Peace Out Imposter Syndrome (w/Brendan Fitzgibbons)

In this mind-blowing solo episode, Brendan will tell you why you never have to have imposter syndrome again. Spoiler alter: look at who's running for president. 

He goes all in on: 

• Why imposter syndrome NEVER has to be a thing.  
• What Donald Trump and Joe Biden's race for president says about us.
• Brendan's epic takedown of a Gold's Gym human statue. 
• Very real techniques that prove how INSANELY powerful you are. 
• And why the thumbs up text emoji is the rudest emoji of all time. 

RESOURCES
Brendan Fitzgibbons
Another Way of Looking at Imposter Syndrome
Joe Dispenza on Breaking the Addiction of Your Past
The Worst Emoji of All Time

Transcript

I don't know about you, but I think the emojis that you can use to respond to a text are having the exact opposite effect as to what they're supposed to be doing.  

For example, if I send someone like a really,  

Very dope text and all they respond back is with a heart emoji and your first thought is, go fuck yourself. 

But there is nothing, nothing worse. Then a thumbs up emoji response. You ever send somebody a heartfelt text and they just write you back thumbs up? Can you imagine if you did that in real life? You went up to your buddy and you were just like, Hey, yeah, I've been going through some really hard times. I [00:01:00] think I have seasonal depression disorder and I just Really need to just be around more people and yeah, I'm having some really dark thoughts I don't really know where to turn. 

 Cool! Thumbs up! Hey, yeah, I just decided that I think I'm not gonna keep the baby. Thumbs up! There's got to be a better emoji that we can use to communicate with people that shows that we care But we don't really want this conversation to continue It's like an ear and then one eye asleep while the other is checking Instagram Or maybe it's an emoji of a guy volunteering for Greenpeace and underneath it It says I'm pretending to care Anything is better than thumbs up, guys. 

Please like and subscribe to this post by hitting a thumbs up. Welcome everybody to a brand new episode of Spiritual Asshole. I'm your host, Brendan Fitzgibbons. I am so excited that you're here. I'm so excited you've been listening to this podcast. I'm so excited that you've been reaching out to me on Instagram. 

I'm talking to you, Rachel Epp. Thank you so much for reaching out to me and just know that you're part of a community of great people who reach out to me and love hearing from you. Feel free to reach out, ask questions and suggest guests to me on Instagram [00:02:00] at the underscore Brenna Fitzgibbons, also on YouTube and TikTok. 

Also, please like, and subscribe, and please follow our Patreon. and please, whatever you do, give me a bunch of thumbs up. Okay, I want to start somewhere kind of cool and a little different. I posted this on my Instagram, and these are thoughts that I have all the time, and I'm going to start posting them more. 

I have somewhat found myself in this interesting place of like, I love comedy. I just want to make people laugh. But at the same time I get these insanely deep thoughts. You're listening to this podcast, you know? So I'm always like figuring out, I have this like weird thing in my brain where like, if I'm not being funny in 36 seconds, I'm like, I got to go, this is probably a block, but there's a whole other side of me on Instagram and social media that I'm going to start showing a lot more that you guys are very familiar with, but sometimes people on the internet don't know yet. 

So anyways, I posted this because I've been thinking a lot about this. Here's what I wrote. Alternative thought, if the most powerful position in the world comes down to a twice impeached, nearly assassinated game show host with over 18 women accusing him of sexual assault, [00:03:00] plus 34 convicted felony accounts, and an 81 year old man who couldn't get through dish soap instructions, maybe, just maybe, all your dreams aren't that crazy. 

 I got a nice response from this post on Instagram, and my friend Emily reached out to me and she was just like, This is why nobody should have imposter syndrome, and I'm like, exactly. I've mentioned this before several times in this podcast, I'll say it again. When I saw Jen Chinchero speak, she's the author of You Are a Badass, and she said, The number one question she gets from everybody is, How do I deal with imposter syndrome? 

 And the truth is, A great starting place is to know that everybody has imposter syndrome, number one, and number two, everybody's winging it, and number three, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are candidates for president. I don't mean this in like a cynical, funny way, Like, oh, it, although it is in a lot of ways, very fucking funny. 

If you were to zoom out, I just mean that one of the things I am thankful for, [00:04:00] despite how much people think our political reality is just like so dire and sad. I see it differently. I've been following politics for a while. I see it much more differently. I'm not saying I like it. I'm not saying it's good. 

I just think, like, they are reflections of us. They are mirrors. As much as people don't want to hear that, they are a mirror to our collective consciousness. Flat out, okay? So if that's true, if the two biggest mirrors right now that we are seeing in America that are showing us, that's why I think people felt so sad the night of the debate. 

