How to get unstuck by tackling Imposter Syndrome

The thing about being stuck and getting unstuck is that there is no permanent fix. Something WILL get into your head again and have you feeling as though you aren’t enough. Feelings of inadequacy and imposter syndrome will resurface. 

A few months ago I read the book “Think Again” by Adam Grant. In chapter two he addresses how we can reframe imposter syndrome. He states three key ways that feeling like an imposter is beneficial to the overall outcome of our work. The first way is that it can motivate us to work harder. That slight lack of confidence allows us to think we have something to prove and we then put in the work to prove it. The second way is that it can motivate us to work smarter. When we don’t think our win will be automatic we are open to rethinking our methods and strategies. Lastly, the third way is that it makes us better learners. Our doubts leave room in our minds to learn new things and be open to insights from the people and things around us. 

Reading that chapter really helped me to reframe how I thought about having imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome can be looked at as the thing that holds us back, or we can look at it in this new way as the thing that catapults us forward. My imposter syndrome wasn’t because I wasn’t enough, but because I wanted to do more. I was rethinking and evolving but I also needed to share my work during this process vs work in secret until I “got it right”.

In my most recent tussle with imposter syndrome, I have been stuck about publishing content again. These past few years I’ve learned so many life and business lessons that I want to share. BUT imposter syndrome crept in because…I wanted to publish content that was 10x better than my previous content. My head would spin for hours and days about what to create, when to release it, how to edit it, what would it look like, how would I market it, and so on. 

And you know what that led me to do…NOT PUBLISH CONTENT!

My ideas stayed as ideas, journal entries, half worked on projects, and more and more time kept passing. I made up a story in my head that I couldn’t publish content because of my appearance. I had matured, and I needed to “look that way”. Afterall all the social media business influencers looked “polished”. Would anyone care about what I had to say if I didn’t have that “look”? In my story, everything including my website, logo, physical appearance, and social media needed to be more polished to reflect the businesswoman I was now into instead of the Get Shit Done, scrappy startup kid that I was before.

After months of excuses and believing this story I made up, my business friends challenged me to just show up the way I am. They reminded me of the fact that my appearance wasn’t what proved my business skills, but the quality of my work and my mind were what proved it. 

So… here I am, in my natural and most comfortable state remembering who I am and what I am here to do.