Read this if you felt like an impostor this week

If you’re feeling like you’re not good enough, you’re probably right

Author

Zvi Band
May 07, 2024

I write weekly about the strategies, habits, and tactics around cultivating the connections that matter to you.

If you’re feeling like you’re not smart enough, successful enough, or cool enough to talk to that other person, you’re probably right.

I’m not saying you are too dumb, unaccomplished, or uncool - we don’t know each other well enough yet!

Beyond being known worldwide as Zvi’s Birthday Month, May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. Over the past five years, I’ve invested heavily in unwinding all the stories in my head that, while it’s gotten me to where I am today, don’t serve me moving forward.

It might be holding you back too, as I’ve witnessed in countless interactions with others. The feeling of not being good enough, of being an impostor is preventing you from engaging as your full self.

The “good” news is you’re not alone.

I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”*

And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”

If Neil friggin Armstrong can feel this way, so can you.

There’s a simple trick to help

I do this all the time, and it works. In Dan Sullivan’s terminology, we spend too much time on the “gap” representing what we have yet to achieve, and not enough on the “Gains” we’ve already made.

So do this.

Take out a piece of paper, and write down a list of things you’ve accomplished. Personal or professional, major achievements or minor victories, it doesn’t matter.

It could be starting and scaling a business.

It could be just getting out of bed this morning.

It could be surviving cancer.

It could be sticking with your values in a particular situation.

What matters is bringing awareness to your wins - that you are enough, even if the gremlins in your head might cause you to think otherwise.

Then send that email.

BTW - I keep a list of 50 or so mounted on my desk, in case I ever need a boost.

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I’ve spent the past 12 years helping people like you grow their businesses and careers by cultivating the relationships that matter. I took everything I’ve learned and practiced, and put it in a professionally produced online course.