Feeling Like an Imposter

As marketers and creatives, we are no strangers to imposter syndrome — the feeling that your success comes from luck or happenstance instead of your abilities. A quick scroll through #MarketingTwitter will reveal how many of us struggle with the question: “Am I good enough?”.

Creativity and the fruits of its labor are subjective by nature. This means that all our endeavors are constantly open for critique by not only consumers of our content, but by the very minds that create it: ourselves.

Personally, I struggled with this immensely when I decided to start this newsletter. “What do I have to offer that hasn’t been said before? I’m no expert.” The more I thought about it, however, the more I came to realize that I didn’t want to write articles about tactics and strategies. I wanted to write articles about my mindset and my philosophies.

Who is more qualified to write about me than me? No one.

Marketing Twitter Weighs In

When I began writing this article, I started by asking my Twitter community how they deal with imposter syndrome. Since this is a common experience for many marketers, I wanted to get some feedback from others to get fresh perspectives. Here are some of their responses:

A common element of those responses is the use of external feedback as validation of our work. This speaks to how being part of a team or community can foster confidence and either prevent or help deal with imposter syndrome. In this article from Time Magazine, Abby Abrams (@abbyabrams), describes how someone’s surroundings can affect these feelings.

After a year of quarantine and working from home, it makes sense that people in many fields are dealing with imposter syndrome.

How I Overcome Imposter Syndrome

The first step in dealing with these feelings is to realize and acknowledge that they are happening. This can be difficult to do, but once you have acknowledged them, you can overcome them. Below are some tips that I use when confronting my own bouts of imposter syndrome:

• Remember where I started and how far I have come.
• Create a mental list of my successes and internalize how I felt when I achieved them.
• Remember that everyone starts somewhere.
• Let my friends and colleagues know how I’m feeling (Twitter is great for this). Let them encourage and hype me up.
• Take the focus off myself and try to help others with something.
• Take 5 minutes to meditate and use positive self-talk.
• Listen to music that motivates me and inspires positivity.

These are just a few tricks I keep in my back-pocket for when I experience self-doubt, but they can be a good place for you to start. Try different things, but always remember — imposter syndrome is in your head. You are where you are because you have earned it. Everyone has their own journey and no matter where you are in yours, you deserve to be there.

Want to chat more about this? Click on the tweet below and feel free to reply!