Welcome back to Branded: your comprehensive guide to creative branding.
In today’s episode, we dive into a topic that resonates with many: imposter syndrome. We explore six different ways you can manage imposter syndrome while building your brand. Both of us have had our struggles with feeling like impostors, and today we share personal experiences and actionable tips to help you overcome these feelings.
Overview of what was discussed:
Larry and Sara reflected on their personal battles with imposter syndrome throughout their careers and lives.
The episode is structured around six practical strategies to manage and reduce the impact of imposter syndrome.
We shared real-life stories and insights into how these strategies helped us in our journeys.
The discussion touched on the complexity of comparing oneself to others and viewing past failures through a constructive lens.
We hope you find this episode as enlightening and empowering as we did. Let’s go!
Key takeaways:
1. Acknowledge Your Feelings: Recognize and vocalize your feelings of imposter syndrome. Understand that these feelings are more common than you might think. This is often the first step toward managing the anxiety and self-doubt.
2. Recognize Your Achievements: Make it a point to acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small they seem. Remember, even minor wins contribute to your overall experience and expertise.
3. Avoid Comparanoia: Stop comparing yourself to others incessantly. Understand that everyone’s journey is unique, and their success doesn’t diminish your own potential or achievements. Use healthy comparisons to set aspirational goals, not to fuel self-doubt.
4. Reframe Failures as Lessons: Look at your failures as learning opportunities. Each setback is a chance to gain valuable insights and improve. Larger failures can offer even more profound lessons that might transform how you approach your goals.
5. Treat Yourself as You Would Treat Others: Be as kind and supportive to yourself as you are to your friends, family, and colleagues. Replace negative self-talk with constructive and positive affirmations. Think about what you would say to a friend in your situation and turn that kindness inward.
6. Have a Support Group: Cultivate a network of supportive individuals who understand and uplift you. This could be family, friends, mentors, or colleagues. Their encouragement can be invaluable when imposter syndrome rears its head.
These six strategies have been instrumental in our own journeys and have helped us navigate the complexities of imposter syndrome. We hope that by sharing our experiences and insights, you’ll find some valuable tools to help manage your own feelings of self-doubt.
If you found value in this episode, don’t forget to smash that subscribe button so we can continue bringing you more insightful content each week.
Transcript
Larry Roberts [00:00:09]:
What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts. And I'm Sara Lohse, and this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to creative brand And on this episode of the podcast, we're gonna be talking about 6 different ways that you can manage your imposter syndrome.
Sara Lohse [00:00:26]:
while building your brand. imposter syndrome has been a problem for me, my entire career, probably even earlier than that. And I know it's something that
Larry Roberts [00:00:36]:
probably everyone goes through at least one point in their life. Dude, I don't even wanna say it's it's followed me throughout my career. It's followed me throughout my life. everything I do, I'm constantly looking at others who in my mind are doing it better. And I they may be, but in all honesty, who cares? Right? We still have to be able to reconcile within ourselves that we are in the position to do whatever it is that we're doing. And that follows through in everything whether we're playing sports because I know imposter syndrome for me was hardcore in Sports, whether it's in business, I never make as much as so and so, or whether it's with a podcast. You know? Oh, we never get as many downloads as they do. What am I doing talking about x? Because I'm not an established mastermind or thought leader, in that particular space. So that imposter syndrome always creeps in and tries to, you know, cut us off at the knees. It's the worst. I even
Sara Lohse [00:01:37]:
started this whole journey of my recent career moves based on someone telling me that I was just a copywriter. So -- Yep. -- I feel like I was given that just handed and -- foster syndrome from the beginning, and my whole career has almost been trying to -- change that, but the mental state never changes. I never stopped feeling like an imposter. I'm just trying to prove to others that I'm not. Well, and I think that's number 1. We talked about we're gonna be talking 6 different ways to address or manage,
Larry Roberts [00:02:12]:
imposter syndrome. And one of those is simply 1st and foremost acknowledging those feelings, knowing that we have those feelings and being able to recognize that and I think even more so vocalize it for us to express the fact that we're not the only ones that face this imposter syndrome on an ongoing basis. I think just recognizing it and being able to put a name on those feelings that you're having
Sara Lohse [00:02:38]:
That can almost stop it in its track sometimes. And this is things that, I mean, I've been been to therapy for anxiety and things like that, but even just If you are feeling away and you can say, okay. This is my anxiety talking. That helps you manage that anxiety. So I feel like it's very similar. When you're feeling like, oh, I don't belong here. I shouldn't be talking about this. I'm not an expert. Who am I to say this? If you stop and say, Okay. This isn't me talking. This is that imposter syndrome. It might not get those feelings to go away, but it gives you a little bit more of a push to move past them. Yeah. I think you nailed it. I don't think they ever really go away.
