Breaking Up with Imposter Syndrome

I don't know if you guys know this, but in 2018 I pasted a quote onto my vision board that said, "Make your passion your paycheck." And I was on a retreat in Mykonos. I was helping to plan and guide this retreat. This was at the time when I was working that quote-unquote dream job that I had gotten that I would, you know, later, a couple of months down the line, get fired for unexpectedly and kind of be pushed into the journey of starting my own business. Funnily enough, I really wanted to manifest being able to live in a, in a freer way. Like, I wanted— I didn't want to have to continue teaching English and, you know, making such little money. And I didn't know what I was gonna do or how I was gonna do it yet, but I knew that that felt really expansive and exciting to me, the idea of making your passion your paycheck. So I took that quote and I printed it off Pinterest and I cut it out and I pasted it onto my vision board that I made on that retreat. And all I knew was that I really wanted to impact women's lives in a powerful way, and I wanted to be able to earn lots of money doing it and to live a freer lifestyle. I was still teaching in Spain, earning less than $15,000 per year, unable to like save anything. Like, I had no savings. My bank accounts were abysmal, you guys. Like, Jaime actually just reminded me the other day of a time where I texted him and asked if he could Venmo me. It's not called Venmo in Spain, but we'll use that for reference. Basically, send me $15 because I was— I had a friend visiting Madrid and we were going to go out for a drink or something, and I literally had no money in my bank account. And that was like a regular occurrence for me at the end of the month because I was just strapped so thin, you know, like we made just a little over €1,000. A month teaching English. And then my rent for my apartment that I was sharing with 9 other people was €500. So there went half of my paycheck. So long story short, you know, I was like trying to build a business on the side. I was also full-time teaching and working for somebody else's business, being an intern for free. So I was energetically and just financially running on E, you know. I was trying to create content and do all these things, maintain a relationship and some resemblance of a personal life. Like, it was a lot. But no matter how crazy or far away my dreams felt, I just kept holding the vision for this life and this legacy that I really wanted to lead. And a lot of you guys who, you know, have been around for a while, you'll know some of the, the details and of these years of my life and the ins and outs of the journey. But since then, I've been able to scale my coaching business to 6 figures in the first year and multiple 6 figures in the second year, and grow this podcast to be in the top charts in the US and Canada and Australia, and create this amazing engaged community of like-minded women who are all really committed to their evolution of self. And you know, this all sounds incredible, but like, the journey really was not all smooth sailing. Like, building a business is a motherfucking roller coaster. I always say that. It's, it's, it— we think that, you know, we build a business to help others, and we do, but we also build a business to help ourselves and heal ourselves. Like, so much of our inner work that still needs to be done will be mirrored to us when we start to show up online more and try to put ourselves out there. You know, it's terrifying to put yourself out on the internet and basically be your own product. It's not the same as selling a shampoo or a beauty product. Like, you are the product, and that can bring up a lot of wounding, a lot of imposter syndrome, which we'll talk about today, a lot of societal programming, and, you know, so many of those thought patterns that are rooted in fear and lack. And so knowing what I know now, you know, I'm so glad that I never gave up on my vision. I'm so glad that I reached out and I got the help that I needed in order to be able to feel supported. And succeed in my business. And that's my mission and something that I'm so passionate about, and I can't wait to help other women with, you know, this idea of really fearlessly pursuing your soul mission. That is what I am here to help you do. And I'm so excited to let you guys know that Abundant and Ambitious is back. The enrollment is open. We've already been filling spots. It's on early bird sale this entire week, so if you're listening to this in real time, you can save $1,000 on the program. This is my 4-month group business coaching program that is deeply transformational, and it is so high touch. We meet every single week for live coaching calls with the group, plus you get access to over 30 hours of my best business trainings. And we're going to help you grow and scale a business. If you're starting anywhere from $0 to around $3,000 or $4,000 a month, this program is really going to support you to taking things to the next level. So this program is designed to help you tackle self-doubt and imposter syndrome, magnetize your ideal clients online, show up more powerfully on social media and really get the confidence to be on video, create a signature program that's going to yield results for your clients, build the confidence to sell effectively, establish the foundation you need in order to be able to grow and scale to six figures and beyond, cultivate more freedom and abundance and flow in your business, and really find your voice and your niche and build a sustainable personal brand. So some of the topics that we cover in this program are, you know, the business foundations of stepping into your power and overcoming imposter syndrome, which again, I'm going to touch a lot on this topic in today's episode because it quite frankly is rampant and it's pissing me off. We'll leave it there for now, but we'll get into it in a second. Um, we also cover selling on social media, niche and branding, the conscious creation of an offer like a course or program, how to do that. Attracting soulmate clients, upleveling your content creation and your copywriting. I give you the blueprint for how to run free masterclasses, challenges, and workshops, and how to launch a program. We