I think the assassination attempt also made us profoundly sad, as it should. Because we're like, fuck, they are us. And especially for the people who like are so, um, I'm America, especially the people who are just wearing kid rock shorts. I don't know what those are, by the way. Do you know that kid rock has a grandson who's releasing a new album called kid pebble. 

That is the best joke you'll hear this entire podcast. What I think is so cool is that they are showing us [00:05:00] We're seeing this in real time. . Objectively, I think the majority of the country feels this way. 70 percent of people probably feel like. They both shouldn't be there. 

They're both not qualified. I don't want to get into who's better or who's worse. Doesn't matter. for the purpose of this argument, right? But I think what they're really showing us, and especially Trump, Because Biden had a political background, right? Is that I think is the biggest blessing from this is that they're showing us that the agreed upon reality that we all try to come to some kind of consensus conclusion on, , this is the way things are, this is how it is, never existed in the first place. 

And actually the only reality we should all come together and agree on is the fact that that reality never existed. is always changing, and it will never be the same, and it is the complete Wild West. And I don't mean this in an anarchistic way, I mean it in the sense that, again, you are these infinite, unique balls of consciousness. 

That's all you are. [00:06:00] With a thousand trillion billion possibilities and capabilities, all the abilities, and the only thing that's stopping you are your own limitations or society's limitations that you put on yourself or that we've adopted. That's it. And I think what's cool about Trump and Biden is saying like, if this is true, this whole thing that we think is reality is a giant free for all fuck around. 

And I've been saying this so much lately that this is a fuck around. And I don't mean that in a negative way at all, like the literal, actual exact opposite that there are no rules. And the truth is the more you align with yourself, the more you align with your higher purpose, all of those, All of those quote, rules and like right quote, wrong ways to do stuff. 

You're going to most likely probably act that way, but you're not going to do it out of a moral to do the quote, right thing. You're going to do it because of your aligned spirit is that high and it's taking you down that road. This is where it's been a huge growth shift for [00:07:00] me. I used to always be like, you know, when you're, when you're growing up, someone hands you a blueprint, they hand you, They hand you an instruction manual, the Bible, the hand you academia, the hand you science, and they say, take your blueprints with you. Go out there, have a great time, but follow these, because that's what's going to ultimately bring you to where you want to go, right? Sometimes that's true, and I have to say that, that's just the start, okay? 

Because the real blueprint, is the incredible, incredible burst of consciousness and endless possibility that exists within you. Period. Okay? So the more you tap into that, That guidance, that guiding will always show you. Okay, where'd it go? But what, what I think is just so dope is like, Guys. 

Specifically anybody who's like, I don't know if I am talented enough to give this presentation. I don't know if I'm talented enough to have this promotion. I don't know if I am talented enough to public speak. Just remember, a [00:08:00] game show host Just remember, Just remember, if somebody handed Joe Biden an ice cream cone right now, he might think that that's his wife. Okay? And I'm not Biden, by the way. much more like disappointed in the people surrounding him that are trying to act like all of this is okay. 

But again, we're becoming too smart for this, y'all. We're too enlightened, all right? We're too good. And just keep telling yourself, the more you tell yourself And the more that you push through this quote imposter syndrome, and dude, I've had it. We've all had it. The more that the rest of everybody else will believe you in thinking that you know what you're doing. 

I think the person who wins in a room is just the person who acts like they know what they're doing the most. And it's not about winning, but it's like watch what happens when you do that. Okay, so let's keep talking about why this is a fuck around. I will tell you a fun story. I recently got a sick ass Groupon to join Gold's Gym. 

Classic. When you think Brenna Fitzgibbons, you think hardcore bodybuilder. Okay? You think Arnold Schwarzenegger, [00:09:00] Terminator 1. Not 2. Not Amateur Hour. Okay, I go into Gold's Gym. At these gyms, as most of you know, they try to upsell you on memberships. And I was ready for it. I wasn't in a great mood. I wasn't in a great state. 

I was like, okay, 20 year old checks me in at the front desk and he's like, Okay, my boss has to talk to you. So this guy named Ali, jacked manager, comes out from behind these glass doors and he's like, Brendan, hi, how are you? I was like, here we fucking go. I felt like I was getting taken into a room to buy a rental car, okay? 

I was like, oh boy. He takes out this laminated sheet, and he's like, Okay, so right now, I just want you to know, We have a special deal with Groupon, okay? We talked, we have this deal. If you pay 49. 99 a month, right now, you get access to this, and this, and this. Keep in mind, I haven't even worked out at all yet. 

I just got into the gym. And he's like, Okay, so it's right now, but you have to make that call today. This is only going to happen one time. And I don't know about you, I hate, I don't like this pressure. But this is also again what I was talking about, about person with the strongest point of view usually [00:10:00] wins. 

