Dream Big, Act Bigger

Yesterday, I was listening to a couple episodes of The Mel Robbins Podcast while driving kids around for various activities and food drop-offs. While I love most of what Mel Robbins puts out in the world, I was particularly struck by her view of "Imposter Syndrome," and keep coming back to it in my mind.

We all know it's a load of crap, but Mel doesn't even want us to go there. She wants to discount its existence all together because even the title of that feeling brings about this energy of falsehood. Instead, Robbins said, we need to think of ourselves as beginners or learners. 

Regardless of where we are on the path of achieving a goal or a dream, there is always more to learn. So we don't need to even worry about imposter syndrome!

This stuck with me because it's a feeling I've dealt with on and off much of my adult life. As a writer, as a teacher, as a business owner, and a leader.

But you know what? Mel's right. It's a bullshit feeling and we don't need to bother with it. I'm writing and I'm pretty good at it sometimes, and I'm still learning. Both things can be true for all of us, regardless of our profession, our interests, and our levels of experience.

We dream big and then we sit in the end result of that big dream instead of focusing on the little steps to get us there. (This is something else Mel talked about as well, one of the key elements of this particular episode, in fact.)

I think this is why we feel like imposters so much of the time, because that big stage, or best-selling book, or that multi-million dollar launch feels SO far away when all we are envisioning is the moment we achieve the dream.

The steps we take to get there, however tedious or time consuming, is closer to our current reality and something we probably are already pretty good at, or at least closer to understanding how possible it really is.

Dreaming of writing that best-selling book? Well, we know how to set a timer and sit down to write. Making a practice out of that is what will not only get us closer to the end result, it will also release that imposter feeling because we are literally doing the thing to get us there.

And that's just one example. There are so many great tools and teachers out there who can help us figure out what the next step is, what actions we need to be taking, and how to work on our mindset and energy to make that dream a reality.

So yeah, I agree with Mel. Fuck imposter syndrome. We are all doing the work, my friends. Let's love ourselves through it.