At 6.07pm last Wednesday, a client pressed the emergency button.
I called him within five minutes. He'd had an awful day. Really dreadful. A large customer had gone bust, owing his business a serious chunk of change. One of his key members of staff had resigned and another had received a troubling diagnosis that meant she'd be away from work for at least the next three months.
A large contract that he had felt sure was 'nailed on' had instead been pulled, and to top it off, he'd received notice of an HMRC enquiry in that morning's post! "It feels like the whole world's against us," he told me. He was riddled with doubt and a fair dose of self-pity.
"I'm not sure I can cope with all this..." he said. Having reassured him that he could actually cope with it all, I also let slip the big secret. You know, the B-I-G secret. The fact that how he was feeling is normal. Yeah, that one.
You see, it's not just you!!
Everyone who has ever run a business has felt the same frailties and insecurities as our friend last week. He's normal.
You're normal.
He might have had an exceptional dump of bad luck all at the same time and it's normal - and very widespread - to doubt your own ability to succeed. Especially when you suffer setbacks. It's normal, at times, to feel that you're not able to cope. It's normal to think - falsely - that these challenges and problems (whatever they are for you at that particular time) aren't felt by and dealt with by 'the successful ones'.
It's normal to think that everyone else is somehow better than you, more successful than you, or more capable than you.
But it's also complete BS. Just because you think it, doesn't make it true. Behind every success story, every sales uplift and every profit overhaul sits an entrepreneur with all the same worries, insecurities and concerns as you. (I promise you, with every fabric of my being, that last sentence is true!!)
Imposter Syndrome is everywhere. It's not just you!! I heard a fascinating interview with Billy Eilish recently.. You know, the singer-songwriter who's achieved more in the last four years than 99.99999% of musicians achieve in their entire lifetime.
Listening to her talk about the very real impact Imposter Syndrome has had - like when she won seven Grammy's, she convinced herself that Grammys must not be worth very much if they're giving them to her!! Can you imagine. But to her those were very real thoughts. Doubt. Insecurity. Worry.
They're the stock in trade of being an entrepreneur. I don't seek to diminish them - just to normalise them. Because they are NORMAL. Everyone thinks they can't cope at some point. Everyone feels overwhelmed from time to time. Everyone worries. And anyone that pretends that's not true is lying.
You're normal. It's normal. I'm normal.
We all feel these things.
The cure, by the way, is pretty straightforward: 1. Recognise that you're normal; 2. Accept that shit happens, it always will, and it's how you deal with it that will be the making of you;
3. Deal with the shit by taking action.
Action is the antidote. Because it puts you in control. Take action. And you'll soon stop worrying. Imposter Syndrome can't survive in a brain that's focused on doing stuff. It literally disappears. Because taking action kills worry... (How else do you think soldiers through the centuries have coped in battle?).
Spend 90 minutes every morning working on your business, not in it!
Spend time working on your business, not just in it.
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