MBA2612 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Get Over Imposter Syndrome?

0:00Ever feel like you're not good enough? like you're just pretending to be an entrepreneur and eventually everyone's gonna find out. You are not alone. In fact, that feeling has a name. It's called imposter syndrome. You might've heard of it. And it's something even the most successful founders feel. Yes, even billionaires, even the people you look up to. Today's episode comes from Deepak who asks, how do I get over imposter syndrome? I've got a surprising answer because I actually think you shouldn't get over it. Let me explain. Quick note before we dive in, If you've got a question like Deepak, you can head on over to 100mba.net slash Q to submit your question.

0:37I'd love to help.

0:43Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business. Imposter syndrome means you care. It means you're paying attention. It means you still have room to grow, and that's a good thing. You're not cocky. You're not delusional. You're self-aware. That's what makes you dangerous in a good way. But here's the truth. Feeling like an imposter isn't the problem. Letting it stop you is. Listen, I gotta be honest. I feel it all the time. When I started the$100 MBA show, I thought, who am I to teach business when I haven't made$10 million yet?

1:27When I launched my software company, Webinar Ninja, I was like, I'm not a tech CEO. What if people see through me? But those feelings, they pushed me to improve, to research harder, to work harder, to ask better questions, to be better. Imposter syndrome is a signal. Use it to level up, not to freeze up. But I want to give you some practical steps on how to handle imposter syndrome practically when it shows up. Number one, take action anyway. You don't get confidence before action. You get confidence from action. When you do things and prove to yourself that you are a doer, that you actually make things happen, that's where the confidence happens.

2:12That's how you build confidence. How do you destroy confidence? Well, it's when you break promises to yourself, when you don't follow through and do the action you need to do to make things happen. Every time you show up and deliver, you stack evidence that is real that tells yourself that you are the real deal. Courage doesn't mean not having any fear. It means moving forward despite your fear, despite feeling like maybe you're inadequate. Take action anyway. Tip number two, keep a wins folder. Some people call this a wins folder. Sometimes I call it a rainy day folder. but basically it's a place where you store all your positive feedback, track testimonials, kind messages, maybe a WhatsApp message from somebody that found your product and thought, hey, this is cool.

3:04A friend of yours saying nice things about you. Anything positive that people say about you and your work, you want to pop it in this folder. You want to read it when that imposter syndrome strikes. Why? Because when you read those things, you go into your folder, You have facts over feelings. You have factual evidence that you are worthy, that you're good enough. Tip number three, focus on the mission, not yourself. When you focus on helping others, your ego takes a backseat. It's not about being perfect. It's about your audience getting value. It's all about them. Just focus on helping them out and then your confidence will build over time.

3:45These three strategies and tips have helped me throughout the years. And let me level with you. I have moved up a lot in my career. I'm very proud of what I've done as an entrepreneur. But along the way, I look around, I see my friends, I see my colleagues, I see other people doing very successful things, people that are highly successful, people that have built bigger things, made more money than I did. And they too experience imposter syndrome. They too confide with me and say, I don't know how this happened. I don't know if I got lucky or if people just think I'm better than I actually am. Everybody is trying to make it.

4:20Everybody feels this. Everybody's kind of just trucking along, hoping that they're not being found out. But you have to kind of trust the fact that, hey, you are doing good things. You are helping people. You are doing something positive in this world. And things are happening to you for a reason, whether it's a promotion, whether it's people buying your product or service. There's a reason for that. There's value that you're giving the world, and therefore, just believe them. Believe the people that are believing in you. And I'm telling you, in time, that imposter syndrome is not going to creep up as often.

4:52It's going to get better and better. Deepak and anyone else who's listening, imposter syndrome is a sign that you're in the game, that you care about what you do. You want to be professional. You want to be world-class. And that's growing. That's improvement. That is something admirable. You should be proud of that. But you don't need to eliminate it completely. You just need to walk alongside it. You need to kind of see it as a motivator and not a hindrance. Because the people that are not feeling like an imposter, they're not learning. They're not growing. They're just walking around with this unproven confidence, confidence that comes from nowhere.

5:30And really, it's just ego. And that little voice in your head saying, you could do better. You know, maybe you should get better here. And being a little bit harder on yourself is not too bad, okay? Don't beat yourself up about beating yourself up, right? But, you know, be kind to yourself. But it's okay to be critical. It's okay for you to say, I need to improve. And that's how things get better in your life. I'm here to tell you it's okay for you to be dissatisfied with parts of yourself or parts of your life. Because that dissatisfaction is going to turn into satisfaction. It's going to turn into you taking action.

6:00That action is going to turn into transformation. And before you know it, you're somebody different that's producing different results, living a different life. You got this. I trust that you will keep this at bay, but use it to your advantage. One more tip when it comes to imposter syndrome. You don't need to fake it till you make it. A lot of people feel like, I just got to fake that I'm some sort of professional guru expert, right? and hopefully nobody finds out. You can be transparent. You can be honest. You can say, I don't have a decade of experience, but I've just achieved what you want to achieve.

6:38I've been where you are right now and I can help you get to the results you're looking for because I just achieved that result. I'm a few steps ahead of you. A lot of people really gravitate to that message because you're not speaking from a place of like, I'm this expert guru that's 10 levels ahead of you. No, I'm just a few steps ahead of you. I found a way to get around this problem, get through this problem, solve this problem, and I want to show you. And people are receptive to that because people are tired of this guru, this expert, this celebrity internet person that really is not relatable.

7:13One of my favorite insights that I got from Bruce Springsteen, who's back there on that record, Bruce Springsteen is one of the most popular and most successful recording artist of all time. He's made a lot of money. He's a multi-millionaire, but it's very hard to find any images or videos of him in a luxury car, on a private jet, on holiday sipping martinis. And that's on purpose. He understands that he doesn't want to be too far ahead of his audience because most of his songs are for the every person, the working class man and woman, the person that is struggling and trying to get through the day and is heartbroken.

7:56And if he aliens his audience and kind of presents himself as this like untouchable person, untouchable celebrity, then it kind of doesn't impact the audience. The songs don't impact the audience like he would like them to. So my advice to you is be like Bruce, okay? Be a few steps ahead of your audience. They'll appreciate you. They'll resonate with you. They'll connect with you. If you want more support beyond this podcast and you want to grow every single week, join my Three Things newsletter. Every week, I send you three things. One, something to think about. Two, something to do. Three, something to learn.

8:31It's my way to coach you from afar. And it's absolutely free. Go to 100mba.net, grab any of our free guides, and you'll be added automatically. I'm Omar Zanom. Keep building, keep showing up, especially when it's uncomfortable. It's what the real people that do real things that are really hard do. I'll catch you in the next episode.