Happy Tuesday Confident Lady,
This week we had an amazing guest on the podcast, Liz Forkin Bohannon who spoke about overcoming "Imposter syndrome". Today I want to briefly dive into this lie with you, as I know so many of us have felt this way at one point or another.
Here is my word of wisdom for you ---> We all have something valuable to teach as long as we believe it. What could you tell your 18 year old self today?
Imposter Syndrome is when high-achieving individuals experience an inability to internalize their accomplishments, while having a persistent fear of being exposed as a "fraud". They often feel like everyone knows more than them and what they do have has only happened because of luck or people feeling sorry for them. Here are a few scenarios:
You passed your licensure exam because of pure luck
You got the promotion at work because they had to give it to someone
She said yes to your podcast pitch because you were so pathetic she felt sorry for you
They accepted your manuscript because they didn’t want to hurt your feelings
And the list goes ON!
Ever feel this way? I sure have AND I’ll admit that every now and then I still wrestle with it. Although I know I’ve worked extremely hard to get to where I am today, from time to time the lie of “has it been luck"?” clouds my mind. My furthest memories of this was being 18 years old in college. When I received a good grade in my class, “it was luck. At 29 when landed my top internship, "I must have been so pathetic that they felt sorry for me". Now honestly, how pathetic is that?
If I could look that young Kate in the eye I would say "Girl OWN IT. YOU achieved it, now accept it." What would you say to your past 18 year old self?
Now back to the present, do you ever speak to yourself this way? You go and accomplish something that you never in your wildest dreams could have thought you would achieve and immediately discredit your achievement. You downplay it. You act like it was no big deal or pure luck. I know that imposter syndrome has affected you at some point in you life. What matters is, how you deal with it today.
So how did I go from feeling like a pathetic fraud to humbly owning my achievements? TWO things:
I stuck to the facts. I wrote down the facts of what got me to that place. So for example, I hired a writing coach, I was open to suggestions with my writing, I worked countless hours on crafting my proposal and then pitch emails. I got rejected a few times and asked for rejection feedback. And with that feedback I created an incredible proposal that caught eyes of the right agents who believed in it. Make sense? What are your facts?
I took a look around (without comparing) and celebrated the achievements of the many women before me who did what I wanted to do. I read their stories. I researched successful peoples fallbacks. I realized that we are all human and struggle with similar things. I paid close attention to how they got to where I wanted to be despite the setbacks. This gave me motivation to move forward!
In closing, go back to that 18 year old you and ask her what she thinks of you today. I guarantee she will celebrate how you’ve succeeded, despite the struggles. She would NOT look at you as an imposter, but as an inspiration. CHEER HER ON! If this post resonated today, comment below and share with me! If think you might be ready to get some support with this, shoot an email to me at kate@katecrocco.com and we will chat about some ways I can support you in getting into a more abundant mindset in your business.
And catch Liz's episode on this topic over at the Podcast HERE!
Blessings + Abundance,
XO Kate