talk about money mindset and management in business, soulful sales, and how to really sell with confidence and from soul and not feeling icky about that sales process. Feminine-led business practices that really changed things for me. How to support your clients without burning out. We talk all about boundaries between you and your clients and boundaries with you and your business. Podcasting— the Launch and Grow a Successful Show training is included inside A&A. And finally, scaling to 6 figures and hiring, delegating, and systemizing. So there is so much freaking value inside of this program, and really, you know, my goal with this is for it to be high-level business coaching for the woman who can't yet afford high-level business coaching. So if you're listening to this right now and you're wanting to grow your coaching business, but you don't yet have the ability to invest $5,000 or $10,000, which is, you know, industry standard for getting really effective mentorship, this is the program for you. Like, we got you. And it's so fun. And the women that— the type of women that join this group are just incredible. The last round, there was so much networking that happened in the group. It was almost like a mastermind type vibe where the women inside that group really rallied around each other. They supported each other. Our Facebook group was always going off. It's like the most engaged Facebook group I've ever had. Um, they were all swapping each other's podcasts and being on each other's shows and doing live videos together., and the energy is just really, really good, especially if you want to feel supported in business. So this is like my favorite thing currently in my world right now that I offer, and I'm so, so excited about it. So if you're interested, I would encourage you to go and check out more information on my website. I'll leave the link in the show notes below, or you can always click the link in my bio on Instagram, or just shoot me a DM if you have a specific inquiry about, you know, if it's going to be a right fit for you and your type of business or where you're at in business, all those types of things. So I'm so excited about this. Early bird pricing ends on March 20th, and then it'll be going up by $1,000. The doors officially close on March 27th. So if you're listening to this before then and you're feeling that intuitive nudge, I really, really encourage you to go read more about it. Check out the testimonials. The testimonials from this program are absolutely incredible. Go check those out on my saved stories highlight for Ana. Or shoot me a DM. I would be so over the moon to chat to you and learn about your big vision and what you want to do and create in your business. So thank you guys for listening to this little spiel about abundant and ambitious. Um, it's obviously something I'm super, super passionate about. But in terms of today's episode, like I said, we're going to be talking about imposter syndrome. I really want to touch on the concept because This week especially, you know, I've had a lot of— I've had a lot of conversations with women, whether they're clients or friends or peers, about imposter syndrome. And that, you know, women have been sharing with me how it continues to make them believe that they're not smart enough or talented enough or expert enough or special enough or confident enough to be able to work for themselves or build a coaching business or, you know, follow their dreams, whatever that looks like for you. So let's go ahead and start digging in. Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shit happen. I posted something on Instagram the other day and I thought I would just read a little piece of it because it's, you know, part of the reason that I decided I should really do a podcast episode on this because like I mentioned in the intro, I I was having a lot of conversations with women who were explaining and telling me about their imposter syndrome and how it's holding them back. And so that inspired this post. And then from there I was like, ugh, like we just need to have a bigger conversation about this. So I wrote, there's a really strange moment in time when you become so certain of your goals and the direction you want to go in, but you still feel paralyzed. Before you thought, once I have more clarity around what I want, then I'll be able to make moves. But now you have the basic clarity. You know you want to build a soul-aligned business and help women change their lives and live happier, more fulfilling existences, yet you're still not moving toward it in the capacity you'd hoped for. This phase is so fucking frustrating. You can see the goalpost, but you tell yourself it's still really far away. You're not ready yet. There's more you need to learn first. You have more inner work to do. You aren't worthy of the investment yet. You need to get certified. You get more out of it later down the line if you just wait a little while. I've talked to so many women this week, clients, friends, and peers who have shared their imposter syndrome with me and how it continues to make them believe they are not smart enough, talented enough, expert enough, special enough, or confident enough. And this breaks my fucking heart. It breaks my heart that so many women feel this way, and it also enrages me that we are still here, that we are still doubting ourselves, minimizing the importance of our voices and the impact we're capable of. Okay. So I have something I think you're really gonna love and your business is gonna love it even more. Do you wanna steal the strategy I've been using to seduce premium buyers and sell out my offers on Instagram stories? Chances are you're already posting, you're already making sales, but If your Instagram stories aren't working as hard as you are, you're leaving money on the table. Sold Out Stories is going to teach you exactly how to change that so that you can sell out any offer at any price point. And even high-caliber coaches miss this because selling on stories isn't about how much you post or how frequently you show up face to camera. It's about psychological sequencing. And the way you're posting right now might be giving the premium buyers in your audience the ick. Documenting your day and hoping