The Source of Your Imposter Syndrome (part 2)
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On Monday, we talked about one source of your imposter syndrome: giving away all the credit for your previous successes.
So after people go back and take full credit for all their accomplishments, here’s the next reason they give me for why they’re definitely imposters:
“But this time, I’m doing something I’ve never done before.”
And this seems so logical, right? If you’ve never done it before, how can you possibly feel confident about it? How can you possibly feel like you belong here?
Let me tell you about the two kinds of confidence.
Confidence in your skills today
vs.
Confidence in your ability to learn
When you have confidence in your skills today, you have plenty of evidence to refer to.
Do you have confidence that you can open a can of soda? Or walk across a room without tripping? Of course you do! You’ve done it so many times! It’s not even a question in your mind.
And the same thing goes for all those truly expert skills that are making you successful now, in your current job / role / scope / career / life.
But when you (because you’re awesome) inevitably get up-leveled to something new, you can panic and freeze up. And it’s not because you’re crazy, or lazy, or don’t want to do this. It’s because you’re relying on the wrong kind of confidence.
When you’re doing something totally new, you have to lean on your confidence in your ability to learn.
This is a totally different kind of confidence.
This is a confidence that doesn’t get shaken when you mess things up. It gets curious.
This is a confidence that knows you’re going to figure this out. And not just that, but question the orthodoxy and bring something new to the table.
This is a confidence that feels all the pain and self-doubt of failing. But knows that it’s just part of the process and you can try again tomorrow.
This is not a confidence rooted in what you’ve done in the past.
This is a confidence rooted in the kind of person that you are.
You’ve already got this in you. But if you want a little help pulling it out and using it: