Fight the Imposter Syndrome!

You’ve gotten a good number of followers, there’s a healthy flow of chat within your channel, you’ve networked well and people are hosting you… so why do you feel like it could all come crashing down once everyone realizes you’re an imposter? Maybe it’ll be the next stream when they figure out. Maybe it’ll be when you get your sub button or add some merchandise. The anxiety is killing you and sapping your strength to keep streaming!

That feeling that at some point it might all come crashing down because you’re a fraud is the imposter syndrome. You’re not the only one feeling it. I’m feeling it, doctors are feeling it, professors are feeling it, and there’s a chance that the streamer who you wish you were as successful as is feeling it.

Heck, I’m a fraud for writing these articles and it’s this one or the next that will make people find out about it, right? I don’t have a massive following on Twitch or YouTube, I’m not making my day to day living on streaming, I’m not writing articles for the New York Times, heck I’m not the most credentialed writer to write on this topic. When will they find out that I’m just some dude in his pajama pants who knows personal finance and loves streaming?

Believe it or not, if you’re feeling this way you’re not a fraud. You’re successful! When you attain some level of success you’re susceptible to feeling as though you weren’t entirely responsible for it. If you weren’t successful in some way you’d have no reason to feel like an imposter, right? It’s the opposite of the Dunning-Kruger effect where lack of experience breeds confidence.

“I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.’ ”- Maya Angelou, Nobel Prize winning author

Why do we feel like imposters?

We see the lucky breaks, the other people who helped, and the opportunities we missed rather than focusing on the things that we did. With hindsight it’s not hard to see what could have gone better or how someone else’s contribution really played in to our success. There’s also a tendency to look at success as a point in time. If there was one day where you went “whoa, there’s a lot of people watching” or the day you got your sub button you tend to focus on that instead of the crazy amount of time and effort that went in to the stream before that.

We also have a tendency to focus on what others are doing and/or showing to the world. If you have no followers you’re looking at the person with 100, if you have 100 you’re looking at the person with 1,000, or you’re not partnered and you’re looking at partners. Shoot, even if you’re partnered you’re looking at the people who are doing it full time. And if you’re doing it full time you’re looking at the people making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of their partnerships. There’s nearly always someone doing better and it’s natural to focus on that person.

It’s also waaay too easy to ignore the fact that we’re seeing curated content from others. We’re seeing that polished final product and not the hours that went in to it or the hundreds of clips that ended up on the metaphorical editing room floor. Professional players didn’t start out as professionals, they started out as someone stumbling through some game. They then spent thousands of hours honing their skills. Top streamers also started out with either a pre-built audience (through professional gaming or YouTube) or they started out with no one watching their stream. We don’t recognize all of that work though, we just see where they are today and the polished content they’re creating.

“Any moment, someone’s going to find out I’m a total fraud.” – Emma Watson

What can we do about it?

1. Focus on the good work you’ve done! Was your lucky break a clip that got posted on Reddit or a major streaming hosting you? Odds are that something about your unique selling proposition caught their eye, you networked well, or you’re just damn entertaining. That didn’t happen in a flash overnight- that took time and effort. Your time and effort. Take that time to review the journey you’ve been through and see how unique it is because of your specific skills and experience.

 

2. Work on being good, not perfect. If you’re striving to be perfect then you’ll take forever to get better at your craft. You’ll also feel like an imposter because anything you put out won’t actually be perfect. No one is right every time they do something and you certainly don’t have to be. Watch Ira Glass’ commentary on learning storytelling. Put something out there, practice, and get better. Adopt the mindset of Hanzo mains worldwide- if you spam it enough you’ll eventually produce something of value.

 

3. Look externally at what others are saying about you and the value you provide. You have people spending their precious time to tune in and focus on you. Why is that? If you keep your focus external and look to keep providing that value then you’ll absolutely not be a fraud. You’ll be good at what you do! Give your best even if you don’t think it will make you the

 

4. This ties in to #3, but keep track of the good things that people are saying and refer back to them when you’re having a rough time. If you’re providing value then you will get positive feedback that you can hold on to. I have worked hours longer than normal on a project for someone because of an awesome compliment they gave me and I felt good about spending that time.

 

5. Be tactical about comparing yourself to others. Yes, you should look for ways to improve at your craft. There are likely other people who provide awesome examples of things you could do that would add more value. When you do go looking for ways to get better, don’t focus on the fact that you haven’t already implemented them or that you don’t think you can do it as well as the person you’re planning to learn from. Focus on how much more awesome you’ll be once you have that new skill, perk, or piece of tech. Don’t be look at PewDiePie and despair over how far you are from his success. Look at most other streamers or people only dreaming of streaming and realize how much you know and can do. There are other people wishing they were in your situation.