it builds trust, posting look at me content and calling it authority, sharing client wins as soon as they drop in instead of strategically weaving them into a story selling sequence designed to drive demand and convert sales. We both know that you're not here to learn how to show up more. You're here because you know your content could be converting faster and more effectively. Sold Out Stories is gonna give you 5 high-converting story selling frameworks built specifically for premium buyer psychology. Inside, you'll get over 6 hours of deep dive video trainings, real IG story breakdowns, and live walkthroughs that show you exactly how to elevate your slides from authority building all the way to offer flow. In less than 10 slides. My clients have already been using these frameworks to pull 5-figure sales days while posting less. One client generated 14 premium leads from a single story sequence. Another sold out her event in under 6 hours with just 8 strategic story slides. No sales calls, no paid ads, just the right frameworks. You'll walk away knowing how to sequence for desire, transition into your offer seamlessly, and sell daily without ever feeling salesy. Easily. You already know your offer's incredible, so now it's just time for your stories to sell it like it is. Grab Sold Out Stories today and turn 10 slides or less into your highest converting content. Let's make your next story your most profitable one yet. Click the link in the show notes below and I'll see you inside. So this is the inspiration behind today's episode because It's— that is how I feel. It breaks my heart, and it also enrages me and frustrates me. And I'm just— I'm, I'm sad and I'm mad that we are still in this place, that so many of us are still feeling stuck and trapped by what's happening inside of our own minds, because that's really what imposter syndrome is. Is, you know, it's not necessarily a specific circumstance or something that's actually happening in the physical world, but it's something that's happening inside of our minds, and we're taking it as truth, we're taking it as fact, and we're allowing it to affect our lives and hold us back from doing the things that we really want to do. So I decided to Google the definition of imposter syndrome just to get like, you know, I think we all know where, what it is, but just to get like an overarching feel of what it means on a literal sense. Like, you know, I'm a very esoteric person, but I also like the logical side. So here's the definition that I pulled: imposter syndrome refers to an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. While the definition is usually narrowly applied to intelligence and achievement, it has links to perfectionism and the social context as well. Imposter syndrome is the experience of feeling like a phony. You feel as though at any moment you're going to be found out as a fraud, like you don't belong where you are and you only got there through dumb luck. It can affect anyone, no matter their social status, work background, skill level, or degree of expertise. The term was first used by psychologists in the 1970s and was originally thought to apply mostly to high-achieving women. And LOL, love that for us. Although early family dynamics and gender roles are definitely at play in the research, anyone can experience imposter syndrome. So yeah, it's, it's super interesting how, you know, the original research around imposter syndrome identified that it was mainly something that women experienced because of traditional gender roles. That feeling of, you know, feeling like you are misplaced or like your success was just a happy accident because it's not normal for women to have this level of success or this level of freedom or this level of abundance. Like, I think that is so— it's, it's still so present for us today. And that is one of the things that irks me the most because it's sad. It's really sad. So I wanted to kind of go over some of the main characteristics of imposter syndrome and And it's, although again, like I said, most of us probably know what imposter syndrome is or what it might feel like, it's interesting to see these characteristics just like written out on like a, you know, like a medical article or somewhere online. Because you're like, it just makes it real, you know, it kind of, it's that validation of, oh, you know, that thing that I'm experiencing, it's not just me being crazy or it's not just me not having enough confidence. It's like a real thing that a lot of people experience. So I'm just going to read off some of the, the main characteristics that I've jotted down here, and they are: unable to realistically— you are unable to realistically assess your competence and skills. You fear that you won't live up to expectations. Self-sabotaging behaviors in your own success, overachieving or over-preparing, which can fuel the feeling of motivation but comes at the cost of constant anxiety. This one I really, really resonated with because that's me to a T. And my mantra as an Enneagram 3, which is the Achiever, is is I am loved for who I am, not what I can offer. So for any of my girlies out there that are also, you know, overachievers that kind of run themselves into the ground trying to prove their worth or do the best that they possibly can, always for everything, so important for us to remember that we, we really are loved for who we are and not what we can offer or do or provide. You know, the people that genuinely love me the most in my life, they don't care what I do for work. They don't care what kind of money I make. None of that matters to them. Like, they would love me anyway, right? And so that's a mantra that I like to come back to: I am loved for who I am, not what I can offer. So if that resonates for you, take it and use it for sure. Some other characteristics are obviously self-doubt, being highly critical of your own performance, attributing success to external factors or minimizing your successes. Like when you do achieve something, you're like, yeah, but it was only da da da da, or yeah, but I still have to da da da da. Um, being very sensitive to any type of criticism, even when it's constructive, like it just really stings for you. Downplaying your own expertise, even in areas where