3 ways to Combat Imposters Syndrome for Business Owners

In my last year of Graduate school I had the opportunity to take a leadership class with an amazing professor (who also told me to quit my job before it killed me)  which assigned us (2) books to read for the semester. There was one that stuck out to me that discussed a feeling among leaders or business owner called Imposters Syndrome.
As a business owner we often feel like we are not the "real deal" or that we are in fact a "fraud" and will be exposed.  It is very easy for us to look to the left and right or at others and feel like they are bringing it more than we have. It is very easy to look at social media and think "I am a loser" or "How  come I cannot get it going?" , which is a sign of the imposter syndrome.
There are couple of things that we as business owners can do to combat the Imposter Syndrome:

#1 Do a success audit
I took a personal selling class where the professor has us do a 25 page resume of everything we have ever done in our lives. It seemed intimidating at first however we totally underestimate and downplay our achievements  and it was much easier than we thought. We need to do a 25 page resume of all of our achievements and successes so that we have a reference when we need it. Save it as  PDF or picture and save it to your phone so that its available at all times.

#2 Try something that scares the shit out of you
It seems very counter intuitive to do something that totally terrifies you when you are feeling like a "fraud" , however I know from personal experience that it will develop that courage muscle and add to your legitimacy. I picked up surfing about 5 years and heard everything from "What about sharks","Flesh Eating Bacteria", "Can you swim?" , well let me tell you something, none of it came true, the only thing that did happen was I lost about 25lbs, became a stronger swimmer, great Go Pro surfing videos, and made some lifelong friends. If you are working on your inner "Bad Assness" I highly encourage you to read "You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life" By Jen Sincero
#3 Get Moving
Yes get moving, physically go for a walk or run. When we sit and think we also begin to doubt ourselves and/or mission in life because our mind is logical, it wants to make sense of everything. The challenge with that is it only has past facts, has no information on the future. Author Mel Robbins in her 5 Second Rule Ted Talk said that if we don't physically take action in the first 5 seconds of us doing something towards achieving our goals our minds will begin to talk us out of it. So get moving, Run, Walk, Do some squats, etc. But please get moving so we can get closer to our goals and so that we do not feel like an imposter




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