Hey Athletes! Have you ever heard of Imposter Syndrome? Have you struggled with it? Tune in to this week’s Ask Me Anything to hear how to handle it!
Episode 66 of Ask Me Anything is up!
Ask Me Anything: How Do We Deal With Imposter Syndrome?
This week Jerred and Joe are answering a question from an anonymous source. This person asks them to address the topic of Imposter Syndrome. This one is more of a mindset question and the guys give their best response as to how to tackle the syndrome.
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Jerred
Transcript:
Jerred Moon
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the garage mathlete podcast Jerred. Moon here with Joe Courtney. What’s up, Joe?
Joe Courtney
Not too much, man. Hi, how’s it going with you?
Jerred Moon
Fantastic. I think the word I was looking for came out slowly. But I am excited to do this ama with you. This is an anonymous question submitted, they have this person has requested
Joe Courtney
that they remain nameless. And we will. So we’re just gonna call him Steven, because everybody else has Steven, every single person
Jerred Moon
who’s in the last couple weeks has been Steven, different versions of Stephen. So yeah, we will not mention the name. But here’s the question. So this is more of a mindset question. And most of the team and listeners probably don’t suffer from this at all. But I’m wondering if you could address the topic of imposter syndrome. I’m in a rigorous graduate program and I’ve been feeling fairly inadequate the whole time. Even though I prepare the best I can people say I’m good for where I’m at in the program. Just need experience. I know you are well versed in all the mindset books, as well as have written one or two, I do look up to you in the team. So wondering if you have any advice or reads? Thanks. imposter syndrome. Do you want to you want to start with this one or me?
Joe Courtney
So I actually had to Google what this was. Okay. And upon googling, and I, at first I was like, I my initial thing was no, it’s not, I guess, to clear up what it is which I didn’t pull it up now. But if how I understood it was that people see you a certain way. Have you at a spray? Have you had a certain pedigree, a certain height and you don’t think you, you don’t view yourself as that, like the perception of how people perceive you is not how you perceive yourself? Does that sound about right?
Jerred Moon
Yeah, I mean, quite literally, you feel like an imposter. Like you’re you’re faking the position you’re in, or the status that you have, like, it’s not really there, it’s not really earned. You don’t feel you don’t feel like you’re actually qualified, like, whatever it is, you just you, you feel like an imposter in whatever situation that you’re in.
Joe Courtney
Yeah, so I have mixed feelings toward it. I don’t know if I’ve ever quite thought that completely. But I think it’s also comes down to whoever you’re interacting with. And we talked about this when it comes to like nutrition, eating healthy, and like the health food shaming that people go through sometimes. And then like, in a way, those people that would shame you for eating healthy and such, are probably perceiving you as this super healthy guru. Very fit person. And it’s really about like, just because they feel they have you raised this high height, they hit their, their bar might just be really low. So you got to think about what people’s perspective is on what health in what you know, if you think that people think of you as the super fit person, what is fit to them. And what is fit to you is completely different. So I think perspective of and that wherever the bar is, that makes a big difference. Also, now since since now, you know, US been working in fitness and having the all the athletes and kind of a spotlight on us. I know that part of my job and my identity, I guess you could say is I have to stay on top of things I have to stay working out, stay fit, stay healthy. And all these things I can’t really laps. And while I don’t ever feel like an imposter if I don’t, it’s I almost use it as a motivation to go, you know what I know I have to set this precedent the standard and this is kind of my standard that I have to hold. But I don’t get down to mice down on myself if I don’t feel like I’m reaching that because you know, everyone’s human people go through highs and lows, ups and downs. So I think you can use it as a motivational tool. If, if it needs to kind of push you to slip up to a certain standard or certain height. But I don’t think it’s something that you should be because anytime you’re comparing whether it’s comparing yourself to somebody else, or you’re paying yourself to your former self, it can just get down to a rabbit hole of negativity and that can really set you back even further.
