds that might also want to have that type of scenario play out in their homes. And so I hope that I find one. Um but I would say that our stories matter. Um, this like my dad's story really mattered. And not just the ones that we share with other people, but the ones that we tell in our minds, the ones that we are saying to ourselves. And I think that um there's a quote that I really like. Um, it was actually when I I went to the illustrator and I talked to him about the um what the publisher had said, and he said, well, okay, just because you heard something doesn't make it true. And he he had asked that we go talk to kids and see what they feel about this book. And it, I think that there are children that do resonate with that superhero. They have that inner strength and they're just ready to take on the world, and that is awesome. Um and I I do think that there are still things, hopefully, that they can learn from the book, but I think that that could possibly be more of an exception um than the rule for kids. I think um it is a little bit more difficult to do something, like I had mentioned before. It's difficult um when you're asked kids to do something. And I feel like we ask them to do new things all the time, whether it's like going into a class for the first time or trying a different um like swimming lessons or or soccer, whatever. We we're asking them and encouraging them, or their new primary class, like every uh January, they're they're finding and meeting new teachers and and and we are asking them to broaden their horizons quite a bit. Um anyway, I started this, I also had um this podcast, and I think that um I like you, feel like these are stories matter. And these ideas of faith and determination and what kind of gets people through their difficult times are really important. And I also do life coaching because I think that those stories that we tell ourselves need to be examined. Um, because just because you think something or that you have heard something doesn't make it true. Um, I'm teaching a class this year at LDS PMA, and the class is I am who God says that I am, uh, faith's answer to imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and rejection fatigue. Um, so with rejection fatigue, I sort of dabble a little bit in different things, and I found myself um talking to a group of salespeople and you know, asking them if they had experienced rejection fatigue. And as you can imagine, that is something that is very well experienced through sales. And um also I was thinking about our missionaries that we are asking our missionaries all the time to knock on doors and to ask people and to share the pe to share the gospel and the good news with people that don't necessarily want to hear it. There are some that do, and I mean that's like the payday, right? But you have to go through a lot to find the one. Um and I think that grounding yourself in the knowledge that you are who God says that you are is uh face answer to self-doubt and to imposter syndrome and to rejection fatigue. And um, that's all I got.

Scott Brandley: 24:34

Wow, okay. So so why did you write five versions or five different stories? What was the what was the impetus for the five?

Cassidy Beck: 24:45

So that was um that was inspired by my brother-in-law's that whole idea of the quantity versus quality, right? I wanted to write like I I wanted to write a really good quality book, but I thought I was gonna get there by writing a quantity. And it was actually really interesting because as I was preparing for this, I went back and looked at those originals and it has improved significantly.

Scott Brandley: 25:15

So, what did you end? What was the end result? Did you put them all five stories together or did you come up with one grand story?

Cassidy Beck: 25:22

Or so this is the one grand story. It is called Sheep Chronicles Baptism. Um, so it just came out in September. It actually is also available in Spanish. Um I think I so I did that because and I I um, you know, just listened to general conference, and one of the things that struck me about this general conference, possibly more than others, is the different accents. And I loved it. I thought it was so wonderful that, you know, we are worldwide um religion, and I think we are seeing that more and more. And this was like my small nod of yes, we are a worldwide religion. I want to add voices to the table. Um, so I um it's called Sheep Chronicles. The first one is baptism. Um, I did it is it is difficult to talk about baptism without talking about the Holy Ghost. Um, but I think that that needs a whole book in itself. And um it was interesting, I got into some interesting conversations about this because I also think it's difficult to separate um baptism from repentance um because those are so entwined. However, as an eight-year-old, um like children are spotless before God. And so it didn't feel totally right to write a story about baptism as a call to repentance for children. Um and so, so the the idea is the sheep chronicles is going to be made up of baptism. Um, Joshua is gonna come to his father to his grandfather for in another book, in the second book, and learn more about the Holy Ghost. And in the third book, he's gonna learn more about partaking of the sacrament. And that felt more of the repentance piece and how those all together work together.