you are genuinely skilled or potentially even more skilled than others. You just feel the need to kind of like downplay that and not own that you're an expert or that you are, you know, well studied or that you have a wealth of knowledge in some area. And then scrutinizing over like the smallest mistakes or every little flaw in your work. So, you know, I feel like we're all going down ticking the boxes and being like, yep, yep, yep. Or is it just me? I don't think so. Um, another interesting thing that I learned was that there's different types of imposter syndrome. So I'm gonna link— I'm gonna link where I got this from. It's like I said, I just Googled some stuff, so it's not like this is like peer-reviewed medical articles. Um, so yeah, don't come for me, like just be chill. It's just for us to like like enjoy expanding our knowledge or perception around the feeling of imposter syndrome. Okay, so these are kind of like, um, they're almost like archetypes of imposter syndrome. So I thought they were cool and I just wanted to share them with you. So there's 5 of them, and the first one is the perfectionist. And this person is the person who is never satisfied and always feels like their work could have been better. They fixate on flaws and mistakes and they put lots of pressure on themselves, and they're usually in a state of anxiety. Then we have the Superhero, which is someone who feels really inadequate, and that feeling leads them to try to be the hardest worker in the room in order to prove their worth. So really overworking. Then the Expert, which is the individual who's like obsessed with learning more and never feels like they know enough, like always just needing, almost compulsively feeling like they need to consume more knowledge and be able to like get smarter or gain more understanding around certain concepts or their line of work. And these people are actually often really highly skilled already, but they just underrate their own expertise and feel like they need to learn more and more and more. Um, I can relate to that one in some aspects, which I'll talk about a little later when we get into, you know, things that imposter syndrome made me do. And then the— which one are we on? 1, 2, 3— the fourth one is the natural genius. And I don't really like fully understand why they named this one the natural genius, but it says that they set excessively lofty or unrealistic goals for themselves and then get upset when they don't succeed on the first try, which is also like a form of self-sabotage, right? Because you're basically going you're doing something that you— you're setting a goal that you know you won't be able to achieve as a way to kind of convince yourself or prove to yourself that like, see, I, I couldn't do it, or I'm not good enough yet. So that's that. And then the last one, the fifth one, is called the Soloist. And this is someone who's like a little bit more individualistic, and they enjoy working alone, and a lot of their self-worth comes from their productivity. So we've talked a lot about productivity addiction on the podcast. There's there's an episode about it. Um, but this one, this archetype, the Soloist, derives a lot of their self-worth from their productivity. So they are going to be more likely to reject offers of help or assistance because they feel like if they can't do everything on their own, then they're not good enough or they're not worthy. Like, I should just be able to do all of this by myself. I should be able to handle this. So they tend to see asking for help as like a sign of weakness or incompetence. And as we know, that's really going to hold you back, isn't it? Yeah. Um, the other thing that I wanted to share with you guys is something that— I'm going to paraphrase this because I do not remember where I heard this. I know it was on a podcast, and I know it was from Seth Godin, who's like a bestselling author and a master marketer. But I was listening to a podcast like like years ago at this point, so I wasn't about to like go back and try to find it. And it wasn't his podcast, so I was like, fuck if I'm gonna find that. Um, but he was asked about this idea of imposter syndrome, and I just remember what he said and it really stuck with me. So I'm gonna paraphrase what he said, but I wanted to share it with you because it was an interesting take. And so he said something along the lines of If you feel like an imposter, it's because you are, and not in a bad way, but because we all are. Because none of us know if our creative ideas are going to work or make sense to others or gain traction. Like, it would be impossible to predict that, but we do it anyway, right? We continue to put creative work out into the world because it's part of how we make the world go round. And I just loved this idea because it almost takes the power away of imposter syndrome, of like, oh my gosh, I can't be an imposter, I can't be an imposter. And it's just like, well, we all are, we're all imposters, so deal with it, you know? It's like, now what? What are we gonna do next then? Rather than feeling like there's something that you need to do or achieve or some level that you need to reach in order for you to not consider yourself an imposter or to not feel like imposter, rather. And maybe just accepting the fact that every time we put something out there, something, you know, creatively derived— excuse me, something creatively derived from like an intuitive desire— we put it out into the world, there's no way for us to know for a fact and have that level of certainty of like, I know that this is going to work. Work. In the beginning, we never know if our creative ideas are going to work. And so I guess we are imposters. We can't stand behind them and say, I know with 100% certainty this is going to work, because we haven't tried it yet. So we have to, we have to get through that initial attempt or that initial launch in order to, to feel like, you know, we, we can back up those creative ideas. But in the beginning, we are imposters. Of course we are, every time. And it's not just in the beginning of your business, it's like in the beginning of any creative idea, anything new that you're birthing into the world. If it's new, it's unknown. And so if there's uncertainty, then