How I Overcome Impostor Syndrome

Do you ever suffer from impostor syndrome? Maybe you are starting a new career, maybe there is a promotion you want to ask for or a raise you think you deserve.

Here are a few ways I navigate my impostor syndrome whenever it flares up.

• Talk about it
• Over prepare
• Recognize that you are in a position of growth/opportunity for a reason
• Creating a pick me up folder
• Playback your greatest hits
• Remember that it is okay to not know everything

Transcript

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You might be freaking out and having an imposter syndrome for a bunch of different reasons. It could be you're starting a new career, it could be that there's a promotion that you want to ask for, and then you start telling yourself all the reasons why you're not qualified. There you could be wanting to ask for a raise, but uh, even though you really want it, you feel that you deserve it, then all of a sudden that imposter syndrome creeps in. It's overwhelming sometimes because all these things happen in our head. This is techie personal finance bootcamp where I help tech professionals in their 20s and 30s develop a great life today without sacrificing their future possibilities. I'm your host, Lucas Casaris, certified financial planner and founder of Level Up Financial Planning, where I help educate, coach, and build strategies with my clients to help them take their financial confidence to the next level. Here's an important compliance disclosure. This podcast is for informational purposes only and are not to be considered recommendations. It is recommended you consult your trusted financial professional before implementing any information obtained from the Techie Personal Finance Bootcamp. Welcome to Techie Personal Finance Bootcamp. Today I'm excited. I'm going to share with you how I handle imposter syndrome. And so I know I'm not a techie officially like everyone else listening to these episodes are, but I just thought it'd be helpful to kind of dive in and share with you a couple of the ways that I handle imposter syndrome. And I know I've had a few episodes, talked about this a little bit, but it's never been a focal point where we just dedicated the whole episode to unraveling how to overcome these things. And again, I I know I don't have your same role, I don't have your same current situation, whether it be financially or career-wise, or just even your background and kind of what where your strengths and weaknesses are. But I'm still hoping that today's episode will be helpful for you just to give you a couple of different tips and tricks that maybe you weren't aware of or maybe you have used in the past, but you just kind of let them fade off, and you're not this is going to be like a good refresher for those types of tricks that you've used to use, and then you just haven't had to use them for a while. So when all of a sudden imposter syndrome kicks in, you forget how to adjust and kind of take control over what's going on in your mind and causing you to freak out. So you might be freaking out and having imposter syndrome for a bunch of different reasons. It could be you're starting a new career, it could be that there's a promotion that you want to ask for, and and then you start telling yourself all the reasons why you're not qualified. There you could be wanting to ask for a raise, but even though you really uh want it, you feel that you deserve it, then all of a sudden that imposter syndrome creeps in and you start kind of challenging yourself as far as, well, here's a couple of chinks or weaknesses in your armor. Like, are you sure this is something you want to do? So I I know it's it's overwhelming sometimes because all these things happen in our head. It's not typically the things that we say out loud or have conversations about. So that's definitely one of the things I've found to be super helpful whenever I'm struggling with some of those things. Just even talking about it out loud with someone will help you kind of work through. And then it's cool too, because a lot of times if they're kind of a trusted resource, they'll both point out, like, hey, that makes sense. Um that they hear you, they say, like, how can you improve that? And they can also address too if you're just being crazy, because yeah, there's definitely plenty of those times where it's just not even founded in reality, some of your concerns and some of the things that we make up in our head. So a few other ways that I've helped kind of control my imposter syndrome is actually over-prepare. If there's a situation where I don't have as much control or feel like I might be underprepared, then I take every opportunity. I'll stay up super late research and stuff so that I'm as informed as possible. I'm able to answer a lot of different questions, so not just uh be able to provide like definitions, but actually run different strategies through my head. I was always one of those annoying students in class where I want to ask normal questions. I'd ask like the most ridiculous, like, well, what if this, or like try to think of all the the ways that I could kind of find to attack things that are not easily addressable. Like I would always ask those types of questions. And teachers would some teachers would like it a lot because they're like, oh, he gets the basics and and now he's like asking some really thought-provoking stuff. But then some teachers are like, this guy's just trying to to make me look bad because I don't know the answer, or I like don't don't know how to even address what he's asking. So it's something that I've always done. I always want to look for that rare situation, all those different thoughts, because it's very easy for someone to share this is the positives, this and the negatives, but they don't typically go too much deeper as far as strategy or how would you handle this or that situation. So that's just some of the ways that I mentally over-prepare. I try to find uh the basics, and once I feel like I'm good there, then I start kind of going into those what-if scenarios that um actually makes it a little bit fun for me in that over-preparation process. So that's something I don't know if it's healthy or not, but I have gained a lot of knowledge, probably more knowledge than I need to, because again, it's called over-preparing for a reason. I learned a lot of stuff, and then a lot of times I I run into that situation and it comes up and I handle pretty the most basic form of that question or scenario, and we don't have to go into all that additional stuff that I learned. So yeah, definitely may not be the most efficient team, but it's it's given me confidence and it has kind of increased my knowledge to be able to go in and and feel like I can