Standing in your own way. On Beating Imposter Syndrome.
Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you wanted to do something but just didn’t take the initiative? Have you ever had big goals, written them down, looked at them multiple times per day, and still did not move the needle toward what you said you wanted? Have you ever gotten the education, received the credential, and yet still did not do what the education taught you and gave you the skills for?
What’s going on here? Why do we do this to ourselves?
What’s going on here is that we are experts in getting in our own way. We prevent ourselves from doing the things we say that we want. We employ unconscious mental blocks that we do not know are there, and then we justify them consciously by saying “I’m the type of person that…” Or, “I would never do that sort of thing because…” We are always quick to justify our reasoning for why we cannot do something. I mean, we are on it! Why do we do that? Why sabotage the very thing we say we want? The thing we went to school for? Our career choices!?
In a way, we don’t really want it. Not really. If we did, we’d be doing it already, right? It is similar to going back to get your MBA before starting a business or getting your MFA before you start your writing. Why? No one requires you to go get the MBA before starting a business. No one requires you to go get the MFA before you sit down to write. Yet, here is exactly what a lot of us do. We think we need more education when more education is actually not the answer. DOING is the answer. Get out there and do. Sit down and DO. Go outside to market and sell and to start that business. Sit down at the MacBook Pro and write — every, single day. See, no fancy, advanced degree required. You already have everything you need to begin, to go. Right now.
We are more ready than we’ll ever know.
We’re more ready than we know. We’re just standing in our own way of what we want. Worse, we cannot get out of our own heads to begin, to start. So, there we sit, wallowing in our own disempowering thoughts and hit the vortex of our own negative thinking into inertia, doing nothing. Or, simply doing what we’ve always done. All we needed to do was something, anything to move us one tiny step closer toward what we say we want, toward momentum.
Shoot that video. Create one module of the new course. Write one chapter of the dang book. Publish to your blog. Finally get ConvertKit up and going on the web site. None of these are particularly difficult things to get done. Yet we procrastinate and tell others that we’re “too busy” to do it. (“Too busy” doing what, exactly?)
There is a difference between being “too busy” and actually not wanting to do something. Which is it?
The way out is to pick one and GO! Go. Do it. Today. Right now. Set a time each day and get after it. Even if it is crappy. Even if you think it is sucky. Even if it hurts. Even if you wail and gnash your teeth while you do it. Even if you don’t feel like it. (ESPECIALLY if you don’t feel like it.) Even if the lighting isn’t right. Even if you feel you don’t have the proper gear. Even if you are worried about the sound. Even if you hate the sound of your own voice. (Welcome to the Human Race! So does everybody else!) Still: do it. GO. Now!
Then, tomorrow, at the same time, do it again! Go, tomorrow, too! Same time. Same place. GO! I don’t care if it is 4 AM or 11 PM — pick your creative time and GO! Get it done. (Note how closely this advice resembles the gym. I don’t care what time you go — I just want you to go and get after it.)
This is how you beat the ‘procrastination’ and ‘perfectionista’ monsters: through the Magic of Doing. I have zero interest in your, mine, or anyone else’s “perfection.” None. Nadda. Nope. However, I have every interest in seeing you go get after the things you’re here to create and to make better for us.
No one is a natural writer. No one is a natural on video.
No one is a natural writer. No one is a natural on video. No one’s voice is a “natural sounding voice for podcasting.” No one woke up one day and had a blog with fabulous traffic going to it each day, generating leads and sales. Hell, no one looks forward to writing or to creating a video each day, but here we are doing it. See, it doesn’t matter how you feel; you just go and do it. Just like the gym.
Who are you going to be today?
Who will win today? Does fear win today? Or, do you win today?
The Discipline of Creativity. The Discipline of Doing.
The Discipline of Creativity could also be called The Discipline of Doing despite not felling it.
This is The Work we’ve chosen. What is your attitude toward it? How will you overcome your version of imposter syndrome? What will you create today? What is your attitude toward creative quality output? Who are you doing this for? Who needs you on your ‘A’ game today?
What are you creating today that will matter in 6 months, 12 months, 3 years from now?
#TheDisciplineOfCreativity #TheDisciplineOfDoing #BeatImposterSyndrome
