Valerie Young - Rewriting the script on Imposter Syndrome: How to stop playing small and break free

Inside Influence

Have you ever caught yourself wondering if you’re the right person for the job? I’m talking about that feeling that eventually - everyone is going to figure out that you’re making it up as you go along. That questioning how you even found yourself in the position you are, doing the things that you’re doing? Wondering when (not if) anyones eventually going to ‘find you out’?

And secondly - here’s the biggie - have these thoughts ever stopped you from shooting for something - or asking for something - that really mattered?

Today’s topic is a deeply personal one for me...

I know for me there has been countless times in my life, not just my career, where I’ve thought to myself “”? And now that you’re here, how on earth are you going to pull this off?”

As a mum, a founder, a speaker, my inner voice can sometimes be deafening than the sound of the busy-ness, even louder than the sound of the triumph, can I probably don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times my inner voice has been loud enough to stop me at the last minute from taking a dive into something beautiful.

That’s what makes today’s podcast guest and conversation, such a deeply personal one for me, because I know the grips that Imposter Syndrome has had on me in the past, and I’m sure for you as well, and

So - as one of the first in the year - I went on a mission to find the No 1. Voice on the planet on imposter syndrome.

Find we did - and her name is Valerie Young,

Valerie has spoken at some of the world’s largest and most diverse organizations as Apple, Chrysler, Boeing, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, BP, Google, TED - and the list just keeps going - as well as at over 85 colleges and universities including Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, and Oxford.

I...:

• Just exactly how far-reaching the effects of imposter syndrome are - here’s a clue it doesn’t belong to an age group or a gender - in fact - the further up the tree you go - the more likely you are to deal with it
• What it can do, to even the most capable of people - and why it’s vital that we learn to deal with it or miss out on vast amounts of potential
• The tools to re-frame that voice in our heads when it appears - to literally take the ‘freeze effect’ and use it as fuel
• Developing new responses to failure and mistake making - this one has been huge for me this past year. Starting with my conversation with Mark Schulman - drummer for Pink and the phrase ‘Am I free to fail?’
• Why the belief that we are imposters relies on one fundamentally untrue assumption
• And what to do when we feel that cycle of self-doubt kick in

This was one of those conversations, that started out for me - and hopefully will continue to gain traction as we start discussing - in more and more places - and certainly on this podcast - the stories that keep us small - in business, in society and in life - and ways to flip that narrative to make the largest contribution we’re capable of making.

And that involves first believing that we deserve to be there.

So grab your favorite biscuits, I’m all in on Tim Tams at the moment - make sure you’ve got your pen and paper handy - and let 2020 be the year you finally let that imposter go.

Enjoy my conversation with - Valerie Young.

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