For some leaders, the voice of self-doubt can be a nagging whisper. For others, it howls like a banshee.
Perhaps it tells you that you can’t be an effective leader because you aren’t wired that way. It could be trying to convince you to be more “realistic” when what you want to do is make big things happen. Or maybe it’s the inverse, pushing you to focus on maximizing business growth when what you really want to do is create something unique and special, but small.
No matter the volume or intensity, the voice of self-doubt wants us to create limitations for ourselves where none should exist. It’s the voice in your head that says, “You Aren’t Capable,” or “Want What Others Say You Should Want.”
And you listen to that voice. Why? Because that voice sounds eerily like you.
This is the dreaded Impostor Syndrome. It’s your voice trying to convince you that you can’t.
Here’s the irony: Impostor Syndrome is most common in high-performing people who make bold decisions. It’s going to come after you when you are being most gutsy.
Like, for example, when you decide to take your business to previously unimaginable heights.
This is the decision to set aside the status quo and move outside the friendly comfort zone to shoot for the moon. Once you embrace the bigger vision, it means you’re going to have to do everything differently and at a higher level, often letting go of approaches that have worked in the past, and opportunities that seem exciting but do not fit the new, bolder vision.
And you must take your team to the next level as well. Which might include letting go of people who have worked hard to get the company to where it is today, but are unwilling to embrace the bigger vision. And it certainly includes eliciting not only high performance from your evolving team, but also investment and sacrifice.
In other words, you are going to have to lead. That takes guts.
And let me be clear: when I say “bigger vision,” I don’t mean “bigger company.” Quite a few of the popular business influencers today will have you believe that there is some magic revenue number to aspire to. That only bigger is better.
But my greatest wish for you is for you to realize your greatest wish. If you want to be the next Baskin-Robbins, go for it. But if you really want to be Jeni’s, be Jeni’s. If you want to be the next Starbucks, go for it. But if you really want to be Phoenix Coffee, then you owe it to yourself to be that.
And if you want to step into the CEO role of the company you founded and hand off the deal-making and service delivery that got you to seven figures to the next generation of capable people, then that is what I want for you. But if what you really want to do is hire a CEO so you can take selling and service delivery to a whole other level, then that is what you should do.
No matter what it is that you truly want for yourself and for your business, the voice of Impostor Syndrome tells you that it will be safer to do the opposite of what you really want.
It is the voice of fear. Fear that you’ll be unable to acquire the requisite new skills. Fear that what you want is the wrong decision. Fear that when you let go of how you used to approach work, you might disappear and become irrelevant to the business you started.
Impostor Syndrome is a horrible feeling. However, like any anxiety, it is just a feeling. I recognize the importance of our feelings. But I want to distinguish between a feeling and reality.
A teacher of mine once described feelings as “subtle thought forms.” Think about the power of that statement: our thoughts drive our emotional responses. In Jewish tradition, we have a concept that “the end is the actions, the beginning is the thoughts.” So what’s the middle? The middle is how we feel.
Impostor Syndrome (the feeling) needs to be attacked from the bookends. The action is to identify where you need professional development and get after it. To address the thoughts, practice working on shifting your mindset.
About mindset: if a voice inside of your head told you to put ketchup on your pancakes, would you do it? Of course not. You don’t listen to voices in your head that tell you to do patently self-destructive and ridiculous things.
So when you hear Imposter Syndrome’s voice, I want you to talk back to it, even in public, out loud. It will say things like, “You were not born with leadership skills,” and you’ll respond by kindly reminding the voice that leadership skills can and must be learned.
Because let’s be real for a moment: You do not actually believe that 100% of effective leaders throughout history popped out of the womb that way, with the aid of exactly zero professional development. That is almost as ridiculous as ketchup on pancakes.
So reserve the right to respectfully disagree with your voice of Impostor Syndrome. Out loud. Even in public. Your mindset will shift, you’ll have fun talking to yourself out loud, and hey, you might even entertain a few innocent bystanders.
But while working on mindset strengthens the will to act by counteracting the self-limiting voice, it is insufficient by itself. You must also take action to build skill. I think this is obvious–
you cannot merely think your way to stronger communication skills, for example.
But a more subtle benefit of consistent professional development is that each time you level up, you amass more and more evidence that you can succeed. This bolsters the mindset by unlocking firm evidence against the voice of Imposter Syndrome.
And I guarantee you’ve done this in the past.
The voice of fear inside of your head, the voice of Impostor Syndrome, is trying to frighten you into running right back to your comfort zone. What that voice fails to remind you of is that your comfort zone was once your zone of inexperience.
At one point in your career you had no idea what you were doing. What did you do then? You set a clear intention, put in the work to build skill in the fundamentals, got some mentorship and coaching, and gradually over time you kicked enough butt that you became an expert.
Why should it be any different now? It isn’t different. It just feels different because your previous zone of inexperience became your comfort zone. You’ve already done the most courageous thing by embracing a bigger vision. Welcome back to the zone of inexperience. The game has changed. Get moving and discover what it takes to win.
So when the voice of Impostor Syndrome starts to wail, call it out, debate it publicly (please send me a video), and put it in its place.
Then set a clear intention, build the fundamentals, get the mentorship and coaching that you need, and commit.
Remember, the end is the actions, the beginning is the thoughts. The feelings are what emerge in between. Work on your mindset, and work on your skills. The courage to do both of those things will displace some of the fear with the confidence of achievement.
This is the answer to the voice of Impostor Syndrome: “You are nothing but my fear of leaving my comfort zone. You are telling me that I cannot lead because I wasn’t born with it, but I know that leadership isn’t genetics. It’s fundamentals, focus, commitment, and sacrifice. Those are things I can and must choose.”
And you did choose them, the moment you started your own business.
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