Speaker:

Imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

I wanna overcome...

Speaker:

imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

I wanna overcome...

Speaker:

imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

Steve Worthy...

Speaker:

Steve Worthy...

Speaker:

help me please!

Speaker:

Imposter syndrome...

Speaker:

Im-podcaster syndrome.

Speaker:

Yeah, yeah!

Speaker:

Welcome to episode 199 of the Confident Live Marketing podcast.

Speaker:

I knew I can do it.

Speaker:

I had the skills to do, but man, that imposter syndrome was like, oh my gosh,

Speaker:

now I got to go back and lead these same people that I just leapfrogged.

Speaker:

Or, I'm in a position now where I'm in a room with people who are

Speaker:

just as smart as me even smarter.

Speaker:

Now, how do I communicate?

Speaker:

Hello, my name's Ian Anderson Gray, and in this episode of the Confident

Speaker:

Live Marketing podcast, we're talking about imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

Do you sometimes doubt your ability?

Speaker:

Have you ever thought of yourself as a fraud?

Speaker:

Maybe you are suffering from what is called imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

And if so, you're not alone.

Speaker:

It's a common issue for creative people, business owners, and entrepreneurs.

Speaker:

What are you going to do about it?

Speaker:

I think we need to get on with the show, bring in my special guest and

Speaker:

we'll talk all about imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

Let's do it right now.

Speaker:

Well, hello.

Speaker:

Welcome to the show.

Speaker:

Very exciting.

Speaker:

This is episode 199.

Speaker:

We're almost at the 200, but before I talk about that, a

Speaker:

few little housekeeping things.

Speaker:

First of all, right now at this precise time that I'm going live,

Speaker:

Ecamm Live version 4 is out.

Speaker:

So if you have been listening to this show or watching this show for a while,

Speaker:

you know the Ecamm live is my favorite live video tool and content creation tool.

Speaker:

The guys at Ecamm have been working so hard at version 4, and it's come

Speaker:

out just now at 4:00 PM UK time.

Speaker:

I think that's 11:00 AM eastern.

Speaker:

And it's got so many cool features.

Speaker:

We've got multi streaming now.

Speaker:

We've got a new camera switcher.

Speaker:

We've got Amazon Live comments.

Speaker:

What else have we got?

Speaker:

Oh, yeah, the bit I'm really excited about is we've also got isolated

Speaker:

video recording, which means that I will get a clean feed of me, clean

Speaker:

feed of my guest today, Steve, which makes repurposing so much easier.

Speaker:

So if you wanna find out more about that, you can take it for a test drive.

Speaker:

If you're already an Ecamm live user, you can also upgrade.

Speaker:

The prices have stayed the same, which is amazing.

Speaker:

All you need to do is go to iag.me/ecamm.

Speaker:

E-C-A-M-M.

Speaker:

And I also wanna say this is going to be the last live episode of the Confident

Speaker:

Live Marketing Show for a little while.

Speaker:

I'm having a little bit of a break.

Speaker:

I've been broadcasting this show since May, 2019, and as I prepare for episode

Speaker:

200 and the fourth year anniversary, I'm taking a little bit of a break, so that

Speaker:

I can just reboot things and I'd love to hear from you what your thoughts and

Speaker:

ideas are as we go into episode 200.

Speaker:

I'm going to be doing a big episode.

Speaker:

We're going to have a party.

Speaker:

We're going to have some really cool things, but if you wanna find out

Speaker:

more about that, then do subscribe to my newsletter, iag.me/newsletter.

Speaker:

Now, this is really important.

Speaker:

The podcast is going to continue every week.

Speaker:

Every single Friday, the episode will come out.

Speaker:

But instead of being a new live episode, I'm going to be going back

Speaker:

into the archives and we'll be looking at some of the best moments from

Speaker:

previous episodes, so the podcast can be found at iag.me/podcast.

Speaker:

In today's episode, we're talking about the dreaded imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

It required a scary voice, and it's something that so

Speaker:

many of ours struggle with.

Speaker:

I've got a special guest to bring in on the show and to introduce to you.

Speaker:

It is the fabulous Steve Worthy who is a podcasting veteran he began in

Speaker:

2007 with By husbands, for husbands, a podcast and business focused on

Speaker:

helping entrepreneurial husbands succeed professionally and personally

Speaker:

by balancing work and family.

Speaker:

Steve is a seasoned business leader with over 25 years of executive

Speaker:

retail leadership experience.

Speaker:

His career is focused on assisting podcasters and leaders to find

Speaker:

their unique voice and understand how to fit within their culture to

Speaker:

advance their podcasts and career.

Speaker:

Currently as an entrepreneur, Steve teaches both novice and experienced

Speaker:

podcasters how to livestream to his podcaster's live academy.

Speaker:

Steve views this as the best medium for podcasters to grow and engage

Speaker:

with their audience authentically, and I totally agree with that.

Speaker:

Welcome to those shows, Steve.

Speaker:

What's going on?

Speaker:

Lemme see if I have the funny voice thing here too.

Speaker:

I don't know if I have it or not.

Speaker:

Let's see.

Speaker:

No, that's the wrong one.

Speaker:

There it is.

Speaker:

There we go.

Speaker:

Together we can go live.

Speaker:

I love your intro, man.

Speaker:

Oh, thank you.

Speaker:

Then we got all the family in on that one.

Speaker:

So when I do the new one, the thing is my son's voice is broken

Speaker:

now, so it's going to be too good.

Speaker:

Oh, we could go, like, it's going to be like that.

Speaker:

That's interesting.

Speaker:

His voice, the Peter Brady thing, that's what we call over here.

Speaker:

It's a famous old show, the Brady Bunch and Peter Brady's voice, they were doing

Speaker:

this singing and it starts cracking.

