Articles
Case Study: Moving from Diminishment to Visionary with Mara Glatzel
One thing I love most about my work with Your Impeccable Impact is the transformations I get to witness and be some small part of as participants work through their stories and come out the other side with a new Iconic Identity.
This was especially true of recent YII grad, Mara Glatzel.
Meet Mara. Iconic Identity: Visionary
Mara is an intuitive coach and writer, focusing on self care and sovereignty, host of the podcast Needy, and a passionate advocate for helping people get their needs met.
By her own admission, she spent years following me, reading emails, consuming the Imposter Complex content I was putting out, and keeping an eye on what I was doing for some time, convinced she wasn’t ready for the work, perhaps, and also extremely discerning about who she works with.
But once we got on a Breakthrough Call together, it was a case of right place, right time.
“What is really brilliant about this program that I didn't know to anticipate, was how much I was going to love the coursework itself,” Mara shared. “The coursework is really comprehensive. And it is really, really, really well done.”
Illuminating challenges and bringing them to light
Right away, Mara found the coursework illuminating things she had an inkling about before, but the work brought them to light in a new way.
Mara realized she was “not really standing in my own leadership or taking up space in my own life.” She said, “I had been just using myself and extracting from myself without any thought to what I needed. I had stretched what I gave myself, what I gave myself, what I gave myself for so many years, but I had these edges where I thought, well that's reasonably enough.”
Mara’s dominant behaviour of the Imposter Complex is diminishment, and apart from diminishing around her work and accomplishments, she was also diminishing her own needs.
Despite her work coaching others around their own self care, Imposter Complex had convinced her that she was only allowed to give herself what was “reasonable.” (Reasonable compared to what? Or defined by whom? Imposter Complex isn’t really concerned with those sorts of details.)
“And something happened to me during this program…” Mara shared. “On that last day, I shared about wanting 23 hours of rest every one hour of work. I'm now literally working towards that model now, because it takes so much self belief to believe, that's enough.”
Trying on her Iconic Identity
In our fast-paced world of hustle culture, internalized Puritan work ethics, and Capitalist notions of productivity, the idea that one hour of work in every 24 could be enough….That’s visionary.
Mara had to practice trying on that identity, seeing how it fit, inside the safe spaces of the Your Impeccable Impact community and coaching calls.
“The reason that I was so discombobulated inside was because I was prioritizing the perfection of the work,” Mara admitted, “and only giving myself just enough to be okay, but never giving myself enough to thrive. So I would say that's the shift that I've made over the course of the time of working with Tanya is that I'm finally really attending to what I require and it's a lot more than I ever would have allowed myself before.”
Reaping the fruits of her labours — and her rest
What’s truly wonderful — and perhaps amazing to some — is the way in which that tenderness, that tending, that rest is paying dividends in Mara’s business. And we’re not just talking about time off or hours saved, but cold hard cash.
“It is continually astonishing to me how investing in myself and my geek out joy and happiness brings greater dividends to my business,” Mara shared. “You know, since the time when we started working together (over 12 weeks), I’ve secured the amount I used to bring in over the course of 12 months.”
Even with (or indeed, because of) all her attention to her needs, her drive for more rest, her giving more to herself, Mara had her best sales month ever, and is leading more expansively, (plus some other good stuff you might want to stay tuned for).
The takeaway:
Mara’s work in Your Impeccable Impact helped her realize that, although she was preaching self care to her clients and audience, she wasn’t in integrity with how she was treating herself.
That behaviour was diminishment, because she wasn’t listening to what she truly needed, and was giving herself just enough to keep going.
But once she saw that, and realized that she is the vehicle for her work in the world, her priorities became clear.
As she stepped into her Iconic Identity as a Visionary, she realized she needed to attend to her own needs so much more than she had been allowing, letting go of any Imposter Complex thoughts of believing it was too much, or worrying what others would think.
And once she did? Once she opened herself up to the possibilities that more care, more rest afforded her? The results were dramatic.
By caring for herself, she was able to give more of herself to her role as a Visionary, and the results showed up in her business and her bank account.
“Through this work, I’m getting caught up to my bigness.”
And to me? That’s everything.
If you’re interested in exploring how you too might discover your Iconic Identity and tame the Imposter Complex, click here to book a Breakthrough Call with me. It’s a free opportunity to explore your next steps and to see whether or not the Your Impeccable Impact program will help you take them. But mostly, you’ll gain clarity.