there's a level of impostering. I just made that up, but you know what I mean? Because how can we pretend to be an expert in something that hasn't existed before? So anyway, I just thought that was an interesting, an interesting way to look at it. But my hot take on imposter syndrome and the way that I really see all of this has to do with the idea of certainty. Hey, don't forget that every month we are picking a Listener of the Month to win $50 in cash just for showing love to the show. All you have to do is leave an epic review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, screenshot the review before you hit submit, and DM that screenshot to us on Instagram at Makeshift Happen Podcast. And that's it. I want to thank you for being such a loyal listener and show my appreciation by putting a little extra cash in your pocket. I know it's super easy not to do it, but every single rating and review seriously helps the show rank higher and reach new people, so we appreciate them more than you know. We'll announce the next winner at the end of the month and slide into your DMs if it's you, so keep an eye out and good luck. Love you guys. And thanks for supporting Makeshift Happen. And how much humans love certainty, right? Like, we crave it. So many of us were going absolutely fucking insane during the pandemic, and maybe even still now, but especially when things were like super unknown. Like, we were in— when we were in the beginning of those like really intense lockdowns where it was like 2 weeks turned into 4, turned into 6, turned into 8, turned in a couple months, and we were like, what the fuck is happening? Um, and you couldn't plan anything, and all the weddings were getting canceled and travel plans, and like, you just— there was no guarantee. You'd be like, yeah, I'll be there on Wednesday unless they shut down the city, I don't fucking know. Um, like, that experience really showed a lot of us how much we crave certainty and how much we need it almost in order to feel safe and to feel like our life is moving in the right direction. It's like certainty is like crack cocaine, like we just can't get enough of that shit because our brains, our brains are really designed to be these prediction machines, right? Like evolutionarily speaking— I don't know if that's a word— evolutionarily, we're rolling with it. Evolutionarily speaking, our ability to reflect on the past and project into the future only truly serves one purpose, and that is to be able to predict what will happen next so that we can avoid danger, death, or starvation, right? So our brains are these prediction machines. We're constantly predicting, and this is where so much of our programming and limiting beliefs come from, because if there's a blank blank anywhere in childhood, or anywhere, if there's a blank, we will fill it in. We'll find a way to fill it in, right? Oh, this, you know, this parent didn't pay much attention to me. You fill that blank in as a child. You go, oh, I have to do this in order to get attention. I have to achieve in order to get attention, or I have to whatever, be, um, you know, be passive, or be the peacemaker, or, you know, not rock the boat, and then I'll receive love. Like, that's what we're doing all the time, is, is we're predicting how somebody else is going to act based on our behavior. We're filling in any blanks, and we're trying to create that perception, that false perception of safety moving forward. And so the way that we constantly predict is that we lean on our past experiences, whether these are, these are experiences that we had in our specific life, like it happened to us, or even just experiences that we witnessed happening to people around us, to our siblings, within our families, with peers at school, growing up, movies, all that kind of stuff. And this is what helps us try to create then the most amount of safety for ourselves moving forward. We really lean on those past experiences of our own and of other people and what we've witnessed to inform what is safe and what is not not. But, you know, the problem is like the world nowadays is an objectively safe place, right? Of course there's lots of violence and, and horrible crimes and things that go on, but when we really look at like the world and what you could die from or what the dangers were, especially with like healthcare and, you know, modern science and things like that, like nowadays compared to hundreds and thousands of years ago, even decades ago, the world is a much safer place. Like, as much as we may not think so, the world objectively does continue to get safer. So, you know, like, most of us aren't really drooling over the idea of a completely mundane, uneventful existence where we're just like, whoo, we got through life and at least we didn't die. Like, we want— we want more than that, you know? We want way more than that nowadays. Now we have enough safety in our general environment to support wilder desires, right? Like world travel and adventure and crazy levels of abundance and recognition and impact and feeling like you're changing the world in some way, and doing creative work that feels exciting and joyful, and jobs that we don't hate. Oh my God, what a revolutionary idea! And working for ourselves, and freedom to raise our children however we want, and the ability to live and work from anywhere. Like, we are able to have these wilder desires now because we live in a safer world. Wild, but all of those wild desires require a certain level of risk. Like, those things just don't miraculously fall into your lap, right? We know this. And so, I mean, like, my problem, my whole beef with certainty is this: it's like, we've all heard the quote that's like, the only certainty is that nothing is uncertain, or that everything is uncertain, or whatever it is, right? Like, basically, certainty— just forget about it. Forget about it. And look, if, if you really want certainty, here's your certainty, okay? If you keep doing the same things that you're doing now, you will continue to get the exact same results. Certain. There you go. The only certainty lies in your inaction, right? If you don't do anything, then we have certainty. We know for sure what's going to happen because it's going to be the exact