Overcoming Impostor Syndrome is as Easy as Being Yourself
Turning your unfiltered raw self into a brand.
Turning your unfiltered raw self into a brand.
You’re watching me do it, in real time.
What follows may be the worst advice you have ever received.
Or possibly the Best.
Tread with Caution, or Throw Caution to the Wind…..
It doesn’t matter what it is that you love to do. If you love it enough, and share it at full volume, the excitement becomes contagious.
<<< the secret sauce to ALL personal brand building
That excitement and fulfillment can be amazing, but if you have to step into a false persona to sell your brand, over time it can prove to be exhausting.
Good News!
Your audience will also respond to “realness”.
I am sharing this for those who might also have sharp corners and spikes to their personality, and be apprehensive of truly allowing themselves to express themselves, apprehensive of what others may think, or how it might impact their business.
What is Impostor Syndrome?
According to wiki :
“Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience of intellectual and professional fraudulence. One source defines it as “the subjective experience of perceived self-doubt in one’s abilities and accomplishments compared with others, despite evidence to suggest the contrary”
The root of this syndrome is not intellectual self doubt, at least not for me.
The root is found in posturing to gain peer validation, which sets up the game for me to introspect in a negative way.
If I have to put on a fake exterior, just to compete in a field and be respected, that creates the very conditions under which I will degrade in my perception of my own self-worth and abilities.
Cut the Act
Did you get into <whatever you are building online>, to be an actor/actress?
If the answer is no, then why not build a personal brand that lacks pretense at all?
Why not just be you, at full volume, full imperfections and jagged corners, skinny legs and all?
Don’t fear it.
Step into it.
Blend the raw you, with that excitement about promoting whatever you love.
Bring the full you.
It can still work.
It might take more time, as you will experience a period of having to find your audience, perhaps more so than those who coat their entire brand exterior with sugar (positivisms, axioms, motivational dopamine hits).
But when you build this kind of audience, it will not be exhausting for you in the long run. You don’t have to posture under a virtue signal or set of motivational axioms, you can just be you, and thus….. Impostor Syndrome becomes a distant memory in a galaxy far far away.
If you are a politician, then just stop reading this and go back to the act, nothing to see here. You live to posture as a living symbol of virtue, none of what follows will help, may Zeus have mercy on your monad.
Being The Full Range You
People love to consume and repeat positivisms, dopamine hits that make us feel good, excited, exuberant, or even just content with life, and those are needed for sure — at a primal level, they are essential motivational queues, but…… we truly CONNECT with genuine experience and emotional expression in a full range. All of it.
Many will respond positively to someone having a genuine negative experience who is expressing it - not in a blaming or pushy energy vampire kind-of-way - but in a humble “here is my struggle, I hope this helps you to know you aren’t the only one, thank you for listening” kind of way. Validation. Alignment.
Many will respond positively to letting your full range self out to stroll, as long as there is balance to that dark side.
This is something that is tricky to pull off sometimes. Being vulnerable comes with risks. Letting people into the weeds to see what is actually happening in the thick of things, is a vulnerability many online brand builders are afraid to step into. Negative Impressions can impact following growth and sales, especially in the short term.
But there is no way to avoid that if your goal is to build something that resonates with you, suits your lifestyle, and ultimately doesn’t exhaust you by having to maintain a face all day, and thus, play dual-agent PR representative, at all times.
Do you know what helps?
Making fun of yourself.
Not taking yourself too seriously.
Being ridiculous sometimes, for fun.
Note: this is not the same as hating on yourself.
The very thing many fear is that once they have established a reputation in their brand by only putting their best foot forward, they bind their full self expression because they are afraid of damaging that image/reputation.
So I did something crazy. I decided to destroy my reputation before it was ever built. Haha.
Well, sort of.
I run all my social profiles without a PC filter, posting shared memes, and other fun things, as well as making memes of my own. I don’t have a separation between anymore between my online business persona, and the real me.
The real me is absurd, dark humored, yet variably light-hearted, and doesn’t take myself too seriously, in short — a “gemini” with loads of Saturn and Mercury up in there, and a pinch of Eros to balance it out.
A Discordian, if you will.
Discordianism - Wikipedia
Discordianism is a belief system based around Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord, and variously defined as a…en.wikipedia.org
Sharing the Total You
I joke. I am sarcastic at times. I hyperbolize some of my worst thoughts and harsh opinions online, that way, anyone in the future can’t point to any one thing I’ve said and say “We have a problem with what you said here”.
“Well, clearly you didn’t read the rest of what I have said that was 10x worse, here ya go. You’re move.” — Me
I own it, blending my deadpan dark humor with absurdism, and it makes some people visibly uncomfortable, and I get a huge kick out of that.
My audience is still growing, and the important part, I am attracting those who won’t be off put by un-filtered manner of expression, while pushing away those who seriously don’t need to be part of my audience.
How miserable and boring it must be to only put your highest self as the only image you project forward. Yes, that higher ideal is the ideal to which we should all strive internally, but in pretending to the reality, and not accepting our negative/socially disagreeable side (if it exists within us), we may actually push actualization of our highest ideals further away.
I decided not put forward any kind of professional facade, posing with my arms crossed next to some axiomatic banner statement, trying to make you trust my authority on some subject.
I am just me. No Axioms or Guru posturing.
You can build your brand in whatever way resonates with whatever you are trying to accomplish, but I realized two years ago that the only way for me in building an audience is to not care if I am catering to an audience at all.
I commit to all of this brand-killing fun, all while still sharing how to run trading bots, how to automate online shops, and sharing my story that I did all of this solely so I could hike, fish, camp, and not have to be employed. I also take care of my disabled mom who just turned 70, pay her bills, spend lots of time helping her out, so part of my why is not just wanting to escape into nature more, but just be there for those who need me more than evenings and weekends.
Why My Why Changed
When I first started this adventure, my why was very simple.medium.com
I’m not “lambo” rich, and not even seeking it, which is what people tend to assume when they hear the word “crypto” or “automated income”. Some of the comments I have received make it obvious some think I am one of those posing scam artists — and they are forgiven because the crypto world is full of them. Kids posing next to lambos; maybe they actually own it, maybe they don’t, but my reasons for doing what I am doing have nothing to do with extravagance.
I seek income without obligation to show up anywhere, without the need for motivation with axiomatic slogans, and without shame for admitting that.
Thank you for reading!
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Until next time….
Onward and Upward Everybody!
-Chris
Automated Income Lifesyle w/ C.W. Morton
I'm just a regular guy who automates everything I possibly can. A few years ago I automated my primary business to the…www.youtube.com
#impostorsyndrome #beyourself #overcominginsecurities #selfacceptance #selfconfidence #authenticity #selfexpression #selfworth #positivemindset #selflove
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This article was published on September 6th, 2024 in Long. Sweet. Valuable. publication.