Click here for my free training:
Five ICONIC shifts leaders use to overcome Imposter Complex.
How to Get Paid What You Deserve (Without Doubting Your Worth)
Because I work with a lot of coaches, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, one of the ways the Imposter Complex often rears its ugly head is with questions around pricing, charging for services, and how to get paid what “you’re worth”.
It’s no surprise to me that the Imposter Complex has something snarky to say when we try to attach a dollar value to our work. (And, if you’re curious, we say Imposter Complex instead of imposter syndrome because it’s more accurate, as I discuss in this article.)
Because it feels like one thing to put the work out there for free (or for a very low fee) — but it feels like something else entirely to say, “I’m worth this (much higher, much scarier) dollar amount.”
In fact, this is so prevalent for my people, that this is just a sample of what people have said when they join my Facebook group around how Imposter Complex is holding them back:
"I think that others don't think I'm worth paying"
"I’m comparing myself to others who use their gift & get paid well for it"
"I doubt the value of what I'm doing"
"I always undercharge"
"I can never get paid what I deserve"
"I don't make the money I should be"
"I’m not asking my worth"
"I’m allowing offers below my value"
"I give away too much"
"I question the true value I can bring"
Ouch.
This frequently shows up as the behaviour of diminishing that keeps you playing small and questioning the value of your work.
Or you might find that you fall back on perfectionism: to prove your “worth,” you dig in with over-preparing, refining, polishing, perfecting and never delivering.
(Curious about which behaviour of the Imposter Complex is standing in your way? Click here to take the free Imposter Complex quiz.)
So what can we do about it?
How to determine “what you’re worth”
The first part I want to unpack is the “worthiness” discussion — and the fact that what you charge or how you value your work actually has little if anything with your intrinsic worthiness. That's why I’ve put getting paid “what you’re worth” in quotation marks.
You are worthy, no matter what you charge. Period.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t answer the question of what rate to put on your website or how to answer when someone asks what you charge.
From a purely economic standpoint, it seems much easier to assign a value to a physical product than a service. With a product, there are tangible costs one can tally up: cost of raw materials, labour and production, distribution and shipping, marketing and advertising, research and development, and so on. One can add together those costs, add on a percentage for profit, and voilá! There’s the price.
Except, it’s rarely that simple.
There’s the question of supply and demand. If you’ve got the last roll of toilet paper in the city, well… We found out during the pandemic how much value people will place on that.
There’s also the question of profit margins. Did you know that typical retail prices are fully double the cost of production or more? Fine jewelry typically retails at triple the cost to the designer. Luxury items can be even more than that — which is how you get plain white t-shirts that cost hundreds of dollars versus a pack of six that cost just a few.
With services — and luxury services at that — it gets even more complicated.
There’s a wonderful maxim in the freelancing world that says, essentially: when a customer pays an hourly rate for, say, coaching or graphic design or copywriting, they’re not just paying for the hours it takes the vendor to complete the work; they’re paying for the years of education and experience that person brings to the job as well.
If you’re in business, you’ve probably noticed that you can hire service providers at a wide range of prices. Someone might pay anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars for a new website, as an example, and everywhere in between. And, like a nice bottle of wine, you can often get good quality and value at a variety of prices. The $300 bottle is not necessarily intrinsically better than the $30 bottle.
My point is that your “worth” is not a fixed value — and it’s not something you can determine by comparing yourself to what the rest of your industry is doing.
Pricing, value, worth can all start with external factors, like what other people are charging, but then have to take into account that one totally unique and irreplaceable element: you. Your education, years of experience, insights, and so on.
Because there are so many factors involved in deciding pricing, value, and “worth” in any industry, hopefully you can start to detach your personal self-worth from the dollar amount you place on your work.
Deciding what you’re “worth”
Deciding your “worth” and the value of your work is essentially a very personal question and decision, but I’ll share just a few ideas to help you arrive at a dollar amount:
Consider how much you want/need to earn and work backwards.
This is, in essence, a supply and demand problem. Start with the monthly or annual amount you want to earn, work out how many clients you can manage or hours you want to spend working, and then divide. That’s your rate. Alternately, take your current rate and multiply out how many clients or hours you need to reach your earning goals, then decide if that’s realistic. Remember: gross revenue is not the same as take-home pay. Consider what you might want to earn to do more with your business as well, like hire more team members, help more people, or create more freedom or income for yourself.Move up incrementally.