same thing that's been happening, right? So if we're craving certainty so much, maybe that's a reason why we lean on inaction and we choose not to take risks and we choose not to move forward, because we actually are That's what we're craving. We're craving certainty. We're craving safety. And it is certain and it is safe to stay exactly where you are right fucking now, even though it's not what you want. It's certain and it's safe, right? In my mind, like, the only certainty is that if you don't move, if you don't choose yourself, if you don't lean into your desires, if you don't listen to your intuition, if you don't stand in the truth of what you want, then you absolutely 100% will not get what you want. And that is certain, right? But we all want what we want. Of course we do. So then we're in this weird paradox where we are afraid to take action because what if it doesn't work? Yet, you know, the decision we ultimately land on is to not take action because that's the most certain thing of all. It's gonna lead us to not getting what we want, but at least it's certain. And not getting what we want is the exact place we were trying to avoid by not taking the risky action. And by choosing certainty, we end up in that same same place. What a mindfuck. I hope we're getting this. Are we following? This is so weird, right? It's like, it's, it's almost like saying, I'm scared to fail, so instead of trying and failing, I'm just going to not try and purposely fail. Like, I'm terrified of failure, so I'm going to purposely fail. What? Why do we do this to ourselves? Like, this is so bizarre. Are, right? This is like just the weirdest freaking function of like the human condition. Ugh, and it, it, it bothers me. I mean, I hope that— I hope I articulated it in a way that you guys can understand, because when I was thinking about this, I was like, wow, that really is such a mindfuck. You know, we're worried about it not working, and that's why we don't take the risk. Yet by not taking the risk, we are effectively making it not work for sure, whereas at least if you took the risk, there's a possibility that it could work. But if you don't take the risk, there's a 0% chance that it will work and 100% certainty that it won't work. So why, why do we do that? Why do we choose the certainty of staying where we are rather than the risk of pursuing the thing that we really want? And maybe that's, you know, a question that you want to ask yourself on, on a deeper level. Maybe you want to journal on that because that, that shit's fucked, you know? Like, what, what the heck? Um, so I wanted to share with you guys some of the things that imposter syndrome had me doing when I was more in the grips of it. I feel like this is almost like a um, like an AA meeting for like Imposter Syndrome Anonymous, where we're like, hi, my name is Sam and I'm recovering from imposter syndrome, and these are all the horrible things that it made me do. Um, so imposter syndrome, like, it made me in the beginning not tell people about my business or about my goals in the early days because I was afraid of the judgment. I felt like I wasn't good enough, right? I felt like I didn't deserve to be able to call myself a coach. Um, yeah. And I remember really specifically when I went in 2019 to complete my yoga teacher training, there was, you know, it was all new people, like people that had never met me before. And I was still working as a teacher, but I was building my coaching, like the, the very beginning Foundations of my business. And I remember that I challenged myself and I kind of forced myself to introduce myself to that group as a life coach instead of an English teacher and really like present myself in that way as a confidence booster, a personal challenge to myself, and also a manifestation technique to really start claiming the title of how I wanted to known and the work that I really desired to do in the world. It also had me really like minimize my own natural talents, and it made me feel like since I didn't have a piece of paper to certify some of these gifts that I have that are just more natural to me me and my personality and the evolution of my soul, um, I felt like they weren't as relevant maybe because I didn't have a piece of paper to, to show like, I'm really skilled at this and I'm really good at this. Like, a lot of the things that I use in my coaching practice are intuitively guided and intuitively be led. And a lot of my coaching style comes from just who I am as a person and the way that I see the world and how I integrate information and how I'm able to explain things and kind of take these more complex concepts or ideas and really break it down and make it super organized. Everything about me and the way that I teach and coach can be seen in my astrological chart, for example. Like, it's not because I'm certified, even though I am, and even in my certification, like, I didn't learn— like, I don't want to say anything, but all the stuff that actually is like the magic sauce of how I coach didn't come from a certification. It just didn't. It came from me. It came from who I am. And for a long time, imposter syndrome made me feel like those natural talents didn't matter as much, or maybe everybody had that. Like, I remember really just thinking like, oh, like, there's nothing special about me. Everybody is like that. Everybody, anybody could do this. And that's not really true. I've realized that throughout my coaching journey and also through coaching other women to become coaches. A lot of, a lot of what we share and how we guide people is is part of our true essence, and that doesn't make it any less valuable than, you know, an actual education or certification of some point. And it's not to say one is more valuable than the other, but, you know, I think both is a really good combination. Um, it also had me like reading so many personal development books and consuming so many personal development podcasts that I actually started to get anxiety pains in my chest when I was listening to podcasts or reading books. And I've talked about this on the show several times before, but I had to quit all personal development content, um, in terms of like books and podcasts and stuff like that. I had to force myself to step