Speaker:

So, that's so funny.

Speaker:

That's so funny.

Speaker:

Yeah, maybe at the moment it would be a bit like that.

Speaker:

But anyway, I'm excited to have you on the show because I

Speaker:

feel like we haven't met yet.

Speaker:

We haven't because last year in May 2022, we were both at PODFEST

Speaker:

or VIDFEST in Orlando, Florida.

Speaker:

I know you couldn't speak and then you had to dash off.

Speaker:

But we briefly caught each other and we had a few words, but I knew that

Speaker:

I wanted to get to know you more.

Speaker:

I wanted to have you on the show and it's taken a bit of a while,

Speaker:

but you're here now, exciting.

Speaker:

Exactly, man.

Speaker:

No, I'm really excited to be here.

Speaker:

Yeah, we chatted for a minute and, I'm a little upset because

Speaker:

I wanted to be number 200.

Speaker:

I'm 199, but that's okay.

Speaker:

I'll take 199.

Speaker:

I'm sorry about that.

Speaker:

You were trying to get in there.

Speaker:

I can see what you're doing.

Speaker:

You're trying to get there to 200.

Speaker:

I was delaying.

Speaker:

I was like, what?

Speaker:

97?

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

I think if I book now, I'll probably be 200.

Speaker:

It didn't work.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

There we go.

Speaker:

As I said, I'm having a bit of a break because I think sometimes we were

Speaker:

talking about this just before we started recording, that you've moved to Atlanta.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

As we say in the very British voice, Atlanta, I should say.

Speaker:

And you've moved there, one of the reasons you mentioned was because it

Speaker:

has this, this creative side to you.

Speaker:

Yeah, I used to live here from 2000 to around 2009.

Speaker:

And during that time of my life, I felt and I knew I was actually probably

Speaker:

the most creative entrepreneurial from an entrepreneurial standpoint,

Speaker:

creating concepts, helping people with their business, helping people with

Speaker:

their marketing, all these different aspects of my life really started to

Speaker:

germinate here and propel me forward.

Speaker:

And then as we were talking earlier, the corporate will took over.

Speaker:

You started making more money, you started to do all these other

Speaker:

things, and you start to move away from those creative juices.

Speaker:

And then when I realized that I needed to go back, when I say needed, I internally

Speaker:

needed to go back to that creative side as I was ending my career in retail.

Speaker:

Atlanta was just a place, and we called it and I told you I had to

Speaker:

come back to the source and I really felt like Atlanta was the source.

Speaker:

It has been.

Speaker:

And it continues to be the source for my creativity.

Speaker:

We have so many things going on and I'm excited to be back in this great town and

Speaker:

enjoy the vibe that it's been giving me.

Speaker:

Definitely.

Speaker:

If you are listening or watching I'd love to know from you where

Speaker:

is your source of creativity?

Speaker:

What gives that creative spark for you?

Speaker:

For me, I don't know.

Speaker:

It's going somewhere different.

Speaker:

I think if I'm in the house all the time, sometimes I get stifled,

Speaker:

so getting out of the house.

Speaker:

I love my little trips to the US.

Speaker:

I need to go back to the US this year, but I'm not quite sure

Speaker:

when that's going to happen.

Speaker:

But that always helps me to be creative.

Speaker:

And one of these days I'm going to actually visit Atlanta.

Speaker:

I've only ever visited the airport, which

Speaker:

I was doesn't count.

Speaker:

I was just about to say no, it counts because it's own city,

Speaker:

if you will, in this city.

Speaker:

But I was just about to say that.

Speaker:

Man, dude, you got to come to Atlanta.

Speaker:

There's so many great things to do here.

Speaker:

You bring your kids and your wife.

Speaker:

So many great things to do, restaurants, and we can show you around.

Speaker:

So just let me know.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

Thank you for that.

Speaker:

Before we get onto imposter syndrome, I'd love to know a little bit about

Speaker:

how you got into what you're doing.

Speaker:

I mentioned in the bio that you had this podcast for husbands.

Speaker:

That piqued my interest.

Speaker:

I think that's not something I hear very often.

Speaker:

How did you get into what you're currently doing, which is

Speaker:

teaching podcasters to go live?

Speaker:

And I totally agree that it's a fantastic medium.

Speaker:

Particularly for people like me who are maybe a bit, I'm going to

Speaker:

admit it, recovering perfectionists.

Speaker:

So going live, you just get it done and then you can repurpose it

Speaker:

into all these different places.

Speaker:

You're preaching to the choir here with that, but how did you get

Speaker:

into what you're currently doing?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I'm one of those fortunate people.

Speaker:

I think there's a lot of us out here.

Speaker:

I found my trifecta, so to speak, which is leadership,

Speaker:

podcasting, and live streaming.

Speaker:

The leadership portion came first where I started teaching a whole bunch of

Speaker:

different people different leadership skills, how to start a business.

Speaker:

And then I was at my church in Atlanta actually at the time, teaching

Speaker:

people how to start a business.

Speaker:

And a good friend of mine, he came on board.

Speaker:

We started teaching a class together and we said we need to do something different.

Speaker:

So, we came up with this idea of helping husbands balance the idea of

Speaker:

being a husband or of being a husband and actually being an entrepreneur.

Speaker:

It is a balancing act because you want to invest so much time in your business,

Speaker:

but you also have to make sure that you're balancing time being a husband,

Speaker:

father, and things along that line.

Speaker:

And so By husbands, for husbands was born and we started actually utilizing,

Speaker:

back then was called Blog Talk Radio.

Speaker:

Then we got turned in 2007 to podcasting by a CEO friend of ours.

Speaker:

And so we started stripping out the audio.