Alisha Coakley: 27:25

Nice. So I want to go back to when you uh the the scripture that you were sharing about how everything um will fulfill its measure of creation, right? Like can you can you repeat that again for us?

Cassidy Beck: 27:39

Yes. Um, so I actually um I know it is scriptorial. I um it struck me is kind of interesting. I was just having a conversation yesterday about how the temple is the Lord's university. And um, you know, it doesn't change when you go, like the things are the same. However, we change, right? Because the experiences that we have, the things that we're thinking about as we're bringing to the temple change. And so there was a line in the in the temple that says that like that you shall fulfill the measure of its creation. And it was there that I was like, okay, I need to be very clear about what I am defining as success or defining as a measure of one's like not just my books, but of mine. Because going back to like, where aren't my people, I think it was interesting because um, you know, I I I had mentioned the move and how big it was of a transition. Um, you know, my my husband was able to kind of like find his people almost immediately with his new job. And my kids, as they started school, as they got um involved with sports, were able to find their people. And and that question um is is interesting because um I've also had a good conversation about um like in church being heard and seen, but also what that looks like, be like using service as a way to get to know people and also realizing that especially after COVID, I think a lot of people really want to be connected, and so I did try and find different ways to connect groups of people, and um I also found pickleball. Do you guys play pickleball?

Alisha Coakley: 29:44

Yes.

Cassidy Beck: 29:46

I that is another way to find people because uh pickleball community and um a group of friends that I have specifically are like phenomenal. That's awesome.

Alisha Coakley: 29:56

Well, I just so just to kind of go back a little bit to the the fulfilling your measure of creation. I I really loved what you said there because I think that especially as as creative people, rather whether you're um someone who's producing music, you're writing books, you're uh an entrepreneur and you're building a business, you know, like like people in that space of creation, uh, they tend to, and I know I'm super guilty of this, think so big, right? That we kind of forget that sometimes that might not be the Lord's plan, right? Like maybe bits and pieces of it are, or maybe he wants you to get medium, or maybe he just wants you to stay small for a little while because he's got something else, you know, that he's gonna take you to. And so I think that um I I just I one I appreciated you bringing that up because I know for me uh I'm going on oh it'll be almost seven years. So six and a half years right now since I started my book. And it's just been sitting dormant for about a year now where I only have a couple chapters I have to finish. That's it. And I just I'm so it's beyond writer's block. It's like there is nothing going on in my head and everything that I had planned does not feel right anymore. And so it feels like I'm waiting for the Lord to give me direction on how to end this because my original plan is not how he wants me to end it. And what I'm thinking of right now doesn't also feel like maybe the right way to do it. And so now I'm like what are we doing here? And and with you saying that I'm like is that one of those things where maybe I was only supposed to go to that point for I mean hopefully not forever but like was it because it needed to get me through the the first five years after losing my brother did it need to you know like did it have a different purpose did it have a different reason for the creation of it that maybe I have already fulfilled what needed to be fulfilled so now anything extra is just extra right and and maybe is that why my brain is blank or my motivation is gone or you know whatever it is. I don't know I hope not because I really want to have a finished book so badly. Um but I I think it's interesting because I just had this conversation with my son today my uh my almost 19 year old he is just putting so much pressure on himself to figure out like what exactly he needs to do with his life and I'm like dude you're not even 19 like chill you're you're going to you're just do something like just do something you know like he he has been wanting to go on a mission but then he was kind of like I don't know and and then he talks about going in the military and then he talks about um going to college and he's just kind of all over the place and he just feels like he is stuck in indecision. And I kind of kept having to tell him today especially I was like dude like just do something just do something like you don't have to assume that what you're doing needs to be done perfectly or for the next 40 years of your life or whatever. You know it's just sometimes it'll be the thing that leads to the next thing you know and I think that's kind of what you were talking about with with quantity over quality too right like that whole like sometimes it's just exercise. Sometimes it's just to open one little door sometimes it's it's just to help you to overcome your imposter syndrome or to help you meet someone who's going to give you an idea or give you direction or be a sounding board for you right um so that to me is really interesting. I have I do have a question about you know you you brought up imposter syndrome a lot do you feel like in doing these books and in in the last few years that you've been writing do you feel like that is lessening for you like that that feeling of imposter syndrome or is that something that you're still struggling with and how are you helping other people to overcome what they're experiencing?

