Just eight weeks into my previous job, I was convinced that I didn’t belong.
Although everything was going well on the surface, I felt like a total scam and kept thinking my team was gonna figure out that I don’t know what I’m doing.
Sound familiar?
That feeling is called imposter syndrome, and it hits hard.
If I didn’t figure this out, I could’ve derailed my entire career.
But instead of letting it take me down, I learned how to flip the script and turn that self-doubt into recognizing my actual strengths.
In this video, I’ll show you exactly how I did it—and how you can do it too.
Two months into my product management career, I had a feeling that I wasn’t as good as my colleagues gave me credit for, and I wasn’t worthy of my position.
My team was on track and the tasks were moving smoothly, but I still felt pretty f**king useless.
Then I learned that this feeling had a name, and it was the worst one I’ve experienced yet.
Soon, I went into my first performance review, having no idea what to expect.
My manager, who was also the CEO, told me that I had an above-average start and thanked me for that.
I should have felt great about this, right?
No, I felt even worse!
I felt like a fraud, because I was convinced that I wasn’t really doing anything and didn’t deserve all this praise.
It was my team doing all the work, and sooner or later, my mask would fall off and they would see me as this incompetent guy who was once thought to be super talented.
Plus, I had to get the CTO on board to spend time building things that I prioritized, having practically no company history, no domain knowledge, only 2 months of experience and zero coding skills.
He asks one question that I can’t answer, and I would lose all my credibility.
My downfall was going to be epic for sure.
My brain was in overdrive, and I just had to say something.
At the end of the performance review, I told my manager that I felt like this.
To my surprise, he was super chill about it.
He told me that it was normal to feel this way, especially in the first 3 to 6 months of starting a new job.
He suggested focusing only on tangible things that ACTUALLY happened.
He told me not to stress over having to lead senior people, and there was no such expectation from me as a new hire only at the beginning of his career.
Instead of overthinking how I can get these people to agree with me, I was expected to ask for feedback from them, and proactively look for ways to improve my team’s coherence and productivity.
I didn’t know it back then, but this advice would turn out to be the main pillar of success and growth for me throughout my entire career to this day.
After reflecting on the performance review, I decided that a little bit of imposter syndrome was actually good to have.
It made me want to continue earning my position, and prevented little wins from getting into my head.
It kept me humble and grounded.
If you’re having this experience too, you can relax.
It’s not the end of the world, and it’s not really a disorder.
But just like anything else, too much of it is bad for you.
And in order not to let it consume you, you need to shift your focus from doubting yourself to recognizing what you actually bring to the table.
Here’s how to do it step by step:
First, you need to look at your wins and acknowledge your achievements.
Whether it’s work, school or personal life, start tracking what you’ve accomplished, both big and small.
Write down what you can recollect right now in your notes app or whatever, and keep adding to the list whenever you feel like you’ve had any form of success or feeling of achievement.
When you catch yourself doubting yourself or feeling like a fraud, challenge these negative thoughts by asking “What evidence do I have that this is true?”, and refer back to this list to remind yourself of your value.
Chances are, there’s no real basis for your doubts.
Over time, you are going to start seeing patterns and repetitions in this list, which are going to scream your strengths in your face.
However, you can only get so far with introspection.
Self-awareness is not only how we see ourselves, but also an awareness of how we are perceived by others.
In order to get this kind of awareness, you need to ask for feedback.
And you need to make this a habit.
Remember how my manager told me to constantly ask for feedback from my team, and it became the tool for success in my PM career?
Now in a completely different career on YouTube, it still is the key and I’m still doing it with analytics tools and you guys’ comments.
We often overlook our strengths, and how certain things that we do may help or potentially hurt others.
Building a feedback loop where you take a certain action, collect constructive feedback, act on the feedback and collect more feedback will not only help you identify your strengths, but also improve on your weaknesses.
And just like that, you will end up with even more strengths.
Finally, you need to stop comparing yourself to others.
Focus on your own progress rather than how your peers, colleagues or other YouTubers are doing.
We’re all unique and have our own journey, and comparison only amplifies feelings of inadequacy.
I mean, why do you think sharing how much you make even with your friends is usually something to avoid?
Because it creates an awkward social dynamic and automatically leads to comparison.
It makes both the person making more and the person making less money unhappy, and worse off.
Anyways, all of these together will help you identify what you’re good at; something that sounds easy to do but actually is one of the most difficult things to get right about yourself.
If it were easy, I guess you wouldn’t be watching this video.
There are many other tools that can help you do this, such as taking a personality test, evaluating your values or finding a mentor.
But ultimately, it all comes down to reflection and being mindful of your actions.
Once you identify your strengths, the imposter syndrome will fade away, and your confidence will start building back up very quickly.
And most importantly, you’ll have taken a big bold step towards discovering what gives you purpose.
Hope this helps, and I’ll see you next time.
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