Speaker:

I'm downloading, using RSS feed to upload and then sending out to people.

Speaker:

Apple was the only spot pretty much at that time where people can

Speaker:

actually download the RSS feeds.

Speaker:

And my podcasting journey started then.

Speaker:

I think for me, as I ramped back up in the podcast, I took a break

Speaker:

from 2007 to around 2012, started back up again around 2018, 2019.

Speaker:

I started back just podcasting and then this whole live streaming

Speaker:

bug, I just started watching it on LinkedIn share Sharon Jones* a couple

Speaker:

other people who were just doing it.

Speaker:

They were pioneers in some of that stuff.

Speaker:

And I said, this is actually a really cool medium.

Speaker:

And what happened was I was part of this international podcast group, and we would

Speaker:

meet once a month, four of us broke off and started our own group and we would

Speaker:

meet every month, almost twice a month.

Speaker:

I said, "Dude, this should be a podcast.

Speaker:

Podcasters talking about podcasting."

Speaker:

And next thing I was already dabbling in live streaming with

Speaker:

my retail leadership podcast.

Speaker:

We can talk about that one later.

Speaker:

But what happened was, it was international Podcast day.

Speaker:

I ended up going live with two other podcasters, and that was 2021.

Speaker:

Right after that, Podcaster's Live was born.

Speaker:

I just said, this is the best way, I think for podcasters to, one, get over

Speaker:

their fear of a podcaster syndrome, which we're going to talk about, but

Speaker:

it's also one of the best mediums to grow their discoverability and audience.

Speaker:

That's how Podcaster's Live and my journey into podcasting

Speaker:

and live streaming was born.

Speaker:

That's awesome to hear.

Speaker:

I'd love to hear people's stories and everyone has so many different

Speaker:

stories, but there are a few little strands that seem to be very similar.

Speaker:

Now, I've talked about imposter syndrome on the show before,

Speaker:

but not in any great detail.

Speaker:

It's something that I've definitely struggled with from time to time

Speaker:

and sometimes in my life, it's been even more than others, I think.

Speaker:

But how would you define what imposter syndrome is?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Imposter syndrome is really that feeling of inadequacy that you feel when you are

Speaker:

involved to embark on something that's unknown or undiscovered within how you

Speaker:

actually live your life or the journey that you're currently on, the tendency.

Speaker:

You don't get imposter syndrome when you are doing something that you're already

Speaker:

adept at or that you're comfortable doing.

Speaker:

The tendency sometimes is that we start to internalize imposter syndrome

Speaker:

and make it into this bad thing.

Speaker:

And I have flipped it on its head in the context of realizing and

Speaker:

helping people realize that, man, you're about to do something that

Speaker:

you've probably never done before.

Speaker:

Like, how cool is that?

Speaker:

So how do we get past that feeling of like, I may not be good enough

Speaker:

to the point of, wow, this is something really dope in my life.

Speaker:

Now let me take advantage of it.

Speaker:

So we've been able to flip it on its head.

Speaker:

But what we've found in our research is that the imposter syndrome, of course,

Speaker:

about 70% of people actually deal with it throughout the entire world.

Speaker:

It is an equal combination of, how we were reared, our socialization as

Speaker:

a kid, but then also as we move into adulthood, really trying to figure

Speaker:

out who we are, and sometimes we start to emulate other people and we don't

Speaker:

really have a good grasp of who we are.

Speaker:

And so, we end up taking on all these different personas and not

Speaker:

really figuring out who we are.

Speaker:

Because once you figure out who you are, a little bit more, now you're able to

Speaker:

become a little bit more comfortable.

Speaker:

But impodcaster syndrome is something that takes place when you're really

Speaker:

about to embark on something that's really new in your journey, something

Speaker:

that you've really never done before.

Speaker:

Oh, that's fascinating what you said about how it can come from the fact

Speaker:

that we maybe don't know ourselves.

Speaker:

And I think that in my mid to late forties, which is where I am now, that I

Speaker:

feel a lot more comfortable in who I am.

Speaker:

So imposter syndrome has had less of a hold.

Speaker:

I think three or four years ago, it was a lot more.

Speaker:

And part of that was because it was what I thought other people thought about me.

Speaker:

So,

Speaker:

hundred percent

Speaker:

I started to get success.

Speaker:

I started to get asked to speak at events and this voice in my head was thinking,

Speaker:

but do they not know that I'm not an expert, I don't know anything about this.

Speaker:

Surely they're going to find out.

Speaker:

And I really doubted myself and it was what I thought other people thought of me.

Speaker:

Can you expand a little bit more on that?

Speaker:

Because I think it's what we think of what other people think of us.

Speaker:

That could be a big problem here.

Speaker:

100%.

Speaker:

We have broken down.

Speaker:

So we have a book coming out that's called 'How to Beat Impodcaster Syndrome'.

Speaker:

And what we've done within the book is really broken down the book into

Speaker:

two different type of triggers.

Speaker:

There are internal triggers and external triggers.

Speaker:

Some of the internal trigger is that internalized fear of being found out.

Speaker:

Another internalized trigger is embracing the ideas of what

Speaker:

happened to us as a youth and how those things impacted our life.

Speaker:

The other part of it is a trigger relative to like, I may not feel adequate.

Speaker:

Even though I know that I actually have what it takes to actually be here,

Speaker:

there is still something inside of me that feels that I'm not adequate.

Speaker:

And whoever I'm looking at or whoever I'm talking to, they can see right through me.

Speaker:

Doesn't matter how much confidence that I'm speaking with.

Speaker:

And all of those internal triggers are really just rooted in, honestly,

Speaker:

us telling ourselves a lie.