 Cause I almost caved, y'all. I was very close to doing this cause I just wanted him to shut the fuck up, and I'm sure we've all had this experience before. And I was like, okay, okay. He keeps going. Okay, he's like, so what do you think? I was like, I don't think so. He's But why is this your first time at a gym? 

I'm like, no, he's like, what gym were you at before? I was like, I don't know. He's like, well, why won't you do it? Then he kept going. 99 percent of people buy this deal. 99 percent of people get this membership. Do you know 99 percent of people? Why aren't you doing it? And finally I go, because I don't like your overall vibe. 

I don't like what you're doing. And he's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, you know what you're doing, man? You're being super pushy. I find it extremely off putting. I just want to work out. I just want to be here. I just want to go and work out. So we sat in awkward silence for five minutes. And then, uh, the next day I went into the gym and they canceled my membership, which I'm going to go fix today. 

 But I was like, I'm just gonna sit in this but again this guy almost overpowered me because he was so confident and strong and also he could squash Me with one of his [00:11:00] pectorals. It didn't matter. Okay. What was interesting was I was like sitting in that state And this is gonna come back to what I want to talk to you guys about I'm sitting in that chair and I'm like Okay I could bend to this guy or I could fuck with reality and say this to this guy and watch what happens Okay, and this is what I want to talk to you about I want you today and tomorrow to experiment with your reality and I want you to start realizing how incredibly powerful you are and how you are the operant power of your life. 

That the world is actually responding to you, you are not responding to the world, okay? Play around with this, I'm telling you. I am seeing it so clearly in a way before that I've never seen before. And it's incredible. And especially if you start looking at it objectively, Sean Clayton said this great thing recently where he said, we can feel your thoughts. 

Okay. So your whole inner world is reflected back to you. This is true. If you don't believe me, play around with this. For [00:12:00] example, is there somebody in your life that you do not like? If so, that's okay. Mine is a guy named Ali. He's a manager at Gold's gym. If you have to interact with this person a lot and you don't like them, how are they interacting with you objectively? 

Now let's flip it. Spend a lot of time, just one day, thinking incredible thoughts about this person. Just try to do it. If it's your family, or an ex, or a friend, it might be tough. But if it's somebody at work, you can flip this. Watch what happens. And now watch how differently they look to you. Try it. And if you really want to be a rebel, flip it the other way. 

Is there somebody you really like? Start thinking shitty thoughts about them. I don't recommend that. But watch what happens. Just try it. Just watch. Just try it. let's play this game. I want you to go into a coffee shop or a restaurant that you usually really, really like, or frequent. Or a bar. Okay? I want you to walk in there in an incredibly [00:13:00] heightened, happy state. 

You're in a great mood. What does that place look like to you? Okay? How are you feeling? Now, take some time. Maybe it's a day, maybe it's a couple hours. Go back to that place when you're in a different state. Look around. See how that place is to you. How does it feel now? Have you guys ever gone to a bar, had a great time, left and came back later, and it felt super weird? 

That's because your state changed. Yes, also because it was an off track betting site and you have a gambling problem. But I do think that it always shows you where you're at. The world will always show you where you're at. It's not, it's not, 100 percent perfect, and thank god it's not. You're allowed to think a bad thought about someone and it's not going to come fucking smacking you back in the face. 

This is not about perfection. This is not about anything other than I want you to see how powerful you are. I don't care if you think bad thoughts, I think bad thoughts. This is not about Pollyanning stuff. It's about just seeing [00:14:00] and starting to realize how much you can change your reality. Based on your thoughts and what you get back based on your thoughts. 

Just try it. What's the worst that's going to happen. And I want you to pay particular attention to those thoughts that you have with someone or something that you don't have a history with a story resistance, watch how quickly that will manifest and change in your life. With those things. It's crazy. 

Okay. So Joe Dispenza is straight up changing my life. I have never been this consistently happy. And this consistently able to deal with 3D shit that I normally would make me panic and freak out. And I am all in on this guy. So hard. So much. Mainly because he has clearly showed me how much my current reality was dictated by my past known circumstances. 

Okay? So let me repeat these words. I've been saying this a lot. [00:15:00] How often when you wake up in the morning? Are you thinking the exact same thoughts? Are you doing the exact same thing? And then you're looking around and asking yourself, Why is my life not changing? Why is nothing getting better? It is because you are addicted to the past. 

This is not a damnation thing. It's because I'm telling you this because I'm realizing it. Why is it so dope to be young? You have no story. Why is it so dope to be young and in love? You have no past. You have no story. You're just in love. That person doing that sweet thing isn't the five exes you had who did that thing, who might abandon you, who are pieces of shit, who are addicted to off track betting sites. 