Of course, when people do the exercise above, they frequently realize their rates will not realistically get them to their goals — and that can trigger fear around raising rates. One of the simplest ways to work through this fear is to make an agreement with yourself to raise your rates incrementally. For example: if you’re currently getting paid $25 per hour, you agree with yourself that once you’ve signed 3 new clients, you will raise your rates to $35 per hour, and will continue to raise your rates by $10 an hour for every 3 new clients you sign. You’re welcome to tell yourself that if it ever becomes necessary, you can go back down to your old rate — but I would bet you will find that won’t be necessary.Do your research.
If you’re new and completely unsure where to start, it’s OK to do your research to see what the “going rate” is for what you do — just remember that you don’t need to stay at that introductory rate forever! See number 2 above.Test what the market will bear.
Of course, there is sometimes going to be a ceiling or natural limit to what the market will bear. For example, if you are a coach for beginning business owners, and you would like to charge $50,000 an hour for your services, you may struggle to find clients — not because you’re not “worth” that amount, but because the pool of brand new business owners who can afford your rates will be smaller. This has nothing to do with your worth and everything to do with product/market fit. And usually the only way to determine this is to test it.
How to raise your rates — without doubting your worth
Once you’ve made the decision to raise rates, all the negative self-talk and naysaying saboteurs/gremlins/inner critics will almost certainly start to show up for a feeding frenzy. They’re your first obstacle — not the clients! And they hate nothing more than clarity.
So that’s what you must feed them: a steady diet of straight talk.
Say this, loud and proud:
I am raising my rates because:
I know the value of my worth and it’s time that I was compensated accordingly. (This may mean saying “no” to brain-picking or “trade” offers, too… your call).
I know what I need to do to grow my business, and raising my rates will allow me to create more. (More of what is up to you).
I have done my due diligence and I know what the market will bear. (Because you HAVE).
I know the value of my worth and it’s time that I was compensated accordingly. (This bears repeating… saboteurs like to pretend they didn’t hear you the first time).
The other tool I like to rely on is the Yum & Yay folder. Essentially, it’s the list, or folder, or place in your computer where you save all the wonderful things people have said about you and your work
(You do have a place for that… right?)
Revisit as needed when the self-doubt gremlins would have you questioning if you’re really “worth” what you’re charging for your work. Chances are, your people will have had quite a lot to say about that — even if you need to be reminded that they said it.
Finally, remember that other people’s opinions are just that. A friend of mine, a copywriter, charges $300 per hour for projects, and had someone actually say to her, “That’s how much I pay my lawyer. How can you justify prices like that?”
The point is: She doesn’t have to justify it. Her work speaks for itself, and she’s found plenty of clients more than happy to pay it. That person simply wasn’t her ideal customer.
In short: Charging what you’re worth is an inside game much more than it is about other people. Confront those voices of the Imposter Complex and you will be well on your way to the compensation you want and deserve.
Click here for my free training:
Five ICONIC shifts leaders use to overcome Imposter Complex.
Seventeen
Dearest Lauren -
Whew, Child.
It’s your seventeenth birthday. Momentous enough in and of itself. But also your second during a pandemic.
In addition to the palpable collective grief that is omnipresent, you’re also quietly (very very very quietly) holding your own personal grief about feeling the loss of a “normal” sixteen year old’s year and a sense of foreboding dread that seventeen may not be altogether different.
I’m noticing that I feel some kind of melancholy as I write these words.. When I said to Staci during last Friday’s coffee date that you were a little sad, she said: Are you sure it’s not YOU that’s sad, Tanya?
Busted.
I AM sad.
This was to be the year you took charge of your own birthday. But as the COVID cases continue to climb, there won’t be any parties, nor picnics, nor hugs. It will only be your father and me belting out Dancing Queen with you in the kitchen.
Oof and sigh.
Layer up the fact that you are, I repeat, SEVENTEEN in the blink of an eye and LoveLove? I’m fit to be tied.
So I decided to shake off the melancholy by dipping into my “Lauren-isms” file that I started when you were around three years old. Funnily enough, I noticed it was SEVENTEEN pages long.
Seventeen pages of funny, profound, irreverent, heart-wrenching, poetic, ridiculous, thoughtful things you have said and done over the past seventeen years.
Wise observations and invitations like “Make every Sunday count...there are only so many in a lifetime" (you were nine).