Speaker:

And what I mean by that is, when you have done the work, when you have put in the

Speaker:

time, when you have educated yourself, when you have prepped and done all these

Speaker:

things, the psyche sometimes tells us, we tell ourselves a lie that we're just

Speaker:

not good enough because we are, we are looking for the approval of someone else.

Speaker:

And when we're doing that, man, that just wasn't good enough.

Speaker:

How do they feel about that?

Speaker:

We're not particularly sure.

Speaker:

You know what?

Speaker:

Stop the process of seeking the approval of other people

Speaker:

and trust who you truly are.

Speaker:

And that just takes time.

Speaker:

That takes confidence in learning who you are.

Speaker:

That takes you having some wins under your belt, some successful shows.

Speaker:

But then also as you and I know, going live, I just did

Speaker:

a live streaming Saturday.

Speaker:

I felt it was horrible, but man, I got through that puppy because I knew that

Speaker:

I needed to get through that process.

Speaker:

So helping helping yourself get through that process of understanding, once again,

Speaker:

more about who you are can actually help combat the lies that we tell ourselves.

Speaker:

So true.

Speaker:

And I think sometimes we'll need some help from other people.

Speaker:

I've definitely felt that although you've got to find out who you are,

Speaker:

sometimes getting help from coaches or from a husband or a wife or

Speaker:

whatever, somebody who knows you.

Speaker:

I've mentioned this before on the show, but years ago, I went on this course

Speaker:

called The Growing Leaders Course, and one of the questions was list your strengths.

Speaker:

What are your strengths?

Speaker:

And I couldn't list a single one.

Speaker:

I didn't list anything.

Speaker:

And it was my wife who said, "Ian, don't be silly.

Speaker:

You're good at this, you're good at this."

Speaker:

And I started to think, oh yeah, I am quite good at that, but I needed

Speaker:

somebody else to help me with that.

Speaker:

Hundred percent.

Speaker:

You've mentioned, impodcaster syndrome.

Speaker:

That's your phrase for imposter syndrome, but tell us a little bit

Speaker:

more about that word you're using.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's a direct derivative of imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

But we deal with it of course because we deal with the content creators,

Speaker:

podcasters, and live streamers.

Speaker:

And the reason why we wanted to utilize and differentiate that is because

Speaker:

there is a measure of difference when it comes to content creators

Speaker:

and somebody in the business world.

Speaker:

In the business world where I first struggled with the content or with

Speaker:

imposter syndrome, I was able to mask a little bit of the imposter

Speaker:

syndrome with my degrees, with my position with authority, with money.

Speaker:

I'm able to mask my feelings of inadequacy with all these other veneers.

Speaker:

However, when we start talking about content creators, you are really creating

Speaker:

the level of intimacy with your content and who you are with your audience.

Speaker:

There is absolutely no room for you to hide.

Speaker:

You will be found out if you don't come across as authentic or as real

Speaker:

as possible with your audience.

Speaker:

So the imposter syndrome is not so much unique, but there's a unique aspect to it.

Speaker:

I feel that we'll be talking about in the book as it relates to

Speaker:

content creators because once again, there is a level of vulnerability.

Speaker:

You know that during a podcast, the level of intimacy that you have and

Speaker:

you alone connecting with your audience from an audio standpoint is intense.

Speaker:

So, the impodcaster syndrome is helping us as a unique aspect of the industry,

Speaker:

content creators, podcasters, the live streamers understand that the

Speaker:

authenticity part of it is actually a little more unique, and that's what

Speaker:

intensifies the impodcaster syndrome.

Speaker:

That's fascinating.

Speaker:

I think for me, live streaming and podcasting has been simultaneously the

Speaker:

most difficult thing that I've done, but also the most liberating thing

Speaker:

that I've done when I first went live.

Speaker:

I could have called myself the reluctant live video guy.

Speaker:

That could have been my brand name, the reluctant live video guy.

Speaker:

But because I went through that process, of allowing myself to be vulnerable,

Speaker:

it has helped me become more confident.

Speaker:

It can be, for some people, a really scary thing, but it's so important to do that.

Speaker:

Now, I do want to bring in some great comments from Alec Dorling.

Speaker:

Great to see Alec watching on LinkedIn.

Speaker:

And this is really interesting because Alec is a consultant.

Speaker:

I'm a consultant too, and I definitely feel this.

Speaker:

He says "Imposter syndrome for me is being an expert in my field

Speaker:

and not wanting to get caught out with questions I can't answer..

Speaker:

how did I solve >>." That's a hard one because when you are seen as an expert,

Speaker:

and I find this, I'm sure you do too.

Speaker:

I'm an expert.

Speaker:

I'm seen as an expert in the world of live video podcasting.

Speaker:

But if somebody asks me a question that I don't know, surely that would

Speaker:

make me look like a complete idiot.

Speaker:

Now, I don't feel that personally because I think the role of a consultant is if

Speaker:

I don't know the answer, I can probably find out or I'll know somebody who does.

Speaker:

But I'm just interested in your thoughts is what Alec is saying here.

Speaker:

Yeah, this is when the leadership side of me kicks in.

Speaker:

Because as a leader, I have learned throughout my entire career that

Speaker:

I don't have all the answers and that the team around me, we

Speaker:

collectively we have the best answers.

Speaker:

But when you're by yourself and someone asks you a question, I have

Speaker:

learned as a leader, sometimes if I don't know the answer, I'll say,

Speaker:

"Hey, I'm not sure about that.

Speaker:

How about we trying to discover this together?

Speaker:

It's a really great question.

Speaker:

I don't know the answer."

Speaker:

And what I try to do is I try to get back to them as quickly as possible

Speaker:

with a potential answer, but it is okay.

