Comments

  1. Funny Jenna, I was just thinking earlier today, “I bet Steven Pressfield (fill in the blank with your hero of choice) isn’t still in his pajamas at this time of day.” We are so hard on ourselves.

    Reading your post I just now had to remind myself of some pretty incredible things I’ve done this year.

    Thank you again for helping to bring things into perspective.
    Warmly,
    Mary

  2. Great post and great topic, Jenna! I do think that for me the “fraudulent” feeling is highly connected to perfectionism and the idea that I have to work and prepare that much harder than everyone else to be good enough. And it especially shows up when I’m trying something new or in unfamiliar territory. Thanks for bringing it to light — I think it’s important to “normalize” it so it doesn’t prevent us from moving forward!

  3. Hi Jenna,

    Good article.

    Perfection does not exist! Yet folks are trained to push toward it. My father has a very nice philosophy that’s served him well in life. He works on something for awhile and then stops and says, “It’s good enough.” Then he goes onto something else.

    I’ve made many imperfect fantastic contributions! Been working on my drawing for about a year now and it’s amazing to see how far I’ve come with it. Am illustrating my own book!

    Thanks, G.

  4. Wow! I have felt like a fraud my entire life it seems! Just recently, I have decided to give it up. It’s not easy since the guilt and shame from it is so overwhelming but the thing is, I know in my heart of hearts that it is not true. I hate to think that so many others feel this way but at the same time I am relieved that I am not alone. These negative emotions are all fear based and the one thing I know about fear is that we have the ability to control it because if we don’t it will indeed control us. There is never a shortage of things to work on – that’s for sure!

    • Good for you for giving it up, Tineke! It’s not worth it. You might be interested in the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck on the subject of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset, the latter of which fosters that imposter feeling, I believe.

      • Tineke Phipps says:

        Thank you, Jenna. It’s definitely ongoing process. Thank you for the book suggestion. Have a great day!

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