Everyone Has Imposter Syndrome Sometimes
But unexpected things can come out of it.
Welcome to Issue #11 of Thought Shot - a newsletter with 'Short reads on Purpose-Driven Leadership'. You can expect to read about my experiments, learnings, and stories sprinkled with helpful tools and frameworks. Make sure to not miss the next essay -
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that you don't fit?
That others are more talented, more ambitious, smarter, more successful than you. That they are from better colleges, with better degrees and better experience.
Everyone has this imposter syndrome sometimes.
I had a similar experience too at one point last month.
February was a month of experiments. One of them was being part of the inaugural cohort of the Substack Go Program. It brought together writers from all across the world to engage and learn from each other over 4 weeks.
This was very special for me and I’ll tell you why!
As some of you know - I have two jobs. In my first day job, I lead partnerships for a global nonprofit working on sustainability. In my other day job, I am a mom to an active preschooler.
So being part of this program was significant since writing is not my primary career. While growing up I always said I will write a book someday. But it is only recently that I actually started to write (outside of what my work requires).
Anyhow, I consider myself an aspiring writer. A learner, to be honest.
No wonder when I joined the first day of the program I felt like an imposter.
There were writers from all over the world. And there were some names in the room that I actually recognized - a writer of an award-winning newsletter, an HBR author, a New York Times journalist.
I genuinely wondered if and where I actually fit in.
But over these 4 weeks of the program, I ended up learning what happens even when you sometimes feel like you don't completely fit in.
And while the program was about writing, I ended up drawing some parallels with my work life and career as well - which I thought of sharing with you today.
1. You do not always need to be in a classroom. Learning can happen anywhere, only if you try.
In the first meet-and-greet with my writer’s group, I was a little apprehensive. I observed that no one else wrote about the topics that I write about. Add to this, that we all came from different nationalities, economic and cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, ideologies, and mindsets. Â
However, as the weeks rolled by, we all found things to learn from each other. We openly shared our experiences and learnings. And we filtered and extracted what we wanted from the discussions.
In fact, I later wondered whether we would have learned as much if we had been all too similar? I have observed this at the workplace as well, especially while working in the sector of sustainability and social impact.
For instance, I remember learning the most about the impacts of climate change in a roundtable with a disparate group of participants. While we presented research, others shared perspectives from lenses of health, livelihoods, economic and gender impacts. And somehow it completed the story and invisible things visible.
It is okay to sometimes feel like a misfit. Like an apple in the world of oranges and mangoes.
You don't always need to completely fit in. If you find yourself in a room with people who are starkly different from you, then that's where you might learn the most.
2. Find your tribe. A community will help you get better at what you do, and focus on what you want to do.
One of the things I enjoyed most was conversing with folks who were on a somewhat similar journey. They had hopes and dreams about writing, even though we wanted very different things out of it.
They understood that sometimes it was okay to not have a goal. They shared their own mistakes and experiments and heard me without being judgmental. And I realized how important a community like this is for professional growth as well.
I am sure, much like me, you often separate your personalities and lives at work vs. at home. We maintain that distinction to maintain our sanities and find balance. So most of the time, our families might not understand deeply the sector we work in, the tasks we perform, and the struggles we face. They share support but they lack the context.
So the power of a professional tribe or community is important to grow. A circle of trusted friends/mentors/guides who ride with you. Who just get you - whether you are an entrepreneur, an early career professional, a manager, or a senior executive. A circle of people with whom you can share your goals, challenges, difficulties, successes, failures. Sometimes to ask them for suggestions. Sometimes to have a sounding board. And sometimes just to get clarity in your own thoughts.
Find a tribe that will help you be better, and do better.
Build a trusted community of peers. You could be part of a group who gets your passion for reading. And a different community who gets your marketing jokes. They dont need to be the same people.
Find them. Actively. You will not regret it.
3. Make time to think about your personal first principles. Question them. And the answer may surprise you.
In one of the exercises in the program, we were asked to question our fundamentals for writing. Who am I writing for? What will they get out of it? What do I want out of my writing? How can I add the most value? And so on.
The time and mind space to reflect on it helped me immensely. It helped me step away from the daily tasks and think about the purpose of my writing. Why am I doing what I am doing? One of the things I realized that I want to use my writing to help people build purpose-driven careers and be better impact-centered leaders. (After all, this is why I started writing ThoughtShot and am now putting together my debut book).
Similarly, I think we need to sometimes step back from our ‘jobs’ and think about our ‘careers’. What am I working for? What are my priorities in life? Where do I want my career to be heading? What are my main skillsets? What do I enjoy doing? Am I in the right role? Is this the right organization for me?
Make some time for stepping back.
Know where you want to steer your ship. Unless you know the direction, all the pedalling will get you nowhere.
So that’s all for today.
Let me know if anything resonated with you - in the comments or you can always write back. And if you enjoyed reading this, then help me reach more people -
A Small Announcement
In February, I wrote a short content series on LinkedIn about building careers in impact. And the results blew me away. The posts were viewed 100,000 views, 150+ people engaged with them and shared them with students, colleagues, and groups.
This made me realize that sustainability and social impact are emerging as career choices for young professionals as well as mid-career folks. BUT there is very limited information, so often folks are unaware of the options or even where to start.
So, I am going to turn that LinkedIn series into a EBOOK over the next few weeks that will cover the what, why, and how of building careers in impact + a ready-to-use list of at least 50 portals to find jobs in this sector. If you would like to stay posted or can think of someone who will find value, please point them here.
Thank you for sharing your reflection on Substack Go, Roselin! We are glad you joined us for the program.
Great article and reflection Substack Go! I can’t wait to see all that you accomplish.