away from learning because I was in that phase of like being addicted to learning and feeling like everything that I learned I had to integrate into my life and make sense of it and create my own system around it and then regurgitate it and figure out a way to teach it in my own unique way. And it was overwhelming. And I know there's a lot of people who feel this way. So yeah, like that's just a really real thing that I, I had to just like take a break, you know, and only listen to people that I felt were super genuine and authentic, and it was less like 10 ways to scale to 7 figures, and it was more just like casual conversations of this is how I'm feeling and this is what I'm learning in business. But I couldn't handle— I couldn't handle the constant need to be like consuming more information all the time. Um, it also had me like avoiding my desire to coach on business building because I thought that I needed to be like a self-made millionaire before I could tell anybody anything about what I've learned in building my business, which is so fake. It's so bad, right? Like, I I've, I have learned so much personally and professionally in this journey of building a multiple six-figure business. But even before I hit the six-figure mark, there was so much that I had learned, even just about branding and marketing and sales and attraction marketing and showing up on social media. And yeah, like I, I've learned so much and I had learned so much already like a long time ago, but I didn't feel like I was qualified enough. I didn't feel like I was expert enough, if you will, to be able to present myself in that way and say, hey, you know, I can help you on this business journey. So, you know, believe it or not, guys, I waited a long time to be able to run a program like Abundant and Ambitious because of imposter syndrome. And that was huge for me last year when I finally, inside of the mastermind that I was in, with that support and my coach, I was really able to kick the imposter syndrome aside and go for it anyway and create this program. And of course, of freaking course, it turns out to be the biggest launch we ever did, the most amount of women in a program. Like, I was like, oh, we're, we're probably gonna have like 10 people, and and there was 25. Like, we be— like, we crushed that launch, even though it was the first time I'd ever run that program, and it was a total, you know, kind of crapshoot. Again, like we were talking about, putting creative ideas out there when it's something new, we are imposters because we don't know if it's going to work yet. But I did it anyway, and because it was deeply aligned with what I had been feeling and the desires on my heart, of course feel like we hit it out of the park. Um, the last thing that I'll say about things imposter syndrome had me doing is that it had me like waiting way too long to launch a podcast because I— the perfectionism piece of imposter syndrome really kicked in for me with the podcast. I was like, I wanted every single detail to be perfect. I needed to know everything about every single microphone, about every single platform, about every single thing ever. In order to make all the best possible decisions. And I don't wanna spend money on this thing if it's gonna turn out to not be good. So I need to know all the options and all the facts, and it has to be perfect from day one. And that is really why I created the training around Launch and Grow a Successful Podcast, because dude, like if you are overwhelmed by the tech side of things and with that perfectionist mindset of really wanting your show to be great, but having that hold you back. Having someone to give you the blueprint for that in a matter of 3 hours, like, that's gonna speed up your journey a ridiculous amount. Like, what's— what you can get in 3 hours from that training took me weeks, and I'm being dead serious, of like hours a day researching stuff. So, you know, I mean, I think that's a whole other reason to get into somebody's world and to get next to somebody that's done something that you're desiring to do, or they have a similar lifestyle or business that you want to create for yourself as well, is because they already have the cheat codes. Like, they already spent a lot of time figuring it the heck out, and now they can give it to you in a more concise, tangible, digestible way to speed up your journey. So if you guys are interested in the podcast training, it is included in Abundant and Ambitious. It's one of the trainings that you get access to, but it's It's also available separately on its own as an à la carte purchase for $197 US. So I will link to that in the show notes below as well if you're wanting to start a podcast. So the last thing that I wanted to chat about is just, you know, some of the things that have really helped me. And I touched on a few of them, but I want to go over the things that really helped me kind of navigate and move through through imposter syndrome, to be in a place where, you know, there's these symptoms or characteristics of imposter syndrome that can come up for me sometimes, but I don't feel— I don't feel like anything in my life is impeded by imposter syndrome. I don't feel like imposter syndrome will ever stop me again from doing anything. And so the first thing was that I stopped considering myself to have imposter syndrome. Like, if we talk about mindset, I think that's really important. I just decided that I was gonna remove that from my identity, or remove that label from my vocabulary. I was going to stop leaning on that as a crutch and as a way to continue to be a victim of my own life and my own inaction. And I just, you know, was like, this is my life. Like, no one, nothing is gonna try to limit my experiences or my success or how big and juicy I want my life to be before I die. I'm not— I will not allow a function of my monkey mind to stop me from having the experiences that I desire before I die. Like, there is nothing stupider to me in, in my own head, right? It's very real when you're experiencing it, the feelings of imposter syndrome. Like, it's so real. I'm not discounting that in any way. But when I really started to just zoom out and look at it, I was like, that's fucking dumb. Like, that's just what it's— it's