Speaker:

Honestly, not knowing something or saying that you're not knowing

Speaker:

something is more important, is more powerful than you trying to talk your

Speaker:

way into knowing something or trying to say, "Tell me a little bit more.

Speaker:

What do you mean by that?"

Speaker:

You know exactly what they mean.

Speaker:

You just don't have the answer.

Speaker:

So just say you don't have the answer.

Speaker:

That's what happens.

Speaker:

We start to try to dance around.

Speaker:

But you end up actually getting and gaining more credibility.

Speaker:

A lot of times when you say you don't know something confidently and try your best

Speaker:

to get back with them with the answer, it's the hardest thing to do because we

Speaker:

feel like we will be seen as a fraud.

Speaker:

But I've learned that in my life and as a leader, that I don't know all the answers.

Speaker:

So, I have become more comfortable in saying, "I don't know the answer.".

Speaker:

Yeah, I think people actually want to hear you say that because there's nothing worse

Speaker:

than being fobbed off with other stuff.

Speaker:

I remember going into an Apple store.

Speaker:

I don't think it was an Apple store.

Speaker:

It was some computer store, and we knew that this new Mac came out

Speaker:

without the CD drive, the DVD drive.

Speaker:

It was the first one without that.

Speaker:

And we asked the guy, "So, where's the DVD driver?"

Speaker:

He said, "Oh, I don't know.

Speaker:

I think it's under here somewhere."

Speaker:

he obviously didn't have a clue and he was trying to fob us off with something

Speaker:

and we'd just lost confidence in the guy.

Speaker:

If he just said to us, "Oh, I don't know.

Speaker:

Let me find out, I'll find out for you."

Speaker:

And if he went away and came back, "Oh, this new computer,

Speaker:

Apple now removed the DVD drive."

Speaker:

Then that would be much better.

Speaker:

So yeah, don't fob people off.

Speaker:

No.

Speaker:

No, not at all.

Speaker:

Not at all.

Speaker:

Now, Alec also says, "I started to go live on a totally different subject of stepping

Speaker:

up to live going from zero to hero status.

Speaker:

This allowed to make mistakes and not to get embarrassed.

Speaker:

Now I have confidence for anything."

Speaker:

And that's awesome just to be able to do that.

Speaker:

So Steve, I assume that your interest in this has been because you have had

Speaker:

experience with imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

Is that the case?

Speaker:

Have you struggled with imposter syndrome and maybe tell us a little

Speaker:

bit about your experience with it and or other people that you've

Speaker:

worked with and how you got over it.

Speaker:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker:

Once again, it hit me professionally first in the context of

Speaker:

accelerating in my career.

Speaker:

I was very fortunate to be able to get promoted quickly in

Speaker:

different roles that I was in.

Speaker:

And part of that almost promotional gain came a little bit of angst because I

Speaker:

was literally leapfrogging people that were in the position 10, maybe 15 years

Speaker:

more than I was, and now I'm leading these people, but I'm leapfrogging.

Speaker:

I knew I can do it.

Speaker:

I had the skills to do, but man, that imposter syndrome was like, oh my gosh,

Speaker:

now I got to go back and lead these same people that I just leapfrogged.

Speaker:

Or, I'm in a position now where I'm in a room with people who are just

Speaker:

as smart as me or even smarter.

Speaker:

Now, how do I communicate?

Speaker:

What do I look?

Speaker:

How do I dress?

Speaker:

All these different things that I was dealing about from an external

Speaker:

standpoint, not realizing I had all the internal wherewithal to actually meet

Speaker:

the needs of whatever situation I was in.

Speaker:

Jump forward to podcasting, same situation where initially

Speaker:

I was nervous about podcasting.

Speaker:

Then we actually met a gentleman named Herman Cain when we were in

Speaker:

Atlanta at a leadership conference.

Speaker:

And he had a really big radio station, a really big radio show.

Speaker:

My buddy and my co-host and I, we got a op opportunity to talk to

Speaker:

him and we said, "Dude, help us.

Speaker:

We're both nervous about doing this."

Speaker:

And he said, "You got to figure out that one person that you want to talk to.

Speaker:

And just talk to that person."

Speaker:

And we were like, "Dude, that just seems too simple."

Speaker:

He said, "I'm telling you right now, it works."

Speaker:

And it worked.

Speaker:

Here's the thing, Ian, if you and I were just at a coffee shop, I wouldn't really

Speaker:

be concerned about imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

You and I would just be having a chat.

Speaker:

And we would just be sitting down just like two guys talking

Speaker:

about Manchester or whatever.

Speaker:

That right there, if you are able to translate that to a live stream or

Speaker:

to a podcast standpoint, guess what?

Speaker:

Now it takes a little bit of the weight off because the tendencies that

Speaker:

we start to think we're talking to thousands of people and you're not.

Speaker:

So if you can actually turn that mindset and shift it once again to just

Speaker:

having a conversation with just Ian, man, it takes a lot of the weight off.

Speaker:

And so, I've been able to translate that to help me with my impodcaster syndrome.

Speaker:

Isn't it annoying when the answer to a lot of our problems is actually really simple?

Speaker:

Super simple.

Speaker:

It's like almost too simple.

Speaker:

But you're so right.

Speaker:

For example, if I started to think about all the millions of people that could

Speaker:

be watching in today to watch this, first of all, I'm deluded because there

Speaker:

are not millions of people watching me.

Speaker:

Anyways, great if that was the case.

Speaker:

But the thing is, think about the individual and if you are a content

Speaker:

creator, if you're an entrepreneur, a business owner, you are wanting to

Speaker:

do what you're wanting to do to help people, I assume, and to serve people.

Speaker:

Yes, you wanna make money if you're a business owner, but

Speaker:

you also wanna help people.