Ponderings about food, like a baguette, “I like the crunch. It tastes like a yummy fire” (you were seven) or how an owl’s feather feels “a soft gumdrop” (you were five).
Brainteasers like: “What’s the opposite of today? Tomorrow or yesterday?” (you were seven).
Notes about kind things you’ve done for others and smart things you’ve done for you. Notes about the times you challenged yourself to rise higher and do better. And when you challenged authority around you to do the same. Including us. Thank you for loving us enough to hold us accountable and to a higher standard.
Try as I have, on your eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth birthdays, I feel once again that I have not sufficiently nor adequately articulated the ALL and the EVERYTHING that you are.
And I suspect I never will.
Because there are facets of you that are still revealing themselves. Bright and brilliant and exquisitely beautiful.
One thing I know: I’ve never loved you more than I do right now in all of your hilarious hair-flipping glory.
And as you pointed out to me when you were just six years old:
We have right now.
It IS what we have.
And it’s all and it’s everything.
Just like you.
Love,
Mama.
Click here for my free training:
Five ICONIC shifts leaders use to overcome Imposter Complex.
How to Receive (and Believe) a Compliment Gracefully
SCENE: Interior, your office, daytime (pre-pandemic, obviously!)
Your favourite coworker passes by your office and says, “Hey! Great job with that presentation yesterday. You really knocked it out of the park!”
CUE: Uncomfortable feelings.
“Oh,” you reply, shifting in your seat, “but there was a huge typo on my fourth slide. And I botched the wrap up. Plus, when Jim from sales asked me that question at the end I made a complete fool of myself!”
COWORKER: Smiles uncertainly and walks away.
END SCENE
Ever had an exchange like that happen in your life?
Someone pays you a compliment, and rather than simply saying “thank you,” you feel super uncomfortable and immediately launch into a litany of reasons why their praise is misplaced…
UGH.
One of the places I tend to spend a lot of time with my clients is on the intersection between praise and criticism.
That’s because the Imposter Complex would have you completely ignore — or mistrust — compliments from other people — but pay waaaaaay too much attention to criticism (even the constructive kind).
Then, it convinces you to overshare and tell the other person every tiny little reason why their compliment is wrong.
Imposter Complex is a real jerk like that.
(FYI: We don’t say “imposter syndrome” around here, and this post explains why.)
We all want compliments (I mean, who doesn’t??).
The paradox of receiving compliments, however, is that too many or not the right kind or an unbalanced diet of praise alone really rattles the cage of the Impostor Complex (“I’m not THAT good… they don’t really mean it” or “it’s just a matter of time before they find out how wrong they are”) AND so the value (and impact) of the compliments starts to diminish.
And then, of course, there’s the ACTUAL diminishment we engage in lest we commit the “sin of outshining.”
Suddenly, receiving a compliment becomes a terrible two-step of denial and disbelief.
It’s a serious pickle.
How to receive a compliment gracefully
A friend of mine started learning to paint watercolours during the pandemic. She subscribes to a kit that sends her the supplies and tutorials for projects every month. And when she shares the finished pieces, people are (understandably) impressed!
But she struggles to accept the compliments — she told me, “I feel like every time somebody compliments my painting, I have to give them the caveat that it was from a kit, a tutorial, like I don’t deserve full credit.”
If you find that you struggle to accept compliments — and maybe engage in that tricky two-step of then trying to explain them away — then I have a challenge for you:
The next time someone pays you a compliment, simply say
“Thank you.”
That’s it.
No explaining. No qualification. No rundown of all the reasons they’re wrong or places their compliment might be misplaced.
Just thank you — the two words feared most by the Imposter Complex.
Voilá! You have accepted a compliment gracefully.
Make a conscious effort to try this for a few days and see how it feels.
Of course, this is only the first step.
The second challenge is to believe them.
Simple, not easy as we like to say.
How to believe a compliment gracefully
You may find that even when you do manage to just say thank you for a compliment and refrain from correcting the other person, you still don’t quite believe them, either.
Sometimes we might mistake this for humility. Indeed, humility may be the value that actually underpins these feelings for you.
But there’s a difference between not bragging and not acknowledging your achievements.
And there’s a big difference between boasting and accepting a compliment.
Between showing off and showing up in all your brilliance.
And when you take a moment to look inside, I bet you can feel the difference immediately.
It’s funny because the Imposter Complex is just wildly arrogant. It has you making the assumption that everyone is just being nice — but is that really the truth?