dumb. It's so dumb. Like, this story that I'm telling myself in my head of, I'm not good enough, I'm not— who's gonna care what I have to say? I mean, me? That really— that's, that's what we're gonna do? That's what's gonna stop me from living my dream life, doing whatever I want, living where I want, earning the money that I want, helping other people in such an important way? Like, no way. My soul mission was way bigger than that. So I was just like, we're done, me and imposter syndrome. We're over, out, we're breaking up. Deuces. The second thing is to understand that negative opinions are always going to hurt me, and maybe they don't sting as much for other people, but I really believe that we are all kind of wired to be naturally hurt or embarrassed or disappointed by negative opinions of us, right? It's part of our survival mechanism of needing to be included, of needing to be liked, right? So I had to understand that people's negative opinions were always going to hurt me and that I could stop waiting for them to not hurt. But the reason why this is important is because even if a negative opinion hurts you, it doesn't mean that it has stop you. And so what I always remind myself of is, you know, a negative opinion can hurt me, but it is not going to affect what I do next. It will not affect what I do next. And that's the difference. That's the difference. It's not that, you know, I'm just immune to people's opinions and you can say whatever about me and you can be super rude to me or you can leave hate comments all over my social media and it won't even faze me, no, I will have, uh, I will have a physical reaction to that. My nervous system will be dysregulated by that experience, but it's not going to stop me. It's not going to change what my plan was for what I should do next, because I know better than that. And I'm, I'm teaching myself that, and I'm teaching myself that through practice, which I think is the most important thing, is that this is something we have to actively practice in our lives. The next thing is mindset and spiritual work. Like, obviously this is my realm of work, so it's important to me, but I also know that it's super important for conditions like imposter syndrome, you know, having coaches or mastermind groups with other female entrepreneurs who really get it. They're on this roller coaster of entrepreneurship with me. They understand the ups and the downs. I'm feeling really supported in the journey has really helped me kick imposter syndrome to the curb. Also things, you know, just like hypnotherapy and my connection to the universe and spirit and self-trust. Self-trust is everything. And, and, you know, I think that's a whole other episode, but like, if, if we trust ourselves, there's no reason why we need to trust the opinion of somebody else more than that, or why we need to trust a scenario that we fabricated in our own minds about how something's not going to work, because we can return to the trust that, hey, even if it doesn't work out, like, even if it totally does flop, I'm gonna— I trust myself to be able to figure that out too, and to make the next right step, and to pick myself up and dust myself off and keep moving. Do you trust yourself enough enough, even if it doesn't work out, to become resourceful, to figure out what you want to do next. I know I do. So imposter syndrome doesn't stop me anymore because I'm like, I trust myself, you know, like I will figure it out. And the last thing is identifying the things that imposter syndrome tried to stop me from doing and doing them anyway, like I talked about before with the business coaching thing. Like, really looking at the things in your life that imposter syndrome is trying to stop you from doing or pursuing and doing them anyway. Like, action is the antidote to fear, right? It's like a big fuck you to imposter syndrome when you, when you go, oh, you're telling me that I can't do that? Watch me. And you do it. It's like you train yourself to understand that that wasn't real, that that was just a story, but it wasn't the reality, and it doesn't have to be the reality. I'm, I'm not letting it control me anymore. And by not letting imposter syndrome control what I do or don't do, that really, really made it fade away for me in, in a powerful way. So highly recommend middle fingers up to imposter syndrome and whatever it's telling you that you can't do. You should do it anyway because that's gonna eliminate a lot of the truth behind that story you've been telling yourself. All right guys, I think that's it for today. Um, a quick reminder, I forgot to remind you guys at the beginning of the episode, if you missed missed the free Visionary Workshop, you can totally still sign up and access it. If you signed up, you would have gotten the replay in your email, but if you never signed up for it and you're like, I totally missed the boat but I want to watch it, you can still do that. So I will link that in the show notes for you guys as well, and there's also a link in my bio on Instagram. It's totally free. It is for current or aspiring female entrepreneurs, and it is a 2.5-hour embodiment experience. Yes, It's an experience. It's not a masterclass. It is a full-on experience, mind, body, and soul. And the feedback on that workshop was absolutely insane. Um, yeah, people said they've never been to a free offering that was that transformative. So if you're thinking about becoming a coach, or you are a coach and you just want to get reconnected to your vision in a powerful way, get some clarity, some inspiration, release some things that might be holding you back, I highly recommend accessing the Visionary Workshop before it disappears. So click the link in the show notes and go ahead and sign up for that. And don't forget, Abundant and Ambitious is open for enrollment, you guys. I'm so excited for the women that decide to join this round of the program. We are going to spend 4 months together. We're going to meet every single week. We're going to hang out. We're going to answer all of your questions. You are going to deeply supported and guided, and I cannot wait to see the transformations that we create inside of that group. All right, sending you guys so much love, and I'll talk to you next week. Bye!