You might feel like you can’t overcome imposter syndrome, but I’m here to tell you that you can! At the start of 2020 I launched The Branded Academy and struggled with imposter syndrome so badly. Who was I to be teaching people about branding and website design? Who was I to think I could design labels and packaging for product based businesses? I would wonder about charging above a certain rate because, who was I?
Part of overcoming imposter syndrome is figuring out who you are
And you’re a bad bishhhh. Okay?! Jokes aside, I do mean that though. Your calling to start that business is enough. Your story is enough. Your why is enough. You, my friend, are enough. Imposter syndrome runs in the family of procrastination with the head of the house being fear. And we aren’t friends with fear. Sure we acknowledge it, but we don’t let it overrun us.
The going quote is, “false evidence appearing real” that’s all fear is.
Remember your origin story
All heroes, and villains, have a origin story. The story about how X events happened that lead them to this very moment. So what is yours? What’s the story that lead you to this business venture? If we forget to remember our origin story it can be easy to let imposter syndrome overcome us and feel like we aren’t worthy of showing up for what we are offering.
If I were to look at where I’m at right now, how easy XYZ is for me, of course I would have imposter syndrome. But when I go back to my origin story, I realize that I didn’t just wake up one day with this knowledge and skillsets. They have been growing alongside me for fifteen years! Sure a number of those years were spent doing it for fun as a kid, but that doesn’t take away from the skills and knowledge gained.
Realize that you’re far more qualified for this than you think
I said what I said. You are far more qualified for this position than you might be telling yourself currently. How do I know that? Because you care. You’re passionate enough about this to be worried about not being good enough for it. That alone tells me that you are willing to continue learning along the way. You’re willing to keep educating yourself so you can help your ideal customers even more. Own that. You care enough to continue learning and that makes you amazing at what you do.
Take a step back from the busy
Even I had to take a step back. I had been working for far too cheap and was overdue for burnout. So I took a 2 year hiatus. Now do I recommend you take a whole two years away from business? That’s entirely on you and your life circumstances. But I knew I needed it amongst other breaks to heal my inner thoughts and work through a lot of deep rooted issues that were limiting my success. It’s okay to slow down from time to time.