Speaker:

So if you think about the individual there, that is the way to think about it.

Speaker:

And it has really helped me.

Speaker:

It has helped me with all my content creation.

Speaker:

Now, I do wanna bring in Cher Jones has put a fantastic comment down there.

Speaker:

In fact, Alec Dorling says, "Good comment."

Speaker:

Cher is saying, "What you don't know is actually powerful confidence builder.

Speaker:

Because you can always bridge it to, "Here's what I do know..."

Speaker:

(when possible.)" And I think that's great.

Speaker:

You mentioned that before about flipping imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

In our minds, often there's this negative voice.

Speaker:

Now, we've talked about this in the show.

Speaker:

Sometimes I like to personify this voice.

Speaker:

So my daughter talks her voice in her head.

Speaker:

It sounds really weird, but her anxiety is called 'Albert'.

Speaker:

Mine's a librarian.

Speaker:

And he likes to check everything in the library first to

Speaker:

make sure everything's okay.

Speaker:

And then he starts to speak to me.

Speaker:

He says, "Ian, you don't really know what you're talking about.

Speaker:

You're not organized enough.

Speaker:

You need to look it up in the books first before you go on the show.

Speaker:

Otherwise, you're going to look like a complete idiot."

Speaker:

And I think as once I've started to personify a little bit more, I

Speaker:

actually realize how stupid it is.

Speaker:

A loss of the time.

Speaker:

And I can say back to the librarian, "It is all right.

Speaker:

I've got it covered.

Speaker:

It's okay.

Speaker:

I'm going to come on the show.

Speaker:

In today's show, I've got Steve.

Speaker:

I don't need to know anything because I'm going to ask Steve all the questions.

Speaker:

It's how we, interesting how we trick ourselves.

Speaker:

In the upcoming book, we talk about external triggers and gear

Speaker:

acquisition syndrome is one of them.

Speaker:

We talk about skill stacking.

Speaker:

That's another one in context of, we surround ourselves with all these

Speaker:

different external factors to make ourselves appear more than what we are.

Speaker:

And really they are just covering up these gaps in our persona.

Speaker:

So if we can remove these gaps from our persona and really focus in on who we

Speaker:

are, the better off we'll be and the more authentic, I think that's such a

Speaker:

overused word, but the more authentic that we'll come across with our audience.

Speaker:

Yeah, it is a word that's overused, but it's so important,

Speaker:

I think, to be yourselves.

Speaker:

If you are a business owner and you are acting like somebody else and

Speaker:

then they hire you, they're going to be really confused when they get

Speaker:

somebody that's not on the screen, this completely different person.

Speaker:

So, that's really important.

Speaker:

And Alec is saying, "Flipping imposter syndrome - now that's a good show hook!"

Speaker:

Yeah, definitely flipping.

Speaker:

I'm that one.

Speaker:

I'm using that one.

Speaker:

using that one.

Speaker:

Definitely, yeah.

Speaker:

You need to trademark that quick.

Speaker:

Get the domain name.

Speaker:

Cher says, "I love that strategy of personifying those voices.

Speaker:

It allows you to separate them from who you are."

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

Because that is not what defines you.

Speaker:

So, we've got quite deep.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

But I think this is really important.

Speaker:

And in only like half an hour, we're not going to be able to

Speaker:

do justice to all of this stuff.

Speaker:

There's going to be some people watching and listening who hear what you're saying,

Speaker:

really resonate with what you're saying, Steve, but they're thinking, what next?

Speaker:

What do I do?

Speaker:

All of these things sound simple.

Speaker:

But I really need help.

Speaker:

I've got into my thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, whatever age you

Speaker:

are, and they feel that this has stopped them from achieving what they

Speaker:

were put on this earth to achieve.

Speaker:

What would you say to somebody like that?

Speaker:

What are the next steps for people who are struggling with these things?

Speaker:

The question I'll answer before that one is people tend to ask me, "Do you

Speaker:

ever get over impodcaster syndrome?"

Speaker:

And my answer is no.

Speaker:

I'll use a quick movie illustration.

Speaker:

I don't know if any of you have seen A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe.

Speaker:

He plays John Nash, a Nobel Prize mathematician who over

Speaker:

time ends up losing his mind.

Speaker:

Kind of like Schizophrenia, sees three different voices and things like that,

Speaker:

but he's still super brilliant and the government still wants him on his team and

Speaker:

he gets to the point of his career where he's just a fixture on the university.

Speaker:

He's still seeing all of these voices.

Speaker:

But the Nobel Peace Prize people come to him and they say, "Hey we want to

Speaker:

give you the Nobel Peace Prize and we just wanna know if you're still okay."

Speaker:

And he said, "Really?

Speaker:

You want to know if I still see the voices?"

Speaker:

And they're in the cafeteria in the university, and he looks over and he

Speaker:

sees the three voices that he's been dealing with all his entire life.

Speaker:

Like you were just talking about those voices personified.

Speaker:

He sees those three voices.

Speaker:

He says, "You know what?

Speaker:

They're still there, but I choose to ignore them.

Speaker:

So I think as we start to think about impodcaster syndrome, we have to

Speaker:

think about those voices and those things that are going to be there.

Speaker:

They're going to continuously be there at every level that we go to.

Speaker:

The voices are going to get louder or they're going to get

Speaker:

softer, they're going to be there.

Speaker:

It's our choice whether or not we actually choose to listen to them.

Speaker:

One of the things that we talk about in our book from a strategy

Speaker:

standpoint, we call it TAT.

Speaker:

It's called take notice, assess, and then take action.

Speaker:

One of the first parts that you have to do is you actually have to take

Speaker:

notice when you are delving into this mindset of imposter syndrome

Speaker:

or the triggers of imposter syndrome and understanding that, oh, shoot.