Larry Roberts [00:03:19]:
you know, I think back 4 or 5 years ago, when I wrote my 1+1 equals podcast book, I was in no position to be writing a book or an instructional, especially on podcasting. I was only a few years into the game and really had no idea how the industry even worked when I wrote this book. But the coach that I hired, her name was Laura Peterson. She's amazing. she convinced me that if I just do a little bit more about the subject matter than the person reading the book, then to them, I'm a thought leader. So I'm not being an imposter. I have a little more knowledge than they do, and I can share that knowledge. So when I looked at it from that perspective, I was like, you know what? You're right. I might not be the cat daddy at the time when it came to podcasting, but I knew something that maybe someone else didn't. So I I shouldn't have felt like I was an imposter, but I was It was more of a I wouldn't even call me a a coach or a consultant, but I was kinda just providing guidance. And I was in a position to do that because I had I mean, shoot. I had 4 or 5 years of experience in the game. I think the
Sara Lohse [00:04:25]:
definition of an expert is just somebody who knows more than the layperson. I think I took that from the penal system to be an expert witness. It has to be someone who just knows more than the average person, but You don't have to know everything to be considered an expert on something. You just have to know more than most people.
Larry Roberts [00:04:45]:
I'm gonna have to that you never use that word again because I'm not mature enough for that level of conversation. But at the At the same time, I think you're you're you're on the right train of thought there that kind of leads us into the second point of managing your imposter syndrome, and that is acknowledging your accomplishments. So if you do look back and you go, okay. I've done this, this, and this, and they don't have to be massive accomplishments. They just have to be things that you've done. You know, what do you have experienced him? what were the lessons that you learned while going through that experience and can those lessons benefit someone else? So acknowledging those experiences and acknowledging those accomplishments is the 2nd step in this episode
Sara Lohse [00:05:33]:
dealing with your imposter syndrome. This is something that I'd I not only do this for myself, but I do this publicly. in the situations where I feel like I have imposter syndrome. And that's why I focus so much on storytelling. because if you're talking about something you're an expert in, but instead of leading with this is the truth about this, and that's it. That's Someone can very easily disprove that. They can come at you with another perspective. They can come at you with all of these different arguments. But if instead you say I've been doing this for x number of years and I learned that this is the best way in my experience to do this, you can't argue with that. You can't say, okay. No. You didn't do that. It those last 10 years. Like, you didn't get those results you just talked about. You can't argue it. Yeah. 100%.
Larry Roberts [00:06:28]:
You can't argue with experience. you you can argue with outcome and maybe how you achieve that outcome, but you can't take away someone's own experiences and your experience may be different than someone else's. Someone else may follow the exact same steps that you followed and maybe get a slightly different outcome. due to a variety of reasons. I mean, we see that all the time with chatgbt right now. You can ask chatgbt the exact same question two different times. you're gonna get wildly different answers Lohse likely, but life is is very similar in that regard. We can all go through the same perceived steps but our interpretation of those steps may be slightly different, but you still can't take away from that experience. So when you're sitting there questioning yourself, when you're sitting there going, I am not worthy or I'm not someone to be talking about this or that or doing this or that. or taking on this client. Remember what you've done, what you've achieved, and your experience, and how that experience can override that imposter syndrome. Okay. So next up, this is one of my favorites, honestly. I've talked about this before. I've actually given talks about this particular topic, a good friend of mine, His name is David DeGeorgio, and he did a TEDx Talk on this topic, and he actually owns the trademark. And he was gracious enough to allow me to use it in regards to podcasting, and that is compare annoying. Where we sit back and we look at those around us and we compare ourselves to either their accomplishments or how we look in comparison to them, what we've achieved in comparison to them, what we have not achieved in comparison to them, and we look at others from a variety of different perspectives And regardless of whether that perspective is positive or negative, we're constantly comparing ourselves to what others are doing. And I gotta tell you, that that for me personally eats me up more than anything else is me sitting here looking at others and going, oh, why are they? Or why didn't I? Or why would they pick them? Or why wouldn't they pick me? those types of questions eat at me, probably more so than anything, and that just builds on my imposter syndrome because Well, they didn't pick me. I must not be good enough. I must not really be the thought leader that I thought I was. We talked about this a few episodes back when we were talking about the mistakes that people make when they build their brand.