Cassidy Beck: 34:15

Um I have so many thoughts and I I I love um the question and I love your thoughts as well. And I would say um one thing I wanted to add to what I was saying before um I because like okay it was that moment in the temple that that hit me with the um feeling the measure of its creation and I was like okay let's learn a little bit more about that and I just there is a talk I it was uh BYU speeches by um Sister Holland um that goes into depth about that too. And so um if that's something you're interested in I would um recommend doing that. Um and I think um as entrepreneurs Alisha and both Alisha and Scott you guys can do this like relate to this as well. My dad was an entrepreneur um and I interview a lot of entrepreneurs as well and I think that there's just this thing like becoming an entrepreneur you have to be okay with a little bit of risk and you have to be okay with like not knowing because you're never going to know all the things that you need to know. And that's how we kind of like grow and you just have to know like a little bit to get to the next step. And um I I think that that is a little bit of um a part of imposter syndrome. So so to answer that question Alisha I it is something that I it is a voice in my head that I'm very familiar with. It is something that is pretty constant and and I think um you know I don't know if it is for other people as well I feel like every guest I well there's been um I think maybe one exception um that had did not know what I was talking about when I said the imposter syndrome. It is very common phenomenon I think especially as um as creatives I think we get a little bit of dose of imposter syndrome. I also think like possibly as latter day saints because we are such a purpose driven people that I think that that might come with um you know I I was just talking again about um the temple with a friend and she had said I think you know once I get everything's like figured out then I'm gonna go and that that's like one of those things that like if we waited for perfection like none of us would ever go to church none of us would ever partake of the sacrament none of us would ever go to the temple. And there's a I again really like imposter syndrome. I feel like I've done a lot of research of it there's um I think it's like five different kinds of ways that imposter syndrome manifests and one of them is like perfectionism and that like once things are totally perfect then I'm gonna move forward. And that time will never come because that there like you'll you'll never be able to totally figure out because none of us can tell the future or like what's going to happen.

Scott Brandley: 37:27

And and so anyway I don't that those are a couple of my thoughts did that answer your question yeah yeah I think so so I'm I've got some thoughts this is actually a really interesting topic so um I love the idea of billing the measure of your creation I mean we're all three of us are creators on the podcast here right um and I'm thinking about my career in business just as an example as you've been talking so I've built over 40 different software products over my career. Wow and I've only had three that have been successful right so um and one of them was really successful then one was kind of successful and one was okay the rest of them nothing happened but if I wouldn't have built the 37 other products I wouldn't have hit had those three successful products right and I you have to take the risk like you were saying Cassidy you have to be willing to to get out of your comfort zone I love the idea of quantity over quality because that does give you those opportunities to fail forward as long as you keep going you can learn from the things that you've done and you can do better on the next one and better on the next one and you don't know which one is going to be the big thing that has the the big impact right so there's that side of it. But then I was also thinking um from a personal perspective the measure of our creation we can impact other people but us creating actually helps us right right and if the worth of a soul is great in the sight of God and our soul is incredibly valuable and if and as we create we actually get especially with like church related things right we become closer to God whether anybody reads our book or listens to our music or whatever it is that we create on the church side we s we get converted and and become closer to him like I it took me nine years to finish my book and there was a lot I mean you guys know like it's grueling sometimes right you'll sit at the computer and you'll write something for hours and then you'll be like that's not right. Yeah you read it the next day and you're like what was I thinking yeah but it's the process it's the process and and to your um sorry I'm I got one more thought um to your idea of imposter syndrome so I've built 40 different software products I've started well over a dozen different companies and I'm building a new one right now we talked about this before the show a little bit but I still have that that imposter syndrome like I don't what if people aren't don't like it what if it fails right am I crazy why am I doing this again right I still have it and I've built lots of different companies but it's that's there's always that thing that that just gets at you and you just gotta push it down and just keep going I don't I don't know if you can ever get over it completely but I'm able to cope with it now a lot better than I did when I was younger. And maybe that's just the best we can do is just it gets smaller over time as we keep taking those risks and push forward.

