Why Smart People Still Feel Like Frauds

Ever notice how the most capable leaders often wrestle with self doubt? It’s because the smarter you are, the more you recognize what you don’t know.

And that can feel a little bit like torture sometimes, right? Oooh, I have been there and it's sometimes a hard place to dig yourself out of! But this isn't just you and you have control.

Having Doubt in Your Abilities Isn't Failure

It's a awareness. But unmanaged, it spirals into:

• Overworking to “prove yourself.”

• Avoiding opportunities out of fear.

• Downplaying achievements.

When I launched my own business, I thought, “Who am I to tell executives how to lead?” The irony? I’d been an executive myself. My expertise wasn’t fake — my doubt was.

Ok, that's not the full story. I THOUGHT about starting my own business for YEARSSSSSSS and constantly talked myself out of it! The message that replayed in my voice was that there were so many other people out there doing it WAY better than I ever could.

And real life responsibilities terrified me. Could I still pay my bills do all the things I needed to do? THOSE doubts are what kept me away from pursuing my dreams of business ownership.

I believe self-doubt is actually a sign of growth. Use it. Name it. Then channel it into learning and listening.

You don’t need to fix  yourself. You need to redesign and reframe.