Recently I’ve heard some people around me suggest they have imposter syndrome. It’s often said in the context of not doing something because they are feeling ‘some imposter syndrome’.
When you experience imposter syndrome you find yourself thinking that you’re not as capable, or knowledgeable as others might think you are. Even worse is when you internalize that thinking to believe you can’t possibly do what you’re not already capable of.
We’ve all experienced imposter syndrome at some point in our lives.
I can remember the day after I was elected President of the local branch of a veterans organization. I was a barely 30 year old civilian elected to lead a group of mostly men over 60 who had fought for this country.
The next morning I sat on the side of my bed thinking about what I’d just gotten myself into. My main thought was, ‘these guys are fucking crazy if they think I can pull this off’.
I not only got through that term in office, I did it again fourteen times more in the intervening years. I had very little clue how to lead anyone let along people old enough to be my parents or grandparents.
I stumbled my way through it the best I could. Learned what I could and had to fix some mistakes along the way.
Do you think that Jeff Bezos knew how to run a trillion dollar company when he loaded those first items up onto Amazon.com? Hell no. He figured it out just like anyone else does.
As writers, we really don’t have to know what we’re doing when it comes to writing.
We just need to embrace what we want to communicate and start doing it. Will we be good at the start?
You wish.
But you wont be.
Embrace the sense of being an imposter as a directive to go out, learn and do. To go out and put those words on paper and keep putting them there. Being aware you’re not a Pulitzer Prize writer will keep you trying to do better.
I came across an anecdote this morning about Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather:
According to his interview with NPR, Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather was asked to adapt his books to film.
He found it an uncomfortable experience as he didn’t know what he was doing. He had never written a screenplay before. Nonetheless, he completed the project. Everyone seemed happy. Especially after the film won two Oscars.
Mario still felt insecure. Wanting to improve his skills he bought a book on screenwriting. The lesson in chapter 1? “Study Godfather I”
Imagine wanting to overcome your imposter syndrome by learning how to do it ‘right’ and discovering you’re the example of how to do it ‘right’. Awesome!
Puzo embraced his imposter syndrome, felt it and did it anyways.
If someone had told me ten years ago I’d be earning crypto, writing, creating and publishing books, doing a weekly voice show and engaged in learning even more about the emerging Web 3 — I’d have laughed — really really hard.
Then I’d have bought the poor delusional dude a drink.
Yet, here I am, doing all of those things.
How about you?
What are you doing right now that you would never have believed possible even five years ago?
You embraced the fear of not being capable and did it anyways.
Don’t stop now.
NOTE: header image from pixabay.com
Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.
She created Prompt A Day to share with others. You can subscribe to Prompt A Day to get started.