Cassidy Beck: 41:23

I don't know what are your thoughts on that um okay so so Scott I I love it thank you for both like both of your um ideas so starting with the creation one um yes absolutely I think um it is kind of interesting because we believe that God created um with his son jesus christ created the world right created all of us and so I believe that creation is a part of our DNA yeah literally right like um because we're also called um to multiply and replenish the air there we go thank you yes yes yes that's what exactly not just with babies yes yes yes but not just with babies but also to to create and to um take care of the world around us and to look out for each other and also to create and um I think that that is definitely true. And I think um along those lines I was thinking um I I think there's a beautiful idea that you we're trying to reach the one and I think that that came from Christ that was just wanted the one and through this I have thought but what if I'm the one what if all of this is just to make me a slightly better person. Okay. Um hopefully I am helping others along the way hopefully my um life is one of service but also I feel like certainly I am being impacted. Okay. So to talk about imposter syndrome um I really like it. If that's something that any listeners are interested in these are two books that I would really recommend. So this is The Secret Thoughts of successful women and men why capable people suffer from imposter syndrome and how to thrive in spite of it. And um Jill Stoddard who has a PhD wrote Imposter syndrome no more overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome sorry imposterism to cultivate a successful career. I actually had the opportunity of interviewing Jill Stoddard is very cool. Cool it was really cool. So anyway um one of the things that she says that I really like and this is to um your point Scott that you have done all these incredible things like you've made a lot of stuff where you know what you're doing and and also that there's that voice that's like but do you really um I have a whole theory about this um we'll we if we can get to it if we have time but one of what she says is that that can serve as a neon sign to you to show you what's important. And when those like imposter when those imposter thoughts come up that is yourself telling like your your um kind of protective self saying this is really important and I get this right.

Scott Brandley: 44:36

And I think Scott like if you've developed this many software programs it seems like software is pretty important to yeah yeah well helping people I mean I build software to help people right to be more successful so yeah and I I feel like another cool thing I call it the singularity this is kind of something weird but over time Cassidy this is the craziest thing when as I've been moving in my career and building things um it feels like well we could probably say God on this podcast but a lot of times in business you say the universe right it's felt like things have been put in in front of me more and more as I go further down the path. And it's in fact it's happened so much in the last few years that it feels like it's coming to a point. And so I've actually called it the singularity and I call that in my office because it's happened so frequently that things just serendipitously come out of the woodwork to make what we're building possible. And when I look back I'm like how did all those things happen just coincidentally I I don't understand how it could happen without me taking the steps in faith even through the fear but then just pushing forward and then God just kind of puts things in your path to make it happen. That's a that's something that's really cool that I've that's happened so often that I actually make created a name for it.

Cassidy Beck: 46:16

Yes I love that so so if I can add to that um yes I totally agree um so I it was really cool I just um recently went to two weeks um with my husband to Italy I it's been like a lifelong dream and it just happened and it was amazing. I got to see the Sistine Chapel um it was really cool. I actually got to um be in a crowd when um the Pope came the new pope came um out is it was so cool. But um the the thing that I wanted to share with you was um seeing Michelangelo's David and the way that they had it um kind of like the showcase of it is they had several um statues that are unfinished like the unfinished prisoners and so you just see this like slab of stone and there is a slab of stone marble it's beautiful you know but but it's just and you can see as he is finishing you can see like um there's one that he was like working on the lake and you can see the little chisel marks and to go kind of like to the slow progressions of these different um not characters but different features different people that have come out and and um Michelangelo is quoted as saying that it is God that shows him like what is like what needs to be taken away and and what is in there. And it is so incredible to see the transition of how it just went from this lab to a masterpiece to refined beautiful delicate like you can see the veins in his hands you can see like his strength you can see his determination and it just is truly a masterpiece and I feel like that's also what you're saying Scott that like that God is working through you to also uncover these things so that you can create your measure of of the thing that you're working on to fill that measure of its creation.