Speaker:

This situation right now is triggering me to actually feel inadequate.

Speaker:

And then you actually have to assess the feelings.

Speaker:

Am I really not prepared?

Speaker:

Because sometimes when you're about to go live, you're about to do

Speaker:

something, you're really not prepared.

Speaker:

Okay, great.

Speaker:

If you can assess that you're really not prepared, then fix that.

Speaker:

Make sure you prep.

Speaker:

I'm about to go speak somewhere.

Speaker:

Assess, are you really prepared?

Speaker:

No, I'm not really prepared.

Speaker:

Do what you need to do to actually get prepared.

Speaker:

That will actually lessen the anxiety that you're feeling.

Speaker:

And then the last portion is take action.

Speaker:

And whatever that requisite action is, whether it's the prep work that you

Speaker:

need to do, whether it's working with somebody in your speech, whether it's

Speaker:

going live in a private community to build your confidence, those are the

Speaker:

actual strategies or the framework.

Speaker:

Now, here's the one thing that we talk about all the time and we're going to be

Speaker:

talking about, is that it's not linear.

Speaker:

Going through this strategy or this framework isn't linear.

Speaker:

Your assessment at the very beginning or at the very middle is larger than

Speaker:

some other people because you're dealing with more stuff than another person.

Speaker:

And that's okay, but it's just actually going through the process.

Speaker:

Going through the framework will actually help you come out on the other end.

Speaker:

Fascinating stuff.

Speaker:

That's really helpful.

Speaker:

How much does us comparing ourselves with others come into this?

Speaker:

Because this has been an issue for me.

Speaker:

I remember when I was speaking at some big conferences in the US.

Speaker:

I think that was when my imposter syndrome was the strongest, when I

Speaker:

was there and I was thinking, why have they asked me to speak here?

Speaker:

Even though deep down I knew my stuff, I'm good at what I do, but

Speaker:

I still have this negative voice in my head thinking those things.

Speaker:

And I even got to the point where I didn't want to tell anyone that I was speaking

Speaker:

because mean, it's absolutely ridiculous.

Speaker:

Now I look back on that and I think how silly it was.

Speaker:

But a lot of that was to do with me comparing myself with others who were

Speaker:

speaking at the event, and people that I looked up to thought they were amazing.

Speaker:

Now I've felt since then.

Speaker:

I've come on a long way, but it was a real struggle back in those days.

Speaker:

What would you have said to me back in those days when I was feeling like that?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I would say it's natural.

Speaker:

It is natural to compare yourself to other people.

Speaker:

The tendency is that we want to run away and say, no, we

Speaker:

shouldn't be doing something.

Speaker:

Certain things are natural as a human being.

Speaker:

When you get a new car or your car's getting old and you see a nice little

Speaker:

flashy car that comes past you, you're like, "Ooh, that's nice."

Speaker:

Then you start to look at the car that you have and you're like, oh my gosh.

Speaker:

I may need to do something different with this car.

Speaker:

The comparison piece is just natural.

Speaker:

It's natural in sports, it's natural in business.

Speaker:

Understanding that that's going to take place, the biggest piece is

Speaker:

that the confidence that you need to actually have within yourself

Speaker:

and what you actually have to offer.

Speaker:

One of the things we talk to people about all the time is that somebody's out there

Speaker:

waiting to hear what you have to say.

Speaker:

People who wanna start a podcast or people wanna go live.

Speaker:

And they move.

Speaker:

I know this sounds super pollyannish, but they can't move until you

Speaker:

actually say what you need to say.

Speaker:

They are stuck.

Speaker:

Like that one person that we just talked about earlier, they're literally

Speaker:

stuck until you actually get on the mic and say what you need to say.

Speaker:

I know people are like, "Oh my gosh, but I'm only Ian."

Speaker:

No, it doesn't matter, Ian.

Speaker:

That one person is still waiting to hear what you have to say.

Speaker:

But the other side of it is that someone has seen something.

Speaker:

This is the leadership part of me coming out again, because as a

Speaker:

leader, when I was a young leader, I didn't want to be a leader.

Speaker:

I ran from leadership so fast when I was a teenager, until I moved into

Speaker:

the Air Force, until someone told me.

Speaker:

He said," Steve, leadership will always find you out.

Speaker:

Meaning that when you're called to lead, lead.

Speaker:

And people are going to see something inside of you that you

Speaker:

don't see inside of yourself."

Speaker:

It's the same thing when you start to go to these speaking engagements.

Speaker:

People will hear you, hear Ian or Cher Jones or Alec, and they're like, "Dude,

Speaker:

ooh, I got to have them on stage."

Speaker:

So trust in the fact that someone sees something inside of you that is of

Speaker:

such importance that you need to get on that stage and speak to that audience.

Speaker:

And so, the comparison piece is going to be there, but trust the process

Speaker:

and trust what people are saying that are going to actually get you on that

Speaker:

stage, and also trusting your abilities.

Speaker:

So true.

Speaker:

Trust in your abilities.

Speaker:

Trust in the people that put you there and those voices.

Speaker:

I love the Beautiful Mind comparison there.

Speaker:

They will probably always be there, but at some points, hopefully with

Speaker:

work, they'll be a lot quieter.

Speaker:

You won't be able to silence them completely, but you'll

Speaker:

be able to dampen the sound.

Speaker:

I'm not doing a very good job here, Steve, because it is all your fault because I'm

Speaker:

really enjoying this conversation so much.

Speaker:

You're delivering so much value, but I am trying to do my best at making these

Speaker:

podcast episodes a little bit shorter.

Speaker:

So, I'm going to try and wrap things up, even though really, I would love to talk

Speaker:

to you for the next two hours about this.

