The enemy we all face

and we have dealt with already

Welcome to Supercharged Learning HQ. The place where you can get practical insights to learn new subjects and acquire skills fast without outdated learning methods or the overwhelm of information overload

Hey my friend.

Hello again.

This time I have a particular take on a subject that’s pretty common and affect us in different ways.

Especially if we are getting results in areas where it’s not normal to make progress “that fast”.

So sit tight and let’s dive into it…

Main quest 🛡

If you’ve read the past few (5?) posts, you’ve seen that we’ve been leveling up (and if you haven’t cause you’ve been away… Hey, welcome! You’re still in time for the action.)

We’ve tackled some myths, like the work-life “balance”. Learned how to foolprof the starting process, how to keep going even when I might seem pointless, how to close the gap between the “knowing” and the doing”, plus how to supercharge those results by teaming up with others.

But unfortunately, even with all of that, it won’t be all “sunshine and rainbows” ☀️🌈

There’s a particular foe will face sooner or later.

It’s a very well known syndrome.

(Well, no. Not that syndrome. Although that’s pretty well known too, right?)

I’m talking here about the Impostor’s Syndrome.

Yeah, the one that’s quite common especially for us high-achievers.

There are several ways to address it, deal with, it overcome it, whatever.

And there’s a lot of content already written around the subject, particularly in the workplace.

For me it started waaaay back, even pre 2015.

After I got my first role as a frontend web dev, around 2018, I decided I was going to own it. I was going to be that person who does cool things even while not being “qualified”. And they will have to try and put real effort in catching me as a “fraud”.

That is all well and good.

What many people don’t talk about enough tho, it’s how many times that syndrome shows up when you’re tackling a new project, taking on a bigger deal of responsibility, or even starting in a related area.

And with the increase of fractional roles and portfolio careers, we will face it 2 or 3 times as much as before.

So it’s not just “dealing with it in your new role until you get more experience”.

It’s more like “how you deal with it when you are using your skills in different scenarios, with different people, different goals/perspectives”.

And also “how do you keep leveling up your skills and reinvent yourself when the work landscape keeps changing every month”.

That’s a whole new adventure we’re now in.

The syndrome will normally bring other friends along for the ride.

We’ve talked about them before when they show up in the learning jourmey.

And yet, even we’re aware of them, how to deal with them, and keep doing the work…. we often forget all of it on the important times and can fall for it again.

That sneaky little voice in the back of our head will whisper again…

“You’re still not ready.“

“Leave this to the actually qualified people.“

“Who will pay attention to what you can say or do?”

“Who do you think you are to be trying to pull this of?“

There’s a myriad of other similar statements.

Often times we think someone else that’s more capable/knowledgeable than us, will see what we’re doing and will point out how we’re “frauds” and how we’re “faking it”.

That might happen because of corporate politics, a toxic workplace, or jealous people.

But…

More capable or knowledgeable people than you will never do that.

You’ve ever seen that quote that says “envy only comes from people behind not people ahead of you” (I’m paraphrasing but you get the point).

People online in the creator space or in knowledge work areas are more supportive than anyone else.

You’d be hard pressed to actually find someone who will try to call you out for how “fraud” you are.

Most people are either:

• Too focused on themselves dealing with their own stuff.

• Too distracted with cheap sources of entertainment.

• Know even less about the subject than you to matter.

• They are faking it themselves for real in the worst ways.

Plus, if we’re talking about “fakes” and “frauds”, we can just open the main page of Instagram or TikTok.

So the point is not who’s fake and who’s “real”.

The point is that the voice in your head saying that you’re not ready or that big, bold accomplishment is not for people like you is straight up lying.

And even when you have a whole set of past accomplishments, having done what others would consider “impossible”, you still will hear that voice (and probable believe it) when you take on a new project.

So it’s always helpful to have a registry of those past accomplishments.

I’ve seen people refer to it by many names like a “smile file”, “brag doc”, or “hit log”.

The idea behind all of those is the same: document your accomplishments, what happened, how you pull off something that you didn’t thought you could but did.

So whenever you revisit it, you can remember the moments but also reexperience the emotions of that time.

That’s just one way to prepare and jazz yourself up before tackling a new challenge. But it’s one of the most practical and effective ways I found so far.

And what it’s coming over the following months and year… challenges is what we’ll have aplenty. So it’s about time we get our tools prepared and our skills sharp.

That’s one the reasons this HQ exists. To train and equip ourselves for the challenges and missions ahead. 🕵️

Experiments 🧪

Oddly enough, this week I haven’t done any particular experiment. Nor been involved in the one I told you about in the previous post.

This past week has been a blur for me. It’s like I remember being on Monday afternoon/evening, I blinked a couple of times and it was already Friday morning.

Not literally but that’s how I felt. 😐

To consider 🤔

How have you dealt with this syndrome before? Are there common themes from those times you’ve overcome it that you can think of? To keep them around for when the syndrome shows up again.

And if you can’t think up of any or need some help dealing with that foe, reply or comment below. Let’s get you unblocked.

---

That’s it for this weekend, my friend.

Next time we’ll talk about a state in which we try to overcompensate for our perceived shortcomings which is pretty related with this syndrome.

But for now… Take care and enjoy the rest of your Sunday! 😎

Cheers,

Juan.