I’ve been very open about the fact that I’ve spent the last year battling a serious case of Imposter Syndrome. It’s as if the moment my business reached a tipping point – and therefore had more eyeballs on me – my self-doubt went into high gear.
I’m not the only business who suffers from self-doubt. We all do. It’s a part of the process. Here are x ways business owners can overcome self-doubt so they can get back to work.
Have a support system.
The best way I have found to overcome self-doubt as a business owner is to have a support system. More specifically, I have my people who get what I do, root me on and hold me up.
Just recently, I published an income report on my blog for 2016. While I was mostly pleased with the numbers, the reality was there was still this little voice inside of me saying “You can’t be serious. You need to do better. Can you even do better?”
I went ahead and shared the post on social media anyway. I should note that I was pretty raw and open about my self-doubt even within the post itself.
Within minutes I had people on Instagram and Twitter congratulating me and telling me how much I inspire them.
Within a couple of hours, one of my colleagues posted about it in a Facebook group we’re a part of in an effort to a) celebrate and b) rally the troops around me so that I keep going.
Put it all out there.
Believe it or not, being open about my flaws actually helps me overcome self-doubt. Mostly because if I lay it all out there for the world to see, then I’m not hiding anything. Once I’m no longer hiding, then I don’t really feel the need to doubt myself.
So the next time someone emails me telling me I’m full of crap (because that does happen every once in a while), I know I’ve been as transparent as I possibly can and that no, I’m not actually full of it.
I get that putting yourself out there can be scary, but it is a powerful way to exercise self-acceptance. The more you accept yourself, the more you can overcome self-doubt.
Get friendly with your fear.
Self-doubt is never really going to go away. In fact, the more successful you become the worse it gets. You’re playing bigger, so naturally the self-doubt is going to creep in.
The first step in being able to overcome self-doubt when it rears it’s ugly head is to get friendly with it. At the end of the day, your fear is just trying to protect you. However, there’s a difference between protecting you from getting hit by a car and hindering you as you try to live life at a new level.
Second, you can nicely tell it to take a back seat. If that doesn’t work for you (it doesn’t for me), get pissed. Pissed that this nagging little voice is trying to hold you back. Pissed that you’re wasting precious time and energy worrying about stuff you shouldn’t be worried about. And then move on.
Self-doubt is a normal part of being human. Just note that you have more control over it than you think.