confidently answer any question or most any question, any way this conversation could develop. So another thing I do is I recognize that I'm in that position for a reason. And this probably helped more back when I was like an employee when I uh first became a financial planner. I wasn't necessarily a career changer, but I took forever to figure out what career I wanted. It took nine years to graduate from college, and along the way, I was working in credit unions and community banks, and so it was a big difference, and it was a big change to just kind of dive in and actually be looking at everyone's financial situation. Uh, some of these people had like $500,000 or more, and there was actually one scenario where it was crazy. This is really something I felt like empowered me to feel like I could have the confidence. This is something I leaned on specifically, this example I'm about to share with you, to feel like I could start level up financial planning. So I was thrown into the wolves like right away. So I started and like within the first week, I was given financial planning advice to clients, which was crazy to me because the the advisor wasn't there. He was on vacation. So basically, I was the only uh advisor in the office and I knew how to answer it, but I just haven't ever had to sit down and actually talk someone through it. It was always test-based, and it would always be something I'd run through scenarios in my head. So that freaks me out the first time, but that wasn't the crazy time. The crazy time was a few months later, there was some unique situation where my boss ended up calling in. He was not going to be coming in. We didn't know when he was coming back. And so, because of that, and the day that it happened, he had like his top clients. They had like, I think the largest client had like four million dollars, and the lowest client I was meeting with that day maybe had like a million, a million and a half of investments. That doesn't include their their home equity and stuff like that. So he calls in, I'm just a few months into my role, and he says, you know what, I'm not gonna be able to come in, I'm not sure when I'm coming back, but I need you to run with these meetings because it doesn't even make sense to cancel them or push them out because I don't know when I'm coming back. It's like, uh, I trust you, just do do what you've been doing up until now. And yeah, if you run into questions, just know uh you can reach me by text. Uh, and there's other resources too that I know that you're good at asking those types of questions. So just recognizing that you're in that position for a reason. And so I was in that position and he trusted me for a reason to be able to handle those things. And so that's something that as freaked out as I was, like in between every meeting, I just had to like recycle myself up. Um, it was non-stop. So I don't even think I took a lunch adrenaline just pumped in the whole day long. And so, like, that was something I leaned on ever since, and and even before going into that, it was him having that confidence in me. And for a lot of you listening, you're in this position for a reason. There's so many people, the the job market, everything is competitive out there, and so someone had to believe in you above the other hundred people that have been applying or that could have basically had the same skill set that is on paper as you. So it's crazy when you're given an opportunity, and a lot of times it's because they see something else, they see that you're a good fit either culturally or they like your attitude, that they just see something in you that you may not even see in yourself, but there's a reason for that, and you just kind of have to lean on uh those strains, the things that they see as being beneficial, and even if they're not fully developed, a lot of times people are predicting where you're potentially going in the future. So that's important to be aware of. You may not be the perfect fit today, but they trust that you're gonna be an even better fit in the future and a better fit than some of the other options. So you're in this position for a reason, and that's something I've had to lean on and uh help kind of ride out. And and some would say fake it till you make it to situations too, but it's it's definitely that, but it's also people have seen other successful people, and when when they recognize something in you, uh just know that they recognize that you share qualities or traits that they think is gonna be a successful uh benefit for them. You'd like to think they're doing it for you, but ultimately at the same time, like they're trying to uh better their team, better their situation, and and that makes sense, right? So that's that's important to just recognize that you're here for a reason and you're getting this opportunity for a reason. What you do with it, that's entirely up to you. Uh whether everything plays out as everyone expects, who knows, but it's an opportunity and it's what you do with it and how you can grow from that situation. So there's another thing, too, I do. So since I started my business, I've been keeping a running list of kind of like nice notes, major impacts I made for clients, uh, reviews that my clients will give me. And unfortunately, half of them I had to remove because there's there's only two spots I'm aware of that from a compliance standpoint, reviews can actually stay up. It'd be Yelp, which Yelp likes removing things just randomly, anyways, even if they're legitimate, and then Google. Uh, but if uh someone leaves me a recommendation on LinkedIn or on a review on Facebook, because I can control those things, I'm actually required to remove those, unfortunately. But what I do is I take a screenshot, save them, and then those are some of the nice notes and kind of images I go back to if um I real like, oh man, why did I start this or why did I why am I doing this thing? So yeah, you can do the same thing, kind of keep a running list of the positive stuff, the cool stuff, the experiences that you would have never had, the people that you're able to meet and impact that you would have never had the opportunity of if you wouldn't have been making these decisions, some of these things that are forcing you into these uncomfortable imposter syndrome type scenarios. So that's something that is just fun and it's it's cool. It's more cool for me now because it seems like those things are happening more often because I'm I actually have clients to help. At first, it was like I have four clients, and like sure, like they were happy and whatnot, but like I would only get like a nice note when I'm interacting with them, and it was maybe just a small amount of times over the course of the year. And then now now I'm