Meditations for Entrepreneurs #31: Inside Imposter Syndrome

“That sense of inferiority is just another word for fear. And fear is simply the self-deception that you are about to be separated from the thing you most value.”

― Drenda Keesee

Many entrepreneurs I have worked with have at one time or another expressed that they feel like imposters. That they don’t belong where they are. That they don’t actually know what they are doing and will be found out at any moment. 

That’s just fear talking. Not fear of failing. Fear of succeeding. 

Often fear of success comes from feeling like you will change and transform into something else and you’ll be corrupt in some way. You’ll have more than you deserve or you’ll get big head and turn into a jerk or some argument like that. 

Fear of success is really the fear of being separated from the comfort of the limits you place on yourself. 

That very comfort that you think you most value paradoxically holds you back. 

So when you feel that imposter complex coming on, just see it for what it is: a game of self deception that keeps you from becoming what you are truly meant to be. 

My continuing series: quoting great thinkers who inspire me, then offering commentary on how it connects with the entrepreneurial game. I hope these meditations will help other entrepreneurs play the bigger game.