Nailing Down The Imposter Inside Us!

Weird Picture!!?? - I know - but that is how someone who feels like an imposter is inside!!

I still remember the day - it was my VERY first "public talk"!

It was nothing fancy - just me holding the microphone - way back in 1999 - in the company for some fun event.

Everyone staring at me - like they expected something great from me - and I remember melting down!

That is as far back my memory of feeling like "Someone will catch me for the fool I was"...

And that was the way of life for pretty much majority of my corporate journey.

But in 2017 it started shifting as I started following my dreams post my massive transformation!

Now when I get invited by companies like Google to talk and having done a TedX talk and more importantly, having created crazy results like $180K salary increase or out of turn promotions and helping our clients add $3M in their salaries in just one year, I figured out one core thing!

What holds people back most in life?

It may come to you as a surprise - but it is that feeling like "I do not belong here". "I am not good enough for this" - and "I will be found and everything will come down crashing"!

I fought that through my own 22 years with likes of Microsoft and conquered it!

I want to tell you 4 step process with which you can deal with it RIGHT AWAY!!

Step no1 - Realisation?- From feeling bad to actually writing about WHY are you feeling bad?- building awareness of what is happening inside is critical.?

Is it about my knowledge that I will be caught?_________________

Is it about stakeholders knowing more?_________________

Is it about some past experiences/feedbacks or something that has pushed me on the backfoot?_________________

or is it just in a specific type of situation?_________________

or something entirely different?_________________

Write it down!

Step No 2 - Inner Inspiration?- no matter how downtrodden you feel, no matter what is going on, you CAN remember a story in your life when you were able to turn around an almost impossible situation.?

Recall that and write down core element of that -

what gifts you can pick up from that about yourself? _________________

___________________________________________________

What characteristics did you display at the time? _________________

___________________________________________________

Why did you win?__________________________________

___________________________________________________

Write it down!

Step No 3 - Building Momentum?- Bring no 1 and no 2 together and see how a lot of what you felt in no 1 is going to be negated.?

What are your observations? __________________________________

___________________________________________________

For the remaining stuff-?simple - Make a plan about the gap - the REAL gap!

What outcome you would rather want?__________________________________

What changes you have to make for it?_________________________________

How much commitment you have about these changes?_________________

Write down 2 actions you will take in next 2 weeks that will move the needle about the specific thing that you feel like an imposter about.

Action 1: _________________

Action 2: _________________

Step no 4 - Mastery?- document your little wins. I wouldn't say, you will never have a setback but I would promise you - when you start looking - due to the above changes - you WILL see little wins all around you.

Win1 _________________

Win2 _________________

Win3 _________________

Win4 _________________

Put those on sticky notes and collect it somewhere - may be at your home - put them up on a wall and you will see how the imposter syndrome will just start disappearing!

[Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive process, but it will work for 99% of the problems you face as an "Imposter".

For the really really big ones - well - may be you can send me a note and I can suggest specific solutions.

Happy working!