The Introvert Leader

Imposter Syndrome: The Hidden Battle We All Face

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In this episode, I dive into imposter syndrome, those moments when self-doubt creeps in and you feel like you're not good enough. With no script, outline, or agenda, I share how I push through those thoughts and keep moving forward. If you've ever questioned your abilities, this episode will give you real insights on overcoming imposter syndrome and building confidence.

Tune in for a raw conversation on dealing with self-doubt and taking action, even when you don’t feel ready.



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 Hello, this is your host, Austin Hopkins, and welcome to the Introvert Leader Podcast.

Have you ever been worried that you're not good enough to do the job? Have you ever been concerned that people might find you out, that people know you're not able to do what you say you are? If so, you may be dealing with imposter syndrome. Now, this is something I feel like I. So many people deal with, and today I want to do something a little different.

Normally I spend hours and sometimes even days prepping for every episode. I plan out every key point. Um, I make sure I know what to say, transitions, I make sure it's like a kind of a finished presentation, polished thing, if you will. And that works amazing, and I love that kind of style. But something I've been thinking about recently is being able to just speak from my direct experience off the top of my head, more organic, more in the moment.

I thought it'd be fun to do something a little bit different today. So I wanna talk about imposter syndrome for the next five to 10 minutes. I have no script. I have nothing to cover, no agenda. I'm just gonna share with you my thoughts about imposter syndrome and what I've done to combat that, to get past it.

Although, I will tell you, I. Full transparency. Imposter syndrome has not been something that has really held me back in my career. And here's how I like to define imposter syndrome. Essentially, it's not believing you're good enough for something, not believing that you're capable and worried that people are gonna find you out, that you're putting on an act, and that one day someone's gonna say, oh my gosh, this guy doesn't know what he's doing.

We caught him. And so that's how I really think of imposter syndrome. You know, I, I said a second ago that I didn't really struggle with it, and that's the truth. I can't say when I look back on my career that there are big moments that I didn't take action or didn't do things I needed to because of imposter syndrome.

Now, that's not to say I didn't deal with it and I didn't struggle with it, it just means it didn't hold me back. So like when I think of imposter syndrome, a lot of it for me comes down to like. Positive self-talk. So what is the story? What are the messages that we're telling ourself? So when we have an automatic negative thought, so we're working on a project at work, and we start to feel like, gosh, maybe I don't know what I'm doing.

Maybe I'm not up for this. And those are all thoughts we all have. We all have those kind of thoughts, right? But it's what we do with those thoughts. So for me, whenever I have those thoughts, which by the way still happens all the time, I still get imposter syndrome with this podcast. I get imposter syndrome with my coaching business.

I get it all the time. But what I do is when I have one of those automatic negative thoughts, one of those thoughts that are like, oh my gosh, dude, I don't know if you can do this, Austin. People are gonna find you out. Oh my gosh, you're in over your head. What I do in those moments is I label those thoughts for what they are.

They're automatic negative thoughts. They're not my reality. They're not what I choose to believe. They're just a thought that popped in my head. And then what I do in that moment is when I have a negative thought, I kind of train myself to then say a positive thought right after that. So right after I feel negative, right?

So maybe it's, oh my gosh, Austin, you're not good enough to do YouTube. You don't have enough content ideas. Your equipment's not good enough. You haven't done this long enough. No one's gonna listen. And right after that, I tell myself. Those are just negative thoughts. Austin and I, if anyone can do YouTube, it's you, right?

If anyone can put this together, you are totally capable of doing it, Austin. So I'm almost reassuring myself right after I have a negative thought that, hey, no, I am valuable. I can do this. And so that's really what it is. It's in kind of an internal battle, right? It's always the negative thoughts that pop in our head.

And then what's the story we tell ourself? So I've said this before on the podcast, and I think it bears repeating. We can't control the thoughts that pop in our head. It's impossible. You can try as much as you want. You cannot control that, but you can control how we give into it. Do we believe the thought?

Do we make that our reality? Do we believe that story? Do we tell ourselves when we have a negative thought, where we're feeling insecure? Uh, you're right, Austin. I, I am, I'm not good enough. I can't do this. Or do we instead say, you know what? That's not true. That's just a thought. A thought that is not very good today.

It's a negative thought, but it's just a thought and I keep taking action. So I think that's the other key with imposter syndrome is if you let those thoughts cause an action, that's when you have yourself a problem. But if instead of giving into that inaction, you're constantly taking action while you're still feeling insecure.

You're gonna be still taking action and moving forward. And so you're gonna see that confidence starts to grow because you're gonna see results, right? And not everything is as bad as you think it is, and it's just a situation you're having to get through. So, I don't know if you're struggling with imposter syndrome.

Maybe you don't think you're capable of the job you're in. Maybe you don't think you're deserving of a promotion or more money. Maybe you don't believe you deserve a seat at the table, whatever it may be for you. I want you to really ask yourself, is there any actual facts to these thoughts I'm having?

If there is, great, you need to take some action and use that feedback. Or if there is no proof that this is an actual real thing, you need to just label it and move on and tell yourself something positive. If anyone tells you that you're gonna be able to get past imposter syndrome and that eventually it goes away.

They're lying to you. Imposter syndrome probably won't ever go away. You're probably always gonna feel some insecurity here and there in your life and your career, but it doesn't have to hold you back. I'm here to tell you imposter syndrome is something that top performers deal with. Bottom performers, everybody deals with it, but it's what you do with it.

And unfortunately, you know, it would be nice if we could all have careers and lifes where we didn't have imposter syndrome, but that's just reality. So feeling sorry for yourself, worrying about that, uh, thinking that others don't have it. Isolating yourself. Not the way to go. Just embrace it for what it is.

It's just part of being human. You're gonna be insecure sometimes. It's what you do after that counts. So I, I hope you like today's episode. Again, I had no notes, I had no agenda, no outline. I just wanted to share with you my thoughts on imposter syndrome. So I hope you found some value in today's short episode.

I wanna say thank you so much for listening. Make it a great day.

This has been The Introvert Leader Podcast. Subscribe for new episodes every other Wednesday.

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Austin Hopkins

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