Scott Brandley: 48:40

Well that kind of gives me another thought as we create we create our turn ourselves into a masterpiece yeah but how do you not be afraid of imposter syndrome how do you take it and use it for good because we know that everything can be used for good so how do we do that?

Cassidy Beck: 49:01

Yes so I um I feel like I hear you saying Alisha that like we're categorizing imposter syndrome as a negative but what if it is there to help us yeah yeah um so again one of the things I really like um this book um in the interview that I had with Jill she talked about how she named her that imposter voice that she heard um she named it Sheila and you know she would kind of like talk back to Sheila and she would say you are trying to protect me because I don't think like any of us want to feel stupid right like we don't want to feel like a failure or we don't want to like if this is something that's really important to us, we want to show like we want to represent ourselves in the best way that we can so I do want to clarify one thing here because I did have someone say um you know I don't experience imposter syndrome because I don't ever try and pretend to be someone that I'm not and that is not imposter syndrome. I feel like imposter syndrome is just that tiny voice in your head that says like you know who who do you kind of think that you are um other other things that it could possibly say uh have you guys seen K-pop demon hunters? I've not I've heard so much uh Alisha I'm too busy to watch TV I'm so sorry okay no worries but but but from that show um you know those the the kind of ideas I actually think it does talk about imposter syndrome without talking about imposter syndrome but um the main characters um deal with these ideas of I'm too much I'm not enough and what if people like uh knew the real me then they wouldn't uh accept me and I think those are more kind of the voices that imposter syndrome might make and so yes I do think um like it can help us prepare ourselves in a in a way that we can become our most authentic self um or that we can like write a book five times or or wait six years until it's like we have it at a point that we're like really comfortable with you know what I mean yeah yeah exactly yeah well and this the these kind of conversations are good for even for us to listen to together right because we we need that reassurance that when we do feel that we're not enough that it's okay to keep pushing because that's how we get to the next level that's how we become strong we we have to go through the trials to become stronger.

Scott Brandley: 52:14

Yeah and and imposter syndrome is a trial that I think we have to overcome along the way it's just one of those things it's just like fear or self-doubt you know like you've you've got to overcome those things in order to become stronger over time. Doesn't always doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna go away like I said I still have it. And there's days even now where I'm like what the heck am I doing? Am I crazy? Like you know and I've done this for my whole career so it's I still get it. That's been 25 years.

Alisha Coakley: 52:52

Yeah.

Cassidy Beck: 52:53

Okay. Um I wasn't gonna go here but I want to now um so so you know I I had mentioned before that I had like a theory and this is kind of my theory about imposter syndrome. I don't think it's by accident. I think it's one of the the great deceivers most potent uh tools that he uses against us and and why I think that is um you know I feel like in scripture we actually kind of see it in Moses. So um you know in Moses one we read that Moses has an incredible transformative experience with God. He he's able to see him face to face and um and then Moses says um I'm not gonna get the quote exactly right um no no satan um after after this satan comes to Moses and says um Moses son of man just just that like he he is trying to belittle him and in the screw tape letters um wormwood you guys are you familiar with the screw tape letters so um wormwood is a wise old devil and he gives instructions to his nephew through letters and in one letter he says as a preliminary to detaching this man from God you need to detach him from himself I think Satan uses uh imposter syndrome self-doubt fear these different types of things to belittle and downplay our divine identity makes sense yeah it makes sense I wouldn't agree with that so we just had um Calvin Bagley on Bagley right is that his last name anyway and he gave us like some suggestions for books that he really really loved and one of the books that he talked about I can't remember which one it is I'm gonna have to look it up but um he talked about how a lot of the times we tend to confuse like who we are with um thinking that we're our body we're our brain we're our emotions we're whatever he's like no like we're our spirits and so if you remember that your brain your emotions your trauma your body all those things are like different things that your spirit is kind of running right um and instead we be we let our spirit just be an observer instead of like a a judge or jury or executioner or that kind of stuff and and if we're having these moments like the imposter syndrome if we're having these voices come in it would be a good idea for us to practice um kind of getting in tune with like our spirit and being like okay I am my spirit so this imposter syndrome is coming from my brain or it's coming from my trauma or it's coming from a circumstance maybe the circumstance is that you're not yet a a published author or you're not yet a successful entrepreneur or you're not yet you know in this great relationship or something like that, right?

