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Transcription:

Dawn McGruer
Hey, it’s Dawn McGruer, the business growth coach.

And welcome to Dawn of a New Era, the podcast where we talk all things health, wealth and happiness, and where founders share the good and bad and ugly of being an entrepreneur. So in today’s podcast, we’re going to be talking about imposter syndrome.

And imposter syndrome literally happens at every level and every stage of the business journey.

I think there was a stat that I saw a couple of years ago that once said that 70% of people had experienced imposter syndrome at some point of their lives.

And I think the interesting thing here is, is that I think probably more than that, I think pretty much every single person has experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their lives. It could be in their business journey, it could be in their personal lives, but literally it’s something that raises its head quite often.

And people often talk about getting over imposter syndrome. I don’t think you ever get over it. I think you learn to manage what it means to you and how to utilize it.

It’s almost like a superpower in your journey because it doesn’t go away when you succeed. And I think this is the myth that we are told that when you feel it, it’ll be something that goes when you are super successful. But sadly it doesn’t.

And I think if we can embrace this and reframe it, we start to think about what imposter syndrome is and how we can use it to our advantage, because you can move through imposter syndrome.

And I think one of the, the myths that we, we all see is that there will be this kind of arriving and it evolves and it will go and you won’t feel it again because you’ve hit this magical milestone. Sadly, that’s not the point.

And I think when we, we look at imposter syndrome and why, why it comes is that if we can spot the sabotage, we can start to navigate and mitigate some of the things that it brings up for us. Because what imposter syndrome can do is it can cut a stud, it can make us stall in whatever action that we want to take.

And sometimes it’s really subtle in the way that it shows up, especially in business owners journeys, because it can be something that gets bigger and bigger and bigger until a point where we actually will maybe make excuses around something not to wait, not not to do it, or how not to move forward, or we’ll maybe think about ways to avoid doing something in a certain way.

But the key here is is that confidence is a key part and kind of like almost practicing this, because when you use micro proofs to strengthen your daily belief, we start to see how imposter syndrome can be almost squashed. So I want to share a story with you about imposter syndrome. And it’s something that has featured a lot and still does in my life.

And people will see me speaking on stages, publishing my third book, doing all these amazing things, and they assume, oh, she knows what she’s doing, super confident, you know, that’s all fine, she won’t be experiencing anything like this. I absolutely do. And I think the thing is, is that we shouldn’t shy away from being open about some of the barriers that we have and challenges.

Because I have experienced extreme imposter syndrome when I got my publishing contract. I’ve spoken a lot about this in the past and people would think, you know, you must be overjoyed. You’ve got this amazing book deal with Wiley.

I’d written the manuscript, I’d submitted it, and I was just literally overcome with this fear, this fear that was completely irrational. You know, no one will buy it and what happens if the publishers hate it and all of these things and who am I to to write a book?

But even now, you know, there’s different things that imposter syndrome will come from. So every new opportunity, something that is not my normality, often is the trigger that will push me into imposter syndrome.

And this is true with so many people that I meet.

And this may be something you’ve experienced yourself, because if it’s not our normal, we’re like, well, I’ve not done this before, should I be doing it? Am I good enough to do it? And we start questioning. These are all fear based. This is basically what imposter syndrome is.

But I want you to welcome fear and see fear as a point of growth, a point of opportunity, a point that is moving forward.

And that fear can often be the catalyst, because if we can navigate and we can literally embrace imposter syndrome and do it anyway, then we start to see things differently. As soon as I’d obviously handed my manuscript in, I got some amazing feedback. I got an award before my book even came out.

I was shortlisted for another award in a matter of seven days. I got bestseller in, like, you know, as soon as it launched it, all of these things, like, my whole fear was irrational.

And what it was is my fear was coming from uncertainty. I didn’t know what was going to happen. And because it wasn’t my normal and it wasn’t something I’d done before my brain started challenging me.

So I had to reteach a narrative around my imposter syndrome. And I think this technique will really help.

Anyone who’s experienced this will know that it can be quite consuming, and it can be something that will just literally stop you in your tracks, embrace it, and start to really understand what the imposter syndrome is. And what I do is I love to visualize it. So instead of just trying to think through the problem, we can’t outthink our brain.

I take pen to paper, and what I do is I start to draw out what the thing is that is creating the imposter syndrome. It could be an opportunity or some new thing that is happening or that I’m about to do. And I label it, and I really immerse myself into that.

And then I start writing down all of my fears, and I put them out around it. Now, just by doing that one practice, what actually starts to kick in is my rational brain.

A lot of these thoughts are coming irrationally, because if I’ve not done something before, my brain will. Will go to its reference point, almost like its archive. And if I don’t have an archive to go to, it starts creating possibilities. Okay?

But because our brain likes to protect us, our amygdala, often in uncertain situations, will then go into overprotective mode, which is like, oh, this is dangerous. Let’s think of all of the bad things that can happen. This is how we get to imposter syndrome.

So once I’ve called it out and I’ve looked at all of the irrational statements, I go around and look at all of the rational statements. I start to chart out all of the good, all of the amazing things that can come from it.

Now, if you’ve ever heard me talk about risk, this is an interesting one because this is about taking a calculated risk. So what we’re actually doing is we’re doing a little audit on the opportunity. We’re saying, here.

Here’s all the bad things that can happen, and here’s all the good things. And we’re weighing it up.

And if we decide that all the good things are so magical and so special and outweigh the bad, let’s feel the fear, face it, and do it anyway. Now, what we’ve also done by that point is we’ve retrained and rewired our brain.

We’ve told it a different narrative, we’ve calmed our amygdala because we’ve gone, well, look, okay, you’ve presented all of these things, but we’ve just done a health and safety audit for you and told you all the positive things and the chances of these things happening. So we’re reducing the fear around it. We’re creating a new narrative.

We’re leaning in to the possibilities, the opportunities and the goodness that can come from this, and we’ll do it anyway. So if you have faced imposter syndrome, please embrace this activity. Lean into it. Don’t just try and suppress it, because you won’t be able to.

It will just linger.

And we know with anything, like, if you’ve got something on your mind, it weighs you down, it makes you tired, and it really does change the whole way you’re thinking about a situation. Just by facing it, addressing it, visualizing it, and putting pen to paper can really start to reframe. This opportunity is a really positive one.

So what actually happens is we’re dissipating our imposter syndrome because we’re taking away its power.

So I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I hope it’s helped you and, you know, if you know somebody who has experienced imposter syndrome or experiences it regularly, please feel free to share this episode with them too.