By far, the biggest struggle every creative and artist goes through is dealing with the Impostor syndrome. You will not understand this if you never put something up that made people to marvel.
Impostor syndrome is a psychological pattern in which one doubts one’s accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as “fraud”. Have you ever felt like you don’t belong to what you have become, that it looked so big for you? Like your friends or colleagues are going to discover you’re a fraud, and you don’t actually deserve all you have made and accomplishments?
These feelings are known as impostor syndrome. An estimated 90% of creatives and extraordinaire experience these impostor feelings at some point in their lives and work, Impostor syndrome affects all kinds of creatives and blaze trailers.
You know how you feel when you put in effort and get a new project or a whole lot more responsibility and suddenly you feel it’s unbelievable how you got. It’s as if you have to step into someone else’s shoes every day as your own just aren’t good enough. Some call it a miracle but to the creative they see it as not real so they start fearing to be called and judged as frauds and tend to fight this by putting up more work to prove and validate what they are.
That time when people appreciate your work and you feel you need to put up more to confirm you deserved the recognition and marvel. The kind of cosmic energy that keeps pushing you for more all in pursuit of proving you are worthy and authentic. That time you feel what you did was unbelievable and unimaginable so you feel urged to put up more to validate the truth. This is not self doubt but a natural crisis that by far every creative must deal with.
Every artist and creative goes through this. It is natural. And the creative fights this with continuous production, Authors write more books, Poets write more poems, name it all. No wonder artists, most of the most highly regarded ones lose their life in the name of creating more music, more art, more books, etc. Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Phily Bongole Lutaya, name them all.. had to face the imposter syndrome at its best and fought it perhaps by being immutable.
The fear of stopping at one seems to be the Creative;s medicine to dealing with impostor syndrome. The hunger to search for more validation through more art. It works like a cancer, the desire for one more piece , one more book, one more song, one more poem, one more speech, one more company, one more everything unimaginable. Huuhh!.
When i wrote my first book; Business Ideas Worth your attention , i knew i was done, only to develop the validation urge, and write more and more and more. I knew i would have a pause on The Champions Mojo only to be pulled to write FAMILY SOUP and before i knew it all i am finalizing another book: GET SHaP (Get Seen, Heard and Paid); The radical modus operandi for star achievers!, it is like a cancer, that keeps eating you up nagging you to take more art so as feel validated that you are worthy. Given permission to extreme it can become an addiction that blind to life essentials.
How can an artist, creative fight the imposter syndrome? Perhaps, by becoming a failure😀.
Any creative, artist, entrepreneur and extraordinaire that have not dealt with the imposter syndrome is not yet to the cloud, if i could say. To not encounter the imposter syndrome in creative work is to be a failure.
There is always that moment when you look and ask yourself, how the hell did I get here? and in so you don’t find the answers to validate the question except by creating more to prove that. We don’t sign for these terms and conditions when joining the creative world.. dealing with the imposter syndrome is what the world sees as genius yet to the creative it is a real battle of validating their genius. That is how it all works. To the artist and creative it is an imposter syndrome, to the world it is genius, productivity and extra ordinariness. No wonder most artists die a very unhappy life regardless of the worship and praise they had created in the universe. This is it.
Being here is a tale for the inmates only. 🤔🤔. But we can hack something and reduce the effects of the syndrome. The following tips have helped me push through with my life not getting affected!
Pause and recognize it.
There are times you’ll feel not real or being too much of something. It happens to every man that ever did something beyond themselves. Obama in one of his interviews, he said, getting into the White house at one moment he felt a hacker. We all have made things that felt as unreal or unimaginable to us. This is the time to pause and recognize that it is real, you deserve it and worked for it. Additionally, knowing that this feeling is normal gives you power to deal with it.
Have a unique perspective.
There are some perspectives that trigger the impostor feelings. E.g When i started my Consultancy Firm and Training/Publishing Firm, i thought people are going to judge me because i was not the best in the industry. Instead of thinking about it that way i diverted to the mindset of; “Everyone got a beginning that is quite lacking but they turn things around”. This helped me to feel less of impostor feelings and balance the equation of work and my personal life.
And much more! I hope you enjoyed this long article. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below, subscribe to my blog and get more insights and many gifts delivered to your inbox. Much Love!
About Me
Nicholas K. Quest >>>> I am an Author, Consultant & Serial Entrepreneur. Follow more of my work on the following platforms: Legacy Pearls Africa, NBK-Premier Solutions, DETT Community
Follow me on Twitter: @KatushabeN Facebook: NICHOLAS K QUEST LinkedIn: NICHOLAS K QUEST Instagram: NICHOLAS K QUEST.
Live. Love. Now!
