The dreaded imposter syndrome…. has it struck you down?
You get part of the way through writing and then you wonder, “Is this good enough? Am I good enough?” And those feelings of doubt make you hesitant, and they make you procrastinate, and worst case they stop you from getting your book out there. I wanted to share with you some solutions to fix that, I’ve got four ways.
It’s a really common problem, you get part of the way through writing and then you wonder, “Is this good enough? Am I good enough?” And those feelings of doubt make you hesitant, and they make you procrastinate, and worst case they stop you from getting your book out there. I wanted to share with you some solutions to fix that, I’ve got four ways.
Remember people appreciate your advice in real life
Method number one, that is to remember real life. When you meet people in meetings, you meet them for coffee, they find out what your profession is, how many times has somebody said to you, “Wow, I must talk to you,” and they ask you a stream of questions and they’re really grateful for the information that you share, they don’t call you a bellend, they don’t punch you in the face, they don’t throw a rotten tomato slap-bang on your forehead, do they?
They’re eager to learn from you.
All your book is doing is writing that down.
That’s the only difference, the actual content is the same, the quality, the passion, the expertise is the same, it’s just written down. You don’t get heckled in real life, you’re not going to get heckled with the book. People are going to be grateful.
Test our your draft with some beta-readers
The next thing is beta readers. I always encourage my authors to get at least five people to read their books. Why? Because there are five extra pairs of eyes there checking that it’s good enough. It’s not down to you and your potential imposter syndrome to say if it’s good or not, it’s actually a great way of strengthening the book and boosting your confidence at the same time. The number of people who come back to me and say, “The beta readers loved it, they thought it was brilliant.” Of course, they did, because you’ve put the work in, and you’ve shared that expertise that people love in real life. All we’ve done is written it down. It’s that simple.
Reflect on why you wanted to write your book in the first place
The next thing is to remember your initial motivation, because when you first dream up that book idea, and you’re thinking of all the people that you can help, and how it’s gonna give you opportunities, help you network and meet more influences, you’re super excited at that point so why not write that down before you start working on your book? And re-read it, about how enthusiastic you are about helping people because it will help you get over imposter syndrome as well.
Do the work to make yourself proud
And finally, do the work. You might have a genuine reason to feel imposter syndrome. The number of times I see people who’ve written a book, and they’ve come to me saying, “Can you give me an opinion?” And it’s like … I wish you hadn’t started. Just because you’ve shoved out 80 pages of stuff does not necessarily make it good. Just because it’s a long piece of work does not necessarily make it good.
What it needs to be is something that people can read to get really good results in their life. Clear, concise, complete, and logical, yeah? So if you know in your heart that you’ve been a bit half-assed about it, then that is a genuine reason for your imposter syndrome, and it needs fixing. The good thing is, the things like the beta readers will remind that it is not up to scratch, and then only five people have seen it and it’s not been released to the world on Amazon. So do the work. Put in the effort to make it good quality and then you won’t feel like a fraud.
If you need to reach me, the website is letstellyourstory.com, and I’m on Facebook and all the other social media channels, so just get in touch if you want to talk to me about imposter syndrome.