definitely grown to be a multiple of that, and it it seems like the last few weeks more specifically, like people are just super thankful, and and I I try to lock that in my memory bank. I try to go and keep it track of it in Excel spreadsheet or like a folder on just to kind of remind me of these things. So, yeah, those are just a couple ways you can track that stuff. Excel spreadsheet, uh running notes on your phone, have a file folder with some of these things, and just kind of put all your uh things in there. This is another cool thing too, and it kind of relates to the notes, but uh playing back your greatest hits. Um, how this is different for me is when I kind of am able to go back and be like, hey, I know, I know I'm not probably the very best financial planner ever, but I feel like I'm pretty good, and I think that I try extremely hard to scrape every possible aspect of how I could potentially add value. And when I kind of find something that I don't think another planner would find or another advisor would find or do or help with, and and I make that happen, then to me that's kind of like what hits my greatest hits uh memory rank. Kind of stepping up that one day and helping all those uh clients of my bosses is one of the greatest hits I kind of go back to too. So I know that's kind of a similar scenario that I've already mentioned, so I'm not gonna go into that again. But then there's another one where I've saved some guy like $80,000 in taxes from some unique tax rule that even his own tax preparer, his CPA, like didn't even bring up. And it was just after having a couple conversations with him. So there's like some crazy scenarios where I'm like, hey, if it wasn't for me, I I know for a fact like this wouldn't have happened. And so those those are things that go into my greatest hits where I feel like I kind of overachieved and provided like way more value than anyone could have ever expected, types of things. So those are things I kind of put into my memory bank too, and and kind of look back on like, all right, like I'm not I'm not a horrible financial planner, like I actually know what I'm doing, and and I have some cool, cool, unique stories to share too. The last one I'm gonna hit on as far as tips is just remembering that it's okay to say it you don't know, especially uh I know a lot of people listening to this are programmers, they're uh engineers, and like it's your job to create new things, and with that, there's gonna be lots of road bumps, there's gonna be lots of new stuff you have to figure out and understand. And even even for my line of work, it doesn't happen as often because I'm so niche uh focused, but every now and then when there is new stuff that could give me that imposter syndrome to creep up, like, hey, um, one of my clients has uh an ex-spouse that has some military benefits, and we wanted to see how that relates to benefits for her child. And so that wasn't in my comfort zone at all. I had to go and figure out as it's like I have no clue, but I do know how to figure things out, and if not, I know a few other people I can connect with. And so, same thing for you. Uh, you you have a community, you have a network that you can lean on and figure these things out. And most of the time you have the time to say, hey, sorry, I I want to make sure I do this right, I want to make sure that this is the best possible. So I'm gonna figure this out because I don't know right now. So that's that's fine. Uh, I have to do that often. Earlier in my career, I did it all the time. And so people appreciate that. So I know it's scary at first, the first few times, especially if you're in a new job or a new team, and you're like, ah man, they're gonna think I'm so like I have no clue what I'm doing. And like, in all honesty, if those people are even like halfway decent, uh co-workers or bosses, like they're gonna remember back to their first day, their first week, and how stressful it was and how many times they messed up because they forgot to ask or they were trying not to ask. So it's it's almost the best thing you could ever do is say, hey, I don't know, I'll figure it out. And then one thing though that I do know other people get annoyed with is don't ask the same question twice. So if if you're not really good at remembering things, take notes, store it somewhere. I I know that drives people crazy. People are willing to help, but they're not willing to help with the same exact question twice because that gets very frustrating, especially when we're all busy. So that's that's a tip. Know that it's okay to say, hey, I don't know. I'm gonna figure it out, or can you help me? Uh would be appropriate. But then when you do get help with that, never ask that same question again. Make sure you know how to take notes to where you'll you'll be able to apply those and find those. So with that, I just want to close out saying that I think imposter syndrome is actually a good thing. So I know we're we're trying to find ways to overcome it, but it's only so that we can better ourselves and and kind of put ourselves into more situations to be an imposter and feel like we're having that imposter syndrome going on because I feel like imposter syndrome only occurs because we are trying to grow, we're trying to improve our skills, improve our life, and that's that's uncomfortable. That means you have to go outside of your normal comfort zone, and that's where imposter syndrome kind of gets flicked on. So it's not a bad thing to be in that zone. And if you're in there often and you're solving stuff and figuring stuff out, it's only gonna be better for you in the long term. And I actually thrive off of imposter syndrome as uh some of the examples I just mentioned. Like, I I enjoy that kind of intense, like, hey, we need to figure this out. And so yeah, try to try to think of it as a positive thing. Recognize when that goes off that that's what it is, then you can kind of see how you can navigate this and then actually tear it up, be awesome with whatever project or work item that you're kind of working on, and know that hey, I'll see you again in a couple weeks, in a day, in a couple months, like when you're uh because your goal is to continuously grow. So uh hopefully that's the case, and I really appreciate you listening to the full episode and reach out if you have any questions. Thank you for listening to Techie Personal Finance Bootcamp. Remember, if you like what you've been hearing, to subscribe, review, and share with your friends and colleagues. I'm also still taking suggestions for future episode topics and guests. If you want to take your connection to the show to the next level, you can find me on LinkedIn or on Facebook. Catch you next time on Techie Personal Finance Bootcamp.