Sara Lohse [00:09:00]:
And because, I mean, this comes up everywhere. And One of the things that people don't really think about when they're busy just comparing themselves with whoever's doing better than them or doing more than them It's you're not comparing equal things. It's not apples to apples.
Larry Roberts [00:09:20]:
So if you're comparing yourself, why are you laughing at me? Just that's one of my freaking hate that saying more than anything in my life. well, you're comparing apples to oranges, buddy. That's why it's not working out. You Okay. But it's a valid saying. You know? I'm I'm not saying it's not valid. It's just one of those. It's also a great game. But what is that? I don't even know what the game is. Apple to apples. It's like the precursor to, cards against humanity. Oh, okay. I can see why you Lohse it then. But it's just one of those things that just, you know, it's maybe I hate to use this word, but it's a trigger mechanism for me. When I hear that a apple you're comparing apple to Oregon, but that that that triggers me. I won't pigeonhole you too. And if you're not familiar with being pigeonholed, check out some of our previous episodes. We talk about that in-depth.
Sara Lohse [00:10:12]:
To in-depth.
Larry Roberts [00:10:14]:
May I continue? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I got off the road. Thank you. Yeah. Sorry.
Sara Lohse [00:10:18]:
It makes me think back to stacking benjamins when I saw, Joe SLC High, speak at a conference. And he was so excited when he got went from getting, like, 69 downloads an episode to 70. And these days, he's getting 100 of 1000, and he does tours around the country. And he's one of, like, the most successful podcasters, at least I know of. And if I were to sit here and compare myself to stacking benjamins, like, we're only a couple episodes in. So we can't compare to stacking benjamins or expect to be them or -- expect to be these super huge shows because we just started. But if we compare ourselves to what they were doing when they just started, It's gonna look a lot more similar. Sure. Sure. I mean, how many episodes are they in now? It's gotta be 100. Oh, I'm sure. 100. I think The one I was on was episode like 200 something. So and that was a year or 2 ago. See, and just asking that question, what am I doing?
Larry Roberts [00:11:19]:
I'm comparing Uh-huh. Oh, they gotta have 3 or 400 episodes. That's why they're crushing it. You know, we're still in our single digits. That's why we're not doing as good. So it sets it's it it's It's almost an inherent trait for humans to compare themselves to other humans, but it's also very detrimental. And that's why wallowing in comparison to you can be very, very damaging to not just your journey in building your brand, but the potential to reach the end of your journey in building your brand. So try everything you can do, man, to avoid that compare annoying. But if you do have to compare yourself,
Sara Lohse [00:12:01]:
at least put it in that frame set of they are years ahead. and they were here at one point. Use them as that's where I wanna get to. Not that's where I should be right now.