Imagine lining up every last person who has ever lifted you, advocated on your behalf, complimented your work, allowed you past the velvet rope of academia, gave you a great mark, review, reference, testimonial, tweet, bit of kindness.
Go ahead. Line ‘em up in your brain. Look at how far that line stretches…
See them looking at you with the kindness and admiration and respect that they feel for you?
Now… Are you really going to tell each and every one of them that they’re wrong? That they’re just being nice? Do you really think you are such an incredible liar that you have them all fooled?
What if you just believed them?
Your clients have done their due diligence. Your references have checked out. You passed the test.
And?
The Imposter Complex would have you believe that you’ve somehow got them aaaaalll fooled, but — you’re just not that good at fooling anyone.
Try this instead:
Dare to believe someone when they tell you how remarkable you truly are.
I promise: it’s a revolutionary act.
Want to dive a little deeper into the complicated relationship between praise and criticism?
Check out Episode #11 of the Ready Enough Podcast: Accepting Your Worthiness and Investing in Your Support with Lena West. Lena is known for her words of wisdom and she spills some strong tea on the topics of worthiness and diminishment.
What if compliments and criticism are two sides of the same coin? If you find yourself thinking about what triggers your desire for compliments and your fear of criticism, this article is for you.
Struggling with compliments because people only seem to praise one part of you? (Maybe they praise you for being the “good” one or the “sweet” one and you think but I’m so much more…) Check out this article about how to read beyond the label of a compliment and start seeing yourself as you wish to be seen
Click here for my free training:
Five ICONIC shifts leaders use to overcome Imposter Complex.
I'm Successful, but I'm Afraid I Can't Keep it Up
I’ve identified 12 lies that the Imposter Complex likes to tell us, but one of the most common is: “You’ll never be able to pull that off again.”
If you know, you know — these thoughts can come up a lot, especially for women. My clients have said things like:
"I’m afraid I won't be able to replicate what I accomplished..."
“I know I can achieve it, but I’m afraid I can’t sustain my success…”
"I feel like I'm not doing enough or right enough..."
"I tell myself it was just 'luck'..."
In fact, that belief that we won’t be able to replicate or sustain our success — that it was luck or a fluke — has been central to this issue since Imposter Complex was identified.
More than 40 years ago, clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes coined the term “Imposter Phenomenon.” (And there’s a big reason I refer to it as Imposter Complex and not imposter syndrome which you can read about at that link.)
They started their research at Oberlin College and were working with high-functioning, high-achieving female students who almost all felt that they got into the college by fluke and that some day, any day now, they would be found out as the frauds they are.
I fell into the same trap myself: I came to coaching after years and years in an outwardly successful but ultimately unsatisfying career in advertising. I logged the hours, delivered the goods and shook the hands of satisfied clients time and again. I kept waiting for the deep-seated feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction to arrive. They didn’t.
I also suffered, a lot, from myriad “not good enough, not smart enough, not ready” beliefs. Any success I enjoyed I chalked up to someone else having made a mistake. I thought it was just a matter of time before they found out I was a fake.
And of course, none of that ever happened.
So what’s really behind this belief?
The Imposter Complex lies
Depending on which of the six behavioural traits of the Imposter Complex you most often experience, you might experience this kind of self-doubt a little differently.
For example, if you tend to compare, you’ll immediately discount your success in comparison to somebody else’s work.
If you’re a procrastinator, you’re likely to fall into the camp that says, “If I am a success this time, I’ll never be able to follow it up, so why even try....”
If you tend to diminish, you might not even acknowledge your success at all — and if you do, it will only be grudgingly, with the quick caveat that it was a fluke, a lucky break, never to be repeated…
But these are all lies that the Imposter Complex likes to tell us to keep us feeling alone and isolated, doubting ourselves and our capacity, and out of action. That’s the Imposter Complex’s whole game!
But here’s the truth, Love: Your success was the result of the skills and will you brought to the table (and, sure, MAYBE the stars were aligned as well). And so it shall be again. As long as you keep bringing your skills and will to the table.
Your skills, talent, insight, knowledge, background, creativity, and grit haven’t changed. Whatever brought you to that success (yes, even “luck”!) still exist.
And you can apply them to your next endeavor to help you see that success again…
And again…
And again.
This is not to say that you will succeed every time, but rather a reminder that if you succeeded once, you can absolutely do it again.
Fight back by celebrating your successes
Not quite sure you believe me?
