5 Ways I Fight Imposter Syndrome

Imposter Syndrome is my #1 enemy.

I hate that feeling of deleting words and phrases while writing. I do it every now and then because I don’t feel confident enough to claim them. It’s frustrating to write for an hour only to realize I sound like a fake guru by the time I edit. I have a long list of articles that never got published because of this.

Breaking news: It’s normal.

Every successful writer I know suffers from it. If you don’t, it means you’re not growing.

You can’t escape.

Imposter syndrome will always try to come and get you.

But you can use these 5 ways to punch it in the face.

1. Sharing instead of educating

You don’t need to become a millionaire to start writing about personal finance.

You don’t need to become a world-class champion to write about playing sports.

You don’t need to become a New York Times best seller to write about “writing”.

Those are things I would always tell myself. Yet I still feel like I’m not qualified to educate even though I am knowledgeable about a topic.

In the last 2 years of writing online, one of my biggest realizations is this:

People don’t always want information. Most of the time, they already know the information they need. They only need someone they can relate to.

So stop making big promises.

Stop writing:

“If you do this, you will get this.”

“How to do X so you can achieve Y”

Share more of your journey instead:

“Here’s what happened when I did X”

“How I achieved Y by doing X”

For example, in this post, I don’t tell you how to get rid of imposter syndrome. I don’t feel comfortable telling you how to do that because I struggle with it myself. But I have my ways of dealing with it. And if I can share that with you, it feels like having a conversation with a friend. It shows that I'm interested in helping with solving the problem.

A good friend listens to the other person’s pain. A good friend knows how to sympathize. A good friend is willing to give a helping hand.

That’s what I try to be with my readers.

People don’t like it when you tell them what to do. So don’t.

Sometimes, the reader just needs to hear from a friend.

They don’t need to learn from an expert.

2. Being uncomfortably specific to my situation

Anytime I feel like an imposter, I do an exercise on how I can narrow down the topic.

In the beginning, this felt uncomfortable. I thought it would limit the number of people who will read my content. I thought that if I was trying to grow an audience, I needed to reach as many people as I could. Yet, doing so only leads to generic content and information. So I don’t try to be the go-to person for everybody.

If people wanted advice, they would read from someone who experienced the same thing as them. Being specific helps you look more credible. Even though you are not an expert, people would want to learn from you.

Why?

Because you know exactly what they are going through.

Being specific helps me reach my target audience - people who are in my previous situation. These are people I can actually help.

For example, I don’t consider myself a great writer. But I’ve been trying to write 1000 words every day alongside a 9-5. I may not be the go-to person for everyone who runs an online business. But I could be the best person to ask if we are in the same exact situation. That is -- a busy healthcare worker who is building a side hustle and trying to live a balanced life.

Remember, you are an expert at something.

You only need to figure out what that is.

3. Building in public

I was an Instagram addict.

I would post everything I eat, every place I go to, every activity I try. Without trying, I grew my account to almost 2k (no, those aren’t my friends in real life).

There’s a reason why building in public works. People become interested and follow your story when you document it.

And when I do this, I make sure to make it about the reader, instead of myself.

Your journey will only become interesting to them if they can solve their own problems. They want to learn from your mistakes. They want to steal and follow your plans. So lay out everything to them:

• Your routine and schedule

• Your struggles in following your plan

• Your failed and successful attempts

Whenever I am working on something, I post it on Twitter and ask for feedback. Most people will be nice enough to answer and say what they think. They are kind enough to say which headlines they prefer. They give their opinion on which title is more punchy. They tell which logo catches more attention. Etc.

I also posted a Medium story and how I plan to scale my biz to 6 figures and it did pretty well.

This goes to show that there are also people who want the same thing. I don’t need to have the outcome yet to be eligible to talk about it. I can start sharing and documenting my journey so people can follow along.

Amazing things happen when you document your journey in public.

4. Sharing small wins

I see a lot of people faking it on Twitter.

Bad news for them: Readers can tell if you are lying.

People share some sort of achievement but they don’t know we can tell they haven’t achieved that thing.

The sad thing about this is other beginners think they don’t have anything worth sharing. They think their achievements are not big enough. They think they need amazing outcomes to share so their posts can gain traction.

I fell into this trap myself. I get jealous every time people post about:

• Landing a $10k client

• Earning their first $100k

• Launching a 6-figure product

Then I forget that I have also wins to share, albeit small:

• I’ve built a writing habit

• I grew my Medium account to 14k

• I started a newsletter with 140 subscribers

And how I got here is important to readers who are only starting.

2 years ago, I struggled to show up daily and write. I had no idea what Medium was. I never thought people would give me their emails in exchange for my content.

Sometimes, you don’t need to educate. You just need to inspire. You can motivate people by reminding them it's possible with little steps. You can help them get going by letting them know you were once there.

You are helping others by celebrating your small wins.

5. Curating others

This may be time-consuming but well worth it.

3 things happen when you curate others.

1. You let go of imposter syndrome because you’re only iterating what a credible person said. You’re only helping the reader save time and make the information accessible.

2. You retain the information better. When you curate, you’re forced to understand the topic better. This helps you remember what you learned.

3. The person you are curating might notice you. And they might share what you have written with their audience.

But again, it takes time. If you can sit down and make this a part of your content strategy, you’ll grow faster and get rid of imposter syndrome.

And that’s it for today’s letter.

I hope you can apply this to your next article.

If you still haven’t started writing online because you don’t know where to start, use this FREE guide.