Larry Roberts [00:12:13]:
Just make sure you're comparing apples to apples. That's what -- Yes. Alright. Moving on. Number 4. 4. It's sponsored by card games. That'd be amazing. Yes. Being sponsored by anyone would be pretty kick ass, to be honest with you. But number 4, what do we have here? Reframe your failures as lessons instead of just wallowing in self pity and going, oh, I failed again. Look at that and go, what is the lesson that I can take away from that failure? You know, what did we learn through these steps? because in this game, I mean, I started podcasting in 2014. We're coming up on 10 years here shortly. And throughout that time, I've looked at a variety of missteps as failures. But at the same time, I can look back and go, oh, well, I I misstepped there, but look at the lesson that came out of that. I learned to do this. I learned that this was the way to approach that. I learned how to talk to people, more clearly I learned how to have better interviews. I learned how to insert humor into a business podcast. I I learned you name it. All of these mistakes that I made, they weren't necessarily mistakes. They were simply opportunities
Sara Lohse [00:13:29]:
to learn. I feel like we learned so much more from failures than we learn from successes. 100%. because all you learn from success is like, okay. That one thing worked. But if but from failures, you learn all these different things that won't. So you don't have to try them again. So I always say, like, if you're you are going to fail, at some point in your life. So fail big. Like, I don't I'm bored of the small little failures. If I'm going to fail, I'm a go all out Like, I'm going to put everything into it so that, like, I want to fail with fireworks and, like, I want it to be this massive thing so I can learn as much as possible
Larry Roberts [00:14:11]:
because just want, like, those little failures, like, they have they're gonna happen. Yeah. They're boring. It's those big one. I know the big ones. Like -- Yeah. Those are the ones that you've really, really learned from. I mean, if you're really gonna mess up, put up in the hospital. Put yourself in rehab. Do something. Do something story worthy if you're gonna make it real. That's when you can start worrying about shit. But up until that point, they're just learning. And even that was a learning opportunity. Shit. For those of you that don't know, I was in rehab back in 2013. I went in for alcohol. That was a big, big, big mistake, and it could've ruined my freaking life.
Sara Lohse [00:14:47]:
But I learned a lot while I was there. alcoholism the mistake or the going to rehab, the mistake?
Larry Roberts [00:14:54]:
I would have to say the alcoholism was the mistake. -- wanted to -- Going to rehab gave me the clarity and allowed me step away from it. And while again, it could have been very detrimental. Could have been the end of everything in all honesty. but this goes in. If you're gonna fail, fail big, I failed massively. I failed massively and was still able to look back and learn from it and move forward. Now it took years of recovery, years of understanding what the heck and in all honesty, I mean, I still look back from time to time. And I go, oh, okay. Well, that's why I was doing that. Let's not go back down. That freaking rabbit hole. That's a place of negativity. We don't need that in our lives. So regardless of of your failures, regardless of your shortcomings, I promise somebody out there has made a bigger mistake, and I promise someone has gotten stronger from that bigger mistake.
Sara Lohse [00:15:51]:
and you can do the same thing. I feel like you just got it all open. Now I have to do the same. Mine's not quite as, I did not go to rehab. But -- -- missed out. I know. Right? I should add it to my list. I've heard great things. I dropped everything, packed my life up to move to Texas, and within 5 months lost my job. and was living here unemployed didn't didn't know anybody. Not my best moment. Yeah. But I cannot imagine my life different than it is right now. And if I did not move here, like, what would my life be right now? If I kept that job, I would be miserable. What would my life be right now? Like, there's so many things that that led to, and I'm just so grateful for that failure because it got me to Texas. It got me to where my life is right now, and everything else has fallen into place. And it got you branded. It got me branded. It made me the favorite daughter.
Larry Roberts [00:16:56]:
But that's funny. I mean, seriously, If if I hadn't even gone into rehab, I wouldn't have found podcasting because I found podcasting about 2 to 3 months after I got home. I would have never even been in this game. And, I mean, just look at the things that we've done in the short time that we've been together for, what, not even a year yet, coming up on a year in a in a month or so. But over the last 10 years, all of these things that have taken place all came from that massive, massive mistake that I made in 2013 that put me here today. and the same thing for you. When you look back on the decision to move here, maybe all your ducks weren't quite in a row like you had hoped and planned, but you learned a lot from it. You grew from it. Now you have an amazing home and amazing, small town outside of Austin. You got amazing You got amazing neighbors. Your life is amazing. Shout out to Harvey. Yeah. What a Harvard. But --
Sara Lohse [00:17:47]:
A goodest boy.
Larry Roberts [00:17:50]:
All of that came from learning from a mistake. So don't just wallow in it. learn from your mistakes and build on it. That'll help you overcome that imposter syndrome. So how do we wrap this one up, Sarah? I thought we were gonna wrap it by talking about the next two items on our list. We have 2 more. Yes. We're at 5. What's the number 5?
