Imposter Syndrome

— The original blog post was published by By Bridge Street Collective Studio Manager, Christine Donaldson 03/10/2017

Carl Richards will be a member of the Collective for a year at the end of October. He’s a husband, father and world-renowned author. He and his family moved from New York City to Nelson. He’s a book of knowledge and he freely shares his thoughts and expertise to those who need it. He has a relaxed demeanour but his work ethic can be admired by all who spends time around him.

Every day we have morning tea. Biscuits, coffees and conversations flow between members. We all crowd around the coffee, shuffling over and making room for everyone. We take time out of our busy schedules to intentionally connect. The conversations range from weekend activities to inventing “Tie Thursdays with Ernie”(see below) and being genuine on how our work is going.

Through these morning teas, trust is built. And on this particular morning, the conversation landed on the topic of job roles, which lead to the pressure of work, which lead to Carl bringing up something that changed something in all of us. As we openly shared about the struggles and fears that come with our line of work, (which none of us at that table worked for the same company). We all related to each other, feeling under-qualified, sometimes feeling like someone else in town could be doing our job better than us. Carl gently brought up in conversation that someone years back told him that he had the “Imposter Syndrome” when he was feeling inadequate. He said when he talked to a confidant about how he was feeling, she brought up the fact that Carl was an experiencing something which we most of us have all felt at one point in our lives. An imposter.

Carl explained the Imposter Syndrome is where we can feel like overwhelmed and under qualified, and sometimes we think that we’re going to be called out for being a fraud or fake. But in reality, we are in our job roles and running our businesses so well, that fear tries to sink in. We can look around and think there is more competition out there that could our job better, so why are clients still inquiring to us? It’s because we are trustworthy, accountable and we are doing the best work possible. You deserve your success, you deserve to thrive.

People trust your expertise and skill. Customers are referring friends and others because you are doing an incredible job. People are choosing your business for a reason, and the reason is you. It’s what you stand for. It’s how you interact with your database, it’s because you’re going the extra mile. So stop doubting yourself, stop doubting your business model.

Now that we know that Imposter Syndrome is a real thing, we can use that as fuel to take on new challenges, new projects, and keep pushing ourselves and our limits.

Some words from Studio Manager, Christine Donaldson.

“Workplace trust drives inspiration, engagement, service and results. Fear drives seclusion.”

“A team is not a group of people who work together, a team is a group of people who trust each other.”

“Coworking enables people to fight the seclusion and isolation that we can find ourselves trapped in.”

‍If you want to be apart the Bridge Street Collective community, email studio@bridgestreet.org.nz directly or book a day here on CoLo. Don’t forget to follow The Bridge Street Collective on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.