Jerred Moon
Yeah, I agree with a lot of that. So I have dealt with imposter syndrome. As an entrepreneur, what’s funny, is going back to like being a pilot like that, I feel like that’s where I should have had imposter syndrome because, you know, whatever, you’re a college student, and then you graduate and then all of a sudden you put on a flight suit and you’re supposed to be a pilot, right, like in a relatively short amount of time at least. You know, that’s that’s the trajectory I have. But I never felt like an imposter in that regard. Because I just felt like hey, I’m being taught the steps to do this. As long as I pass this and do this, I am that thing. And so you have the confidence. So I didn’t deal with imposter syndrome as much there. But when I first started as an entrepreneur, I did struggle with that imposter syndrome temporarily because, yeah, I had been in the military, I was an officer, I was like, those things are great. They give me confidence as a human being. But now I’m trying to be in the fitness space, I didn’t win the CrossFit Games or do anything special in that regard. I’m just some guy publishing stuff online. And I honestly thought that I was like, at the bottom of the barrel, that everyone’s gonna be smarter than me when it comes to fitness and nutrition, because I had spent the last couple years you know, as a military officer, and all these different things. And so I did struggle with that when I first very first started, but it did not take me long to start interacting with people and interviewing them and talking to them and all this stuff, other people who I thought were really high up and super smart in the industry. And I just realized that no one was that special. And that crushed the imposter syndrome. For me, like, we’re talking people with these massive followings. And you think that are genius, you have a 10 minute conversation with him and you’re like, Okay, maybe you’re not all that great. And, and maybe that’s just me being arrogant, you know, I don’t know. But that’s, that has ended up being my experience over and over again. And now it’s happened to me in many forms of life, you know, people talking to people who are insanely wealthy, you know, talking to people who have these insanely what would be smart positions, and I’m just like, I don’t know, I don’t think that you’re that special. You know, you made some really good decisions. You’re smart, smart person, but I just don’t feel like you’re that special. So I feel like maybe taking other people off a pedestal might help you deal with your own imposter syndrome. Because that’s what it took for me to realize, you know, you can be at the top of this field, you can be be at the top of this industry, because no one else doing it is that great. And so that, you know, again, that could be my own personal arrogance that solved the my imposter syndrome problem. But that was probably the biggest thing that I did struggle with. And it really you’re, I mean, you’re doing it, man, you’re doing the thing, you’re doing everything that you need to be doing to be an expert in your field. So I really feel like you’re there too. And it is weird to if you’re switching careers or whatever that imposter syndrome can come up, but nobody else is that special. Nobody else is really that smart. So you got it. That’s, that’s the best, best thing I can tell you.
Joe Courtney
Nothing happens overnight. And I think the you know, onset of the popularity of Instagram is probably lend itself to more imposter syndrome, because everybody only wants to post all the good stuff. But that’s not real life. And you just need to know that you know, things. There are going to be setbacks and things do take time, and you’ll need to keep working at them. But that doesn’t make you know, everybody’s everybody’s who succeeded does need to, as has been there before. So just not comparing, I think would help. But keeping on what you’re doing and just accepting the fact that you are human. And things happen.
Jerred Moon
Yeah, and I don’t know if this is related as imposter syndrome. But you mentioned Instagram. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s a there’s a mom. In our school, like same school age as our kids who is super popular, like millions of Instagram followers, she’s like, I don’t know, Mommy, blogger, influencer, whatever, you know, and I followed, I followed her on Instagram for a while just to see like, what are you doing? Like how, why are millions of people following you know, this mom who’s like in a small town, like, over here. And anyway, I watch all of it. Some of her stories and stuff. And I’m like, this is ridiculous. Like, this is not even there’s not even real life. And then I’ve been to like school events with her. And it’s the same, you know, in attendance and what she’s doing the whole time of like, talking to her phone and like, all this crap, like not even experiencing the event spending no time with our kids, like, everything that you see online for the most part is fabricated, it’s just complete, like lies. No one’s life is that great. She’s probably incredibly stressed out about having to document her whole life and probably annoyed with it behind the scenes and, you know, all these things. And I don’t know these things to be true. It’s just human nature. Right? And so I also think that you should realize that obviously you’re not trying to compete with a mommy blogger on Instagram but you are probably looking at other people. You know, going through the similar graduate program as you and think that they got all this shit figured out but they probably don’t. And they’re probably insanely stressed out and they probably you know, don’t have a lot of the health and fitness things figured out. They don’t have a lot of the mindset stuff figured out, but they look like it to you. And so again, taking other people down a notch because no one’s that special. I think will really help with imposter syndrome
Alright guys,
Jerred Moon
that’s it for this one. I really liked this question outside the outside the box a little bit but I do appreciate it. If you guys like this podcast please if you’re listening five star review positive comment really helps to show out and if you’re on YouTube, like it give us a comment, subscribe to the channel if you aren’t already, but either way guys, thanks for watching or listening