Sara Lohse [00:18:08]:
I know we don't I'd I'm I know. I'm keeping track. I don't count. Of of the top 6, number 5 is 2. treat yourself the way that you would treat others. And I wanted this one on our list because I have experienced this so much firsthand just within yours and I relationship because there are things that I would say to myself during situations that I would never say to you. or if I heard you saying it about yourself, I'd yell at you and tell you to stop because we are so supportive of the people that we care about. We're so supportive of our friends of our business partners, of our employees, of our colleagues, but we're not supportive of ourselves. Yeah. I don't know why we do that. So there have been times that I've actually said, like, like, I'm really down about something. I mess something up. I feel like I'm I'm crap. I'm awful. Why am I doing this? And I can think like, okay. Well, what would Larry tell me right now? And that can make me feel better. So if we just start re framing those voices in our head that are so negative -- Yeah. -- to be voices of people that speak kindly to us, It can change so much.
Larry Roberts [00:19:22]:
I don't even know what to say next. I'm a little embarrassed right now after you say that. So I'm just gonna let that one ride. and say, I appreciate you, and I appreciate the impact that some of my words could possibly have on some of the outcomes of your decision. So that is very, very amazing. And I appreciate you saying that here on the podcast. Now I'm getting teary eyed. No. I'm not getting teary eyed, bro. But maybe on the inside, you know, I'm emotional. I'm an emotional guy, dude. I'm probably more emotional than any other dude out there. But, anyways, number 6, This is our last one. it is have a support group. And you kind of alluded to this just a minute ago because we're very supportive of our friends and our family. and our employees and everybody that we work with, all of our teams, very, very supportive in that arena, but it's good sometimes to know that when we get to feeling like we're impostors and that we're not worthy to be doing what we're doing or we're not, in a position to stand out as an authority in our particular niche. It's good to know that you have somebody to turn to. And you know, if if you don't have a co Lohse like Sarah that you can turn to or you don't have a a partner at home that you can turn to it's good to have people in your industry that you can turn to. Absolutely.
Sara Lohse [00:20:41]:
I have My support group, there's so many layers of it. I have my family that if I get super anxious after a meeting or I'm annoyed, like, I can just call my dad. and vent to my dad. I have you on the professional level on this side of my life. I have people at the office of my other, like, side company. I have my friends, but then I even have just have people from the industry. Like, Danielle Lewis who was on the show, She is such a huge supporter. She supports everything that I do, and I've never even met her in person. Like, you could there's so many places that you can find these people who will just support you and be just kind of be those little lifelines when you need it, when you're feeling really down about yourself and you think that you don't belong doing what it is you're doing. Tell them you feel that way, and they will just sit there and spit back all these reasons why that is wrong. and why it is complete BS. So find yourself those people, like, have your group, have your supporters and make sure that they know that they are appreciated and that you do
Larry Roberts [00:21:50]:
feel that support from them. Right on. Well, Sarah, you are appreciated. I just want you to know.
Sara Lohse [00:21:56]:
Thanks. You're okay.
Larry Roberts [00:21:58]:
Oh, thanks. Alright. Cool. We're back on the same page. I love it. That was a interesting ride there for a minute or 2, but at least I'm I'm I said I have nice things this episode. It's yeah. I mean, we're we're, you know, we're 22 minutes into this. I gotcha. That's it. That's it for the day. So in recapping, the 6 ways that you can manage your imposter syndrome, number 1, acknowledge your feelings. Number 2, Sarah Hittes.
Sara Lohse [00:22:20]:
Recognize your achievements. Number 3, avoiding compare. Number 4, reframe your failures as lessons.
Larry Roberts [00:22:29]:
Number 5, this is Sarah's favorite. Treat yourself just like you would treat others. And last but not least -- Have a support group. Cool deal. And that's it, man. Those have been extremely helpful steps throughout my career. not just in my podcasting career, but in my corporate career and really just in life in general. and I think all six of those could be very, very valuable for you as well. So if you did find some value in this episode, do me a favor. Smash that subscribe button. so Sara and I can continue to bring you this amazing content each and every week. So with that, thank you very much. And once again, I am Larry Roberts.
Sara Lohse [00:23:08]:
Sara Lohse, and we'll talk to you next week.