It's because of your past. Okay. And so what I'm going to play this clip from Dispenza and it's mind blowing because I was like, this just described the endless loop cycle I've been in for [00:16:00] the last three years, more or less. Things have been getting better. In my life, but a very slow, turtle like pace, if I'm being really honest. 

And I think it's because, 100%, my addiction to my past. The people I date, the people, the jobs I book, my financial situation, I have no story about my health, or my friends, or my ability to have fun. So those things are always manifesting really nicely in my life because I am not addicted to the past story of those things. 

Okay. And you're only addicted to the past story of those things because your brain's trying to keep you safe. And it's trying to make sure that you don't step out into an unknown territory, which could potentially harm you. Fun fact, as Joe Dispenza says, the unknown has never let me down. And that's actually where all your growth is. 

But I would just simply ask yourself if you're thinking bad thoughts, if you're upset, [00:17:00] if you're depressed. If you're ruminating, ask yourself this question and ask it objectively. Am I thinking about my past? Am I? And if you are physically, turn yourself and do this by doing a Joe Dispenza meditation. 

It's incredible. They are incredible. They are very long. And he sounds like. Frankenstein, I think I'm going to do a fake one. Well, I just had that great idea. I'm going to do a fake mock Joe Dispenza meditation. Become a wah. It's like if Joe Dispenza, I would love to picture the edit of his meditations. 

And they're like, okay, Joe's like, okay, this is great. Is there any way you can make me sound more like an unhinged monster? Become a wah of the space. Anyways, here's Joe Dispenza. I want to end and close on this. I love you guys. Next week, we're gonna have a great guest. And we're going to talk about near death experiences next week, which is so cool. 

And it actually ties in really to what. [00:18:00] Dispenza talks about, about how when you step into the infinite possibility and the infinite field of consciousness, you are no thing, no one, in no time. And it's just a feeling of like, all of your past doesn't exist in this moment, and it's how you can create whatever the fuck you want. 

Anything, if you step into this state, cause you're so powerful. And these are feelings that you can have meditating, I've had it on psychedelics, I've had it performing on stage, I've had it being in love. When you disappear, it's when you become this insanely powerful, creative self that I know you guys all are. 

You are the best. Thank you so much for joining us. I hope you have the best week ever. I believe all your dreams can come true. I believe there's endless love here for you. Here he is Joe Dispenza. People wake up in the morning, uh, they begin to think about their problems. Those problems are circuits of memories in the brain. Each one of those memories are connected to people and things at certain times and [00:19:00] places. And if the brain is a record of the past, the moment they start their day, they're already thinking in the past. 

Each one of those memories has an emotion. Emotions are the end product of past experiences. So the moment they recall those memories of their problems, they all of a sudden feel unhappy. They feel sad. They feel pain. Now, how you think and how you feel creates your state of being. So the person's entire state of being when they start their day is in the past. 

So what does that mean? The familiar past will sooner or later be predictable future. So, If you believe that your thoughts have something to do with your destiny, and you can't think greater than how you feel, or feelings have become the means of thinking, by very definition of emotions, you're thinking in the past. 

And for the most part, you're gonna keep creating the same life. So then people grab their cell phone, they check their WhatsApp, they check their text, they check their emails, they check Facebook, they take a picture of their feet. They post it on Facebook, they tweet something, they do [00:20:00] Instagram, uh, they check the news, and now they feel really connected to everything that's known in their life. 

And then they go through a series of routine behaviors. They get out of bed on the same side, they go to the toilet, they get a cup of coffee, they take a shower, they get dressed, they drive to work the same way, they do the same things, they see the same people, they push the same emotional buttons, and that becomes the routine, and it becomes like a program. 

So now they've lost their free will to a program. And there's no unseen hand doing it to them. So when it comes time to change, the redundancy of that cycle becomes a subconscious program. So now 95 percent of who we are by the time we're 35 years old is a memorized set of behaviors, emotional reactions, unconscious habits, hardwired attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions that function like a computer program. 

So then person can say with their 5 percent of their conscious mind, I want to be healthy. I want to be happy. I want to be free. But the [00:21:00] body is on a whole different program. So then how do you begin to make those changes? Well You have to get beyond the analytical mind because what separates the conscious mind from the subconscious mind is the analytical mind. 

And that's where meditation comes in because you can teach people, through practice, how to change their brainwaves, slow them down. And when they do that properly, they do enter the operating system where they can begin to make some really important changes. Most people then wait for crisis or trauma or disease or diagnosis. 

You know, they wait for loss, some tragedy to make up their mind to change. And my message is why wait? And, and you can learn and change in a state of pain and suffering, or you can learn and change in a state of joy and inspiration. I think right now, The cool thing is that people are waking up. [00:22:00]