Using Your Imposter Syndrome
It is a friend to early stage founders
Often when I ask a founder what they feel is holding them back, the answer that they deliver leans towards the topic of “Imposter Syndrome”. There is actually quite a bit of material written on overcoming it, on why it happens, and even how crippling it can be. There are dozens of articles on coping with it and overcoming it. What if we instead embrace it?. Yes… EMBRACE YOUR INNER IMPOSTER!
Years ago I was traveling with Tony Robbins as one of the mastery trainers and business coaches to see Tony speak for the first time at Dreamforce. He presented an idea about the power of negative thinking. Sometimes the negative feelings that we experience are there to serve us. If you ever catch yourself feeling like an imposter — then this is for you, as that feeling may actually be there for your growth.
Most feelings are a signal letting us know that we need to pay attention to something. We feel anxious before we speak in front of a group, it is a signal to let us know that our nervous system is ready for the unknown. Due to COVID quarantines many people feel it when they are back in large crowds and feeling anxious is a signal letting them know they might want to ease back in. We have all been told that to be successful sometimes you have to “Fake it ‘till you make it.” The very nature of that age old form of encouragement to go after things that are seemingly out of reach could be sage wisdom. It’s the classic which comes first — the check or the egg? In the case of many founders its just which comes first — the feeling of success or the actual success?
Where imposter syndrome tends to make a founder feel off course is in fundraising. That process is all about transference of energy, and the founders mindset ideally would be growing faster than the business. In practical terms it means that the founder must see themselves as a Series B founder while they are out raising their series A. You might be asking yourself; “So you you don’t even have your A locked in, but you need to be a series B founder already?” The answer is yes. The energy you bring to a raise, to your leadership, to every decision you make will depend on the identity you hold for yourself. If the identity you see for yourself is an imposter — others around you will feel it too, but if you see yourself with the measure of success you know you deserve your energy will feel that way to those around you.
Roger Bannister saw himself as a 4 Minute mile runner. Despite being told it was humanly impossible he kept chasing that dream. Im sure every time he hit 4 minutes and 2 seconds he felt like he was failing, but he persisted in his belief and he broke that record forever changing what people believe about how fast a human can run — by completing a mile in 3:59.4 to be exact. Muhammad Ali ran around for years telling everyone in the world that he was the greatest, often times while facing men that were taller, stronger, and often times better ranked boxers than he was. Yet his conviction allowed him to access the identity he was moving towards, of being the greatest, and by being in that feeling — it propelled him to live it and achieve it. It gave his mind (the technical term would be his reticular activation system) something to seek and it did its job to find it.
Every founder at some level believes that they can be that leader that steps up to build their business. In my last article I stressed the need to invest in scaling the founder so that they continue to grow. What that growth is moving towards is that next step in their evolution in the lifecycle of business. You have a taste for what a series B founder must do — so even at seed you must practice running the business as if you were a series B founder. Thinking through that perspective will help you make very different choices that benefit the growth of your business.
Whether it relates to fundraising, building strategic partnerships, relations with co-founders, or your leadership as a founder, who you see yourself as will affect the story that you tell. The one you tell employees and investors, which in turn will affect the strategy placed, and the execution and velocity of the strategy. When you can access your future self and live in that emotion, instead of the worry or fear you often find in seeing yourself as an imposter, you put yourself in a stronger state, which allows you to tell the compelling stories necessary as a leader to enroll all those around you in supporting your dreams.
How do you overcome imposter syndrome? The Center for Creative Leadership offer a few practical tips:
- Make a LIST of your achievements. Every high school in the world has a trophy case to remind themselves of victories. Make sure you have a mental trophy case that you can access any time you doubt your ability to make something happen.
- VALUE your perspective. Oftentimes we seek validation outside of ourselves. Learn to capture your thoughts and ideas, review them, and appreciate them. With real thinking time dedicated to your problem solving you can build appreciation for the perspective you develop.
- EMBRACE your strengths. When is the last time you wrote down 25 things you’re amazing at? Maybe you can make a list of your top 10 strengths that you absolutely own.
- TALK about your feelings. As a leader you have to wear many hats, especially in an early stage startup as a founder. Feelings are just signals trying to tell us something. By talking them out with mentors, fellow founders, your co-founders, to your coach you can explore what they are trying to tell you instead of letting them hijack your energy and ability to create an impact.
Fake it until you make it? Absolutely. Access the feelings of your future self, the one you that have absolute conviction about. See yourself already there and proudly put on the mask of your Higher Self. The person you are committed to becoming. Living in that energy will propel you in that direction and others around you will feel it too.
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in seed-stage companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation and agriculture.
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