That’s OK — you don’t have to take my word for it.
I challenge you to take your own word for it. Take a few moments to list out some of your greatest successes and accomplishments. Things you’ve done, said, won, launched, accomplished, shared, created, or built.
So many of us are hesitant to celebrate our wins — but the best way to knock back those fears that you can’t replicate your successes are to celebrate those successes fully and with full hearts.
We revel with ease in the light of others, which puts us halfway there. But I want you to revel in your own light.
You’ve done, seen, delivered, given, shared, helped so much. But sitting back and basking in it is so, erm, gauche, narcissistic, and conceited, non?
NON.
I suggest curating all the light that you’re shining out. I call it your YUM + YAY list or folder: a place where you can gather proof of your awesome. It’s all out there, we’re just corralling it in, with the help of the people who deeply want you to see it.
And you can do more. Better. For all.
Inviting in how you are seen, really seen by others is a gift. For them. For you. And ultimately? For us all.
I talk more about YUM + YAY in my TEDx talk which you can watch here.
This way, every time you are about to climb a mountain, face down a baddy, or find yourself doubting yourself eventhismuch, you can come back to your YUM + YAY folder to remember what you’ve forgotten — that you’ve got this.
This practice will help you take control of your dreams and acknowledge your own success.
It's time to claim the opportunities that present themselves, ask for the introductions, make the pitches, embrace the applause with full heart.
Click here for my free training:
Five ICONIC shifts leaders use to overcome Imposter Complex.
How to Stop Caring What People Think Of You & Fearing Criticism
Are you living in somebody else’s head?
Sounds… squishy, to be sure, but it’s a chronic problem and I hear it echoed every day with my clients and the people who join my community. They say things like,
I’m constantly thinking about the person who doesn't like what I'm doing.
I worry others don't think my work is good enough.
I’m afraid of criticism.
I’m afraid if I put my work out there, I’ll get trolls and haters.
They’re deeply concerned with what’s going on in other people’s heads… what others will think or say or do.
We fear that once we become too big, too famous, too…something, then people will disconnect from us. Because we’ve seen it. Because we’ve done it.
(Ooof… That hits home, doesn’t it?)
And, more often than not, those fears manage to keep us doubting our capacity. It keeps us alone and isolated. And it keeps us completely out of action.
Those are the key hallmarks of the Imposter Complex (which, as I explain here, is not actually a syndrome, as in imposter syndrome).
So yes. Chronic. Persistent. Not going anywhere.
And so we desperately grasp for answers, for tactics, for ways to keep our eyes on our own paper. We desperately want to know: how do we learn to stop caring what other people think?!
How to Not Care What People Think
What’s fascinating about comparison is that, deep down, that intense caring about what other people think is actually a superpower.
We’re afraid of what other people will think — because we care so deeply about connecting with them.
Here’s the key reframe:
Comparison isn’t bad. It’s a teacher. And can be an excellent one.
Comparison means you always knew how you were stacking up. And how to modulate accordingly.
In fact, comparison often comes from a deep value of connection — and a desire to understand how you are connected to others and how they are connected to you.
I call people who wrestle with comparison my Seers, because they have a true vision for what they want and what others are achieving.
The key is to recognize the gift comparison can give you — if you let it.
And we create connection, conscious self-awareness, and appreciation.
Transforming the comparison habit isn’t about turning comparison OFF. It’s about turning awareness ON.
Comparing yourself to others, whether consciously or unconsciously, is a handy distraction. It’s one of the six ways the Imposter Complex keeps you from living up to your highest potential. Wasting time. Wasting gifts. Wasting self.
But when we open up to the possibility that our deep value of connection is behind those fears of not-enoughness, we can:
Recognize that no one else is ever the Authority.
Those we want to canonize are finding their own path and wrestle with their own Impostor Complexes. They don’t see themselves as THE authority either… because they are not. (No one is)
We praise people — and then persecute them when they don’t live up to our expectations.
We are killing creativity with canonization.
No more.
Now the real work begins.
Now you can catch yourself when you start to worry what other people will think and start reminding yourself of all the good you’ve already done.
You can counteract the fear of criticism with a laundry list of accolades you’ve amassed over the years.
You can remember that success isn’t finite, and someone else’s does not diminish your own.
And when you do that?
Everything changes.
Eyes on your own papers, Loves. We’ve got work to do.
Click here for my free training:
Five ICONIC shifts leaders use to overcome Imposter Complex.