kms

Your Turn

This week I’ll be participating in the Your Turn Challenge. Participants have promised each other to make at least one blog post each day this week. The challenge combats impostor syndrome and gets a routine going.

Impostor Syndrome

Impostor syndrome is the fear of claiming you are something you are not. Most often, I see people struggle with it in programming, but personally I have had it when becoming a business owner and with writing.

“I’m terrible at it.”

I’ve noticed people with impostor syndrome often have high standards. People get to a point where they can recognize the good from the bad. However, their standards cause them to notice issues in their work that others would gloss over.

These standards are often a reflection of the breadth of their experience. They would not have these standards if they were true impostors.

“What if I fail?”

We hear about others’ successes, but usually not about the failures that lead to their eventual successes. Even with failure, we learn. Sometimes the best lessons are learned when we fail. Embrace failure and jump in.

“What if I say the wrong thing?”

With many things in life, you have to claim it before growth can happen. This is the “fake it until you make it” strategy. If you are waiting to be qualified, you’ll have missed your opportunity. Qualification comes through experience; your qualifications will catch up.

Habit, routine, ritual

We improve when we iterate and reflect. Each program, business opportunity, and blog post is an opportunity to start again. Get in a habit of reflecting on lessons learned in previous iterations. Build a routine of trying something new. Make starting a ritual.