Alisha Coakley: 55:58

So it's coming from a temporary circumstance and if we can just take a minute to observe and just be like, oh that's interesting and just leave it at that like we don't have to give any emotion to it. We don't have we don't you know what I mean like maybe that is a thing that helps us to move forward a little bit more or to to take in just be like oh okay you're bringing up a problem that I haven't yet solved so how do I solve that problem that could also be maybe another I don't know another tool absolutely I think that's a great suggestion I think that's a great idea I like that a lot Alisha yeah that book he was the power of no there you go thank you Scott I know he's he's he suggested a few of them to us so I couldn't remember which one was which but wow this has been an interesting conversation I didn't realize was gonna go down this path but it's been actually really good.

Cassidy Beck: 56:53

Yeah I've loved it thank you is there any yeah yeah is there anything else that you'd like to share with us as we kind of wrap things up any last thoughts that you'd like to share with the audience yeah absolutely so if um anyone in your audience is looking to um looking for a life coach you can find me um on Sage first publishing um you can have like a my have a link to my podcast there and books and if you're interested in um having the newsletter I have a monthly newsletter as well perfect and we'll be sure to put those links for you for everyone in the description so easy to find you can look at your books at that site too yes um so it is you can get them from that site it is a link to Amazon gotcha um but yeah it's all there perfect awesome well um any any last words of encouragement yeah as you've done this as you know have you been able to overcome some of these things in your life or get a better understanding of them I think so I mean I like what you said Scott I feel like it's um it's something that is kind of interesting um one of the things that Jill said is you know even as even if you are a published author and you have all the success it's not going to go away because now you're gonna be performing at a different level and so I like Alisha what you were saying about being more comfortable with it and coming like kind of taking a step back and asking okay what what am I what's the lesson here? What can I learn from this and and how can I grow in this moment? And I think being able to just keep going I think um these these feelings that we have aren't accidental. And I think the way to combat them is to recognize them and also to embrace your divine identity. I like Alisha what you were saying.

Alisha Coakley: 58:58

I mean it is a very simple it's like a primary thing but like that you're a child of God and knowing that and owning that identity I think that that can kind of shift your strength to rise above yeah yeah exactly wow well this has been so good I I always love these ones where we get to have more of a discussion and and I feel like I walk away like knowing more. So thank you so much, Cassidy.

Cassidy Beck: 59:27

It's been my pleasure thank you so much for having me join you today.

Scott Brandley: 59:30

Yeah yeah of course yeah well thanks for everyone for tuning in to another episode of Latterday lights um if you have a story that you'd like to share we'd love to have you on go to latterdaylights.com or send us an email at latterdaylights at gmail.com yeah absolutely and make sure you guys do your five second missionary work click that share button uh comment on Cassidy's uh episode if you're listening to it and just let her know what you think about imposter syndrome what you should

Alisha Coakley: 1:00:00

Struggle with, um, what you have found helps you. I think that would be really great to keep this conversation going in the comments. So um make sure you guys do that and uh be sure to tune in for another episode of Lattery Lights next Sunday.

Scott Brandley: 1:00:15

Till then. Well take care. Bye guys. What are your thoughts on that?

Cassidy Beck: 1:00:30

Oh, I have so many. Um so I love it. Um sorry, edit that part out. Um, okay.