At the beginning of April we had the opportunity to offer a free webinar: 7 Life Hacks for Defeating Imposter Syndrome. We want to open up the notes, and discussion, to our Indie It Press Artist Community. Here are our 7 Life Hacks for Defeating Imposter Syndrome. Hey, we know we can’t completely smash it, but we can work toward improving our negative thoughts around our art, and our life. Without further ado…
Consume Bad Art
- I guarantee someone has been paid a lot of money to make something worse than you’re capable of. Many people consider the Twilight Series and the Fifty Shades of Grey the worst books ever, yet they are incredibly successful with backing of filmmakers too!
- Remember that a lot of people are successful because they didn’t stop, and they were in the right place at the right time and/or had privilege that helped them, NOT that they were necessarily more talented than you.
- It’s also alright to make bad art too. The more you work at it, the better you become.
For anyone to dictate what is right or wrong in art, good or bad in art, is like telling us who we are, or should be.
-Jane Freeman, Actress
Get Honest Feedback
- Practice taking constructive criticism from people you trust.
- We all want to be the best we can be and without feedback we can stay stagnant.
- Feedback will help us to create our best art.
- Most people actually want feedback, it is how we receive it that is difficult. Be open to every kind of constructive criticism.
- Receiving feedback is a growth mindset.
“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection”
– Mark Twain
Develop a Healthy Relationship With Failure
- You have a right to fail. You WILL fail.
- Reframe your negative thoughts – everything is an opportunity to learn.
- When you fail, get back up again as soon as you possibly can. You must try again.
- Don’t abandon the lessons learned from failing. Use them to succeed.
“Failure is the only opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
–Henry Ford
When you fail, get back up as soon as you possibly can. You must try again.
Change to DO!
“I’d rather be delusional than depressed.”
–Trixie Mattel
- Visualize success you have to think in your head those dreams you want to accomplish. (The dreaming part is crucial.)
- Dreams help us to feel alive.
- You have to keep going. If you freeze, or stay stuck, this is a quick way to derail, or sabotage yourself. If you don’t know- keep going anyway.
- #do. Absolutely dream! Yes! But then you must take action and do the work.
If you can’t learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.
–Ashleigh Brilliant
#DO – Dream, absolutely! Then you must take action, make a plan, and create. Do the work.
Own Your Achievements
- Know your value.
- Create a “brag sheet.” – take a couple of minutes to create a brag sheet, post them by your artistic workspace, share your brags with another creative.
- Recognize how your perspective is unique – stop comparing yourself to others. No one is YOU.
- About Dustin’s resume – he struggles with his large resume of famous people, and franchises he’s worked with over the years in Marketing and Social Media. The reality is he HAS worked with all of those people, and franchises he lists on his resume. You must own your achievements. Own IT!
Distinguish Humility From Fear
- They are NOT the same thing.
- Humility is a feeling of peace.
- Fear is a feeling of anxiety.
- Humility is the quality of being humble. the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance, rank, etc.
- Fear an unpleasant emotion caused by being aware of danger : a feeling of being afraid. : a feeling of respect and wonder for something very powerful. fear. Verb
Fear can stop us from living a creative life. Fear of failure and fear of success. Recognize fear for what it is- a way to stay stuck.
Let Go of Perfectionism – especially at the beginning.
- A first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to exist at first.
- Everything can be improved but you need something to improve on first. – Pretty simple, right!?
- Perfectionism feeds imposter syndrome.
- Dump 100% perfect rule – Use 80/20 rule. You can do more in less time if you don’t try to do everything perfectly. Better to have more things accomplished at 80% than zero, then SAY- only 1 thing accomplished, because you’re shooting for 100% perfection. You can get more done if you don’t try to be perfect at everything.
- Leisa on queries – At the beginning of querying my memoir in January of 2020, I submitted to over 30 agents. I either had all no’s, or heard crickets. NOTHING. I then changed my query process, title of my book, and letter, in October of 2020 began to get full asks!
Perfect is the enemy of good.
-Voltaire
FINALLY:
Remember that succumbing to Imposter Syndrome and holding yourself back has a cost both emotionally, creatively, and financially. You’re going to burn out, stay in a job you hate, lose promotions, stop yourself from applying for jobs you love, lose self-respect, and generally feel dissatisfied.
Ask yourself these three simple questions:
Is the temporary sting of a rejection or criticism worth stopping, or not trying at all?
What about the idea of having to have it perfect before others see it- is it worth it?
How about being stuck and not moving forward- is it worth it?
In conclusion, You have more power over defeating imposter syndrome than you realize. Work daily toward not succumbing to it. As you do this you will get further and further away from feeling unworthy, and closer to creative fulfillment and celebrating small and big successes.
Connect with us on Instagram @indieitpress and tell us how you’re going to defeat Imposter Syndrome using the hashtag #defeatimpostersyndrome.
