Three Prompts to Beat Imposter Syndrome
I'm noticing a bit of imposter syndrome these days. Luckily, it’s easy to overcome. It’s also urgent — the stuff your subconscious is holding you back from would probably make up an ideal to-do list.
Here are three prompts to help, with the overarching theme being you need to be comfortable with being bad at something to start. There’s no way to get to good without being bad for a bit. We need to teach ourselves that that’s ok - you likely haven’t been bad at much in a while, so it can be hard.
“What are you unwilling to feel?” This is a prompt by Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance. Whatever it is that you’re unwilling to feel - could be insecurity from doing something that isn’t perfect, could be your contemporaries seeing you do something that doesn’t work - lean into it. That’s where the good stuff is. Practicing discomfort is the way to get over the things that make you uncomfortable - do something this week that has a high likelihood of making you feel the way you’re unwilling to feel. It’ll pay off in the long run.
Find the task you’re avoiding and write out exactly why. Then, send it to someone you're close to - a friend or partner (or me). This usually works even without sending it - writing it is usually enough. Let’s say you know you’ll find customers on TikTok (more on this in a second), but you don’t want to make the videos because you’re unwilling to look like an amateur or silly or whatever. Write that out. ”I’m stalling the business - my dream - because I’m unwilling to feel a bit silly in case someone I know sees it and thinks it’s silly.” Calling out the worst case scenario by name lets you know how not bad it is.
Look at Tacklebox members. A few of our members were hesitant to make TikToks in the beginning. A handful have started and are seeing immediate results. TikTok is currently the best discovery platform to find certain types of customers. It’s also incredibly intimidating to people who aren’t 17. This post isn’t to say you all should be making TikToks, it’s to say that whatever the thing you’re avoiding is doable and the downside is likely minimal.
Here are two of those teams for inspiration
Sheereen + Asia of Between on TikTok:
”We're trying a 2 part strategy: We have a co-founder account that we're using to post more meme-ish content. We also have a business account that we'll post more informational gynecology content (nothing there yet).”
Not sure if this bifurcation will work but they’re testing it out. They got over the doubt / embarrassment by deciding that this is what our entrepreneur selves would do. They wouldn't be worried about maybe looking a little dorky on the internet if it helped grow the company.
Sallie on TikTok @salliebarkman
“Talking about something so personal, such as my social anxiety, was extremely scary for me. Once I started posting, people were very supportive - some even dropped into my DMs to encourage me! Now the community is feeding my content creation with questions, suggestions, etc.”
Find what makes you uncomfortable, call it out for being silly, then lean into it.