 

6. Follow Day[9]’s advice on being relentlessly positive. Look for the good where you can find it and have someone help you when looking through the bad. It’s not productive to review every negative comment and then feel your heart sink. Everyone has different tastes and what you do will not fly with everyone. If you have someone you trust do the review and then pick out the constructive criticism you can avoid that horrible negative of online feedback and get some real areas where you could improve.

 

7. Don’t fret about faking it until you make it, as long as you are earnestly making an effort to improve and get good. Everyone does this when they’re starting out and there’s always something you don’t know. The important part is that you’re putting in effort. Just the act of making an effort will make you better at what you’re doing. Anything you read or any planning you do will slowly make you more of an expert. At some point you’ll have made it and you won’t even realize it! Everyone started out new at everything and those that put in enough time and effort became good at it, even though they were “faking it” at the start.

 

8. Realize that you’re not alone in feeling like this. Really, internalize that. If you’re open and share about some of the concerns you have other people will come out of the woodwork to empathize and share their experiences. That just makes everyone better. Yes, there will be trolls who get joy out of being shitty but that’s something you can’t control. When you’re open you’ll get phenomenal insight into the kinds of people that you want on your streams. If they’re a troll, good riddance. If they’re supportive, great! Find out what it is that makes them come back to you and do more of that. Besides the quotes that I already have on here you can look to Sonia Sotomayor (Supreme Court justice), Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook), Michelle Obama (first lady), Carl Richards (NY Times columnist), Tom Hanks (actor), and Seth Godin (author) as people who have all fretted over feeling like an impostor.

Source: David Whittaker

 

“You think, ‘Why would anyone want to see me again in a movie? And I don’t know how to act anyway, so why am I doing this?’” – Meryl Streep

Galen, a case study

Here’s a list of things that have made me feel like an imposter. Enjoy!

1. I’m getting great grades in my MBA classes and my professors say I’m a good student. But my classes let me take my exams with the text, so I don’t feel like I’m succeeding all that much because I can literally look up the answer.

 

2. I’m writing posts for a site about personal finances and streaming but I have about 100x the experience watching streams than experience actually streaming.

 

3. I’m working on a personal finance coaching business. People thank me for my advice but I know those answers are also available on Google.

 

4. For all of the above things, I’ve gotten help from my parents for college costs and my in-laws for living costs. So I’m not the one achieving this success, I’m riding the coattails of others who are successful.

 

5. I’m streaming a game I’m terrible at (Faster Than Light) and have only a couple of people watching.

Here’s a slightly logical response to each of those. Trust me, this isn’t an attempt at a humble brag or false modesty, it’s an attempt to ease my own feelings on this issue and hopefully help out someone else thinking similar thoughts.

1. I’m succeeding where others aren’t, which means there’s at least something that I am actually doing that’s leading to that success. Also, the philosophy of the school is to allow open book tests because that’s what life actually is. No one should ever insist that you’re a fraud because you need to look up some part of an answer to make sure you’re giving the best advice.

 

2. I actually do know a lot about personal finance. Also, I’m learning a lot about the specific finances around streaming and online content creation. My strong background in personal finance helps me more quickly pick out the important pieces of information. I also have something I can offer to people who help teach me about how they earn income and manage their streaming business! Plus, the fact that I spend a bunch of time watching streams at least gives me an insight advantage over other personal finance experts who have never heard of Twitch.

 

3. Again, I actually do know a lot about personal finance. Even though the information is available on Google there’s a lot of value in having the knowledge to quickly see what is relevant in the situation. It’s possible to get an information overload when you’re learning something new!

 

4. I don’t have a good answer for this one, except to say that there must be something they see in me. If you’ve got a good answer for this one please write it in the comments. You’d be helping me a ton.

 

5. Even some people watching is awesome, and having some repeat views is even more awesome! Plus, anything I do here or learn for that stream is going to be directly applicable to anything I write here. So even though I feel like an imposter on stream it’s still a positive thing to be doing.

 

Conclusion

Source: GardenAmerica

It’s normal that you’re struggling with feeling like you’re a fraud. Most successful people experience it at some point in their life. If you sit in the shadows of your own mind fretting over being a fraud you’re robbing yourself and the world of your unique contributions. Don’t be that selfish!

Behind the keyboard, webcam, or stream we’re all real people with real feelings. We know our imperfections better than anyone else and we’re our harshest critics. I’ve shared the things I fret about all of the time and areas where I feel like a fraud. Take my advice and open up a bit. Leave a comment letting us know what you think will all come crashing down as soon as someone points you out as a fraud. Trust me, it’ll help!