Sloppy Seconds, Imposter Syndrome, and Fighting Your Way Through

I hadn't heard from a friend who I knew was about to make a big move, so I sent him a text for an update.

"Want me to be honest?" said he.

"Always," said me.

His reply?

"I went through imposter syndrome this month, bad!"

Clichés take a once-beautiful word or phrase and curb-stomps it into a mushy, nearly-transparent linguistic layer of saccharine sloppy seconds that we scrape off the pavement and shovel into people's ears anyway. Unfortunately, the term "imposter syndrome" has become one of these, turning the feeling of 'not being good enough' into a debilitating-yet-trendy disease inflicted upon the helpless...instead of something that effects almost all of us, especially those in creative work, and something we will always have to wrestle with, no matter how great we become.

That being said, it also can serve as an important vehicle for saying the words "I feel like I'm not good enough" out loud, and for others to reply, "I feel that way, too."

A few years ago, I ran across a great interview with Ira Glass of This American Life. He was giving some advice to beginners doing creative work, but what he said applies to those of us who feel like we're not worthy of work we do or want to do, regardless of how long we've been doing it or how good we actually are.

Here's what he said:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.

And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this, and if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Do the work and fight your way through.

"Want me to be honest?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said.

"Shoot your shot, m_________,"

Steven Pressfield has written a lot of great books specifically on this feeling of something holding us back, of not being to do something we want or need to do.

He gives this feeling a name, Resistance, and he goes so far as to say that the ability to 'do the work and fight your way through' is *even more important than being good at what you do*.

"The ability to overcome resistance, self-sabotage, and self-doubt," he says, "is more important than talent. Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it."

Feeling not good enough? Lucky for you, not being good enough is less important than feeling that way but making the decision to do the work, make the pitch, or take the leap anyway.

"If they say 'no'," I told my friend, "it frees you up to do something better. If they say 'yes' and you don't feel ready, their 'yes' becomes the fuel you use to get *BETTER*. If you want to do this work, this pitch could be an important stepping stone. You just gotta take the step."

A minute went by, and then his reply:

"Sent!"

If you're feeling inadequate, I get it. In fact, we ALL get it. But the opportunity to prove you can do something, to yourself and to everyone else, exists in this moment where you feel like you can't...but you do the work, you make the pitch, or you take the leap anyway.

I don't want pop your balloon, but there is power in knowing what to expect: you will never not have doubts. Things will almost never be certain. There will almost always be things you could have done better and someone who can do them better than you. You will never have an Instagram-Influencer level of impossibly flawless self-confidence and wisdom. Some of us will never feel good enough regardless of how good we actually are, and Resistance will always be hissing, "You aren't good enough, and you'll never be good enough."

This feeling is real, but a feeling being real doesn't make it true. It doesn't mean you aren't worthy. It doesn't mean the world doesn't need your work. It doesn't mean you can't do it or that you'll never be 'good enough'. It doesn't mean to stop trying. It doesn't mean to quit.

All it means is that you gotta fight your way through.