Speaker:

It's absolutely fascinating.

Speaker:

So you've mentioned this book you're writing.

Speaker:

Tell us a little bit more about when is that going to be available?

Speaker:

Do you know when that's going to be coming out?

Speaker:

Or a little bit more about how we can find out about it when it does come out.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's in rewrites right now, so we're going to have a landing

Speaker:

page coming up here pretty quickly.

Speaker:

And that's just going to give you the opportunity to

Speaker:

be part of our beta readers.

Speaker:

And hopefully within early mid-spring, is the goal for us

Speaker:

to actually have this book out.

Speaker:

I just met with my publish.

Speaker:

He's actually over in the UK outside of the leads.

Speaker:

And I had a great conversation.

Speaker:

So we're about like one and a half rewrites from actually

Speaker:

getting it to where we want it.

Speaker:

And he's excited about it, so that's cool when your publisher is excited

Speaker:

about about your book, and not just you.

Speaker:

But the focus is truly on.

Speaker:

Helping podcasters, live streamers, content creators

Speaker:

work through that process.

Speaker:

And we all go through it.

Speaker:

But the TAT framework is really going to be the glue that

Speaker:

holds everything together.

Speaker:

We actually have people inside of the book that have actually used it.

Speaker:

So we actually have a real use case for it as well.

Speaker:

The book in and of itself has been something I've been

Speaker:

wanting to do for a while.

Speaker:

And so I'm excited to actually get it out to you as soon as I possibly can.

Speaker:

Believe me, you will hear more and more about it.

Speaker:

And hopefully when it comes out, I can come back on here and we

Speaker:

could talk more about it then too.

Speaker:

Definitely, we'll have to do that.

Speaker:

And if people want to find out more about you, I've got your website up here.

Speaker:

You've got a couple of websites, so you've got podcasterslive.com.

Speaker:

Tell us a little bit more about podcasterslive.com.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Podcasterslive.com.

Speaker:

One of the things that we've been focusing on initially was how to

Speaker:

use livestream to actually help podcasters with their discoverability.

Speaker:

That was our first iteration.

Speaker:

But now we've moved into more of a platform to help content creators

Speaker:

from a global community standpoint, utilize podcasting and live

Speaker:

streaming to grow their platform.

Speaker:

So instead of it just being about this local discoverability we're

Speaker:

taking a global perspective to it.

Speaker:

And we've actually did that last night by actually having our very

Speaker:

first international addition.

Speaker:

We had some of the top minds in podcasting in the Philippines on last night.

Speaker:

So we're going to be doing that on a monthly basis, picking a different

Speaker:

country and having some of the top podcast and livestream voices actually

Speaker:

on there talking about the industry and what people can learn as well.

Speaker:

So, we've actually been growing a brand from that standpoint as well.

Speaker:

We're actually going to do the UK in March.

Speaker:

So let me know, Ian, if you wanna be part of that panel in March

Speaker:

because we're going to be in the UK.

Speaker:

Not in the UK, but we're going to have the UK podcasters and live streamers in March.

Speaker:

Oh, count me in on that one.

Speaker:

That sounds awesome.

Speaker:

Really interesting to find out more all about that.

Speaker:

So that is podcasterslive.com.

Speaker:

Your website is asksteveworthy.com.

Speaker:

And how people find out more about you or follow you online on the socials?

Speaker:

Where do you tend to hang out these days?

Speaker:

LinkedIn is going to be the best place first to connect with me.

Speaker:

Of course I'm Steve worthy everywhere.

Speaker:

But LinkedIn is going to be that very first place.

Speaker:

asksteveworthy.com is like a repository, if you will, because invariably, you

Speaker:

know leadership is my first thing that I deal with and I go after.

Speaker:

And typically on different podcasts, I will talk about Podcasters

Speaker:

live, but more often than not, I end up talking about leadership.

Speaker:

And so, I end up getting a lot of people who want to talk to me about leadership.

Speaker:

So we've created the asksteveworthy website.

Speaker:

So, you can pick and choose.

Speaker:

You can say, "Hey Steve, I need help with my podcast on livestream."

Speaker:

"Hey Steve, I need help with my leadership journey so I can help you there as well."

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

It starts with the podcasting, but it all leads to leadership,

Speaker:

I suppose, at the end of the day.

Speaker:

Thank you so much, Steve.

Speaker:

Thank you for all the amazing stuff that you've shared with us today.

Speaker:

It's been a real honor to have you on the show and we'll definitely do it

Speaker:

again once I've got episode 200 out.

Speaker:

I know you've been wanting the episode 200, but it might be 203 or 204.

Speaker:

We'll see how we get on.

Speaker:

That's fine.

Speaker:

Thank you for having me, Ian.

Speaker:

I appreciate it.

Speaker:

Oh, it's been great.

Speaker:

Thank you, Steve.

Speaker:

We are at the end of episode 199.

Speaker:

As I said at the beginning, the podcast will be coming out every single Friday.

Speaker:

Do go to iag.me/podcast and I will also let you know when the next

Speaker:

live episode, episode 200 will be.

Speaker:

We're going to be doing something very exciting for that, but

Speaker:

I'll be talking about that on the podcast and the newsletter.

Speaker:

But that is it for this time and until next time, I encourage you

Speaker:

to level up your impact, authority, and profits through the power

Speaker:

of Confident Live video season.

Speaker:

Bye.

Speaker:

Imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

I wanna overcome...

Speaker:

imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

I wanna overcome...

Speaker:

imposter syndrome.

Speaker:

Steve Worthy...

Speaker:

Steve Worthy...

Speaker:

help me please!

Speaker:

Imposter syndrome...

Speaker:

Im-podcaster syndrome.