It’s been a WHILE since my last blog post. Did you forget I had a blog? I certainly did! But while I’m here, I figured I’d dive right in with what I’ve been up to this year.

Let’s talk about impostor syndrome. 

A few months ago I was at a conference and there was a panel discussing how to cope with impostor syndrome. A bunch of my friends were attending this panel, but there was another panel at the same time that pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit more, so I decided to attend that instead. The thought crossed my mind, “I don’t think I really have impostor syndrome, so I’m good to miss it.” (I know now that this was naive, but stick with me.)

Fast forward three months later, when I find myself in a brand new role at work and so many of my responsibilities have shifted and I’m essentially doing my best to make it seem like I know what I’m doing. I actually feel pretty good about the work I’ve been doing, but in talking to one of my friends about it, I realize that rather than owning my successes, I’ve reasoned that anyone in my position would be able to do what I’m doing, and it’s not really something that deserves an extra pat on the back. To which my friend replied, “That’s called impostor syndrome.”

Yeah, so obviously nobody’s immune to impostor syndrome. Even during the moments we’re most confident, these feelings of doubt can creep in and throw things off balance. Of course doubts are natural, but a lot of narratives will try to convince you to squash those doubts and accept that you’re exactly where you need to be, doing what you need to do, and you deserve it. Which is true in some cases, but in discussing things with my therapist, she made me realize that although it’s framed as such, impostor syndrome doesn’t have to be a negative thing.

Feeling proud of the work you’ve done is certainly important, and I truly believe there is an element of self-care in acknowledging your strengths and achievements. But there comes a time when uncertainty can be beneficial. By taking a step back and considering your accomplishments, there’s an inevitable “now what” attached. And by allowing yourself to explore that, you can harness those doubts to help decide if it’s time for a change. 

This isn’t to say that you need to drastically change course and find new goals once you’ve achieved something, but rather those pockets of second-guessing can be an opportunity to think about whether or not you’re being challenged enough. Sometimes the answer is yes, and that’s when you can continue on your path to owning your confidence. But if you find the answer is no, maybe it’s time to really think about that “now what” question.

So that’s where I’ve landed this year. Not necessarily in the definitive camp of knowing whether or not I’m being challenged enough, but right now, I’m letting myself spend some time forming an answer. For me, the most difficult part is not rushing to parse it all out.

To be completely honest, I love deadlines. With an end goal in sight, a physical end goal (read: date/time when I want to achieve something), I can usually round up enough motivation to get things done. So what if those rigid deadlines were to be taken out of the equation? What if there’s nothing major I’m working towards. Where will I get my motivation then? It’s been something I’ve thought about a lot recently – hence, this entire blog post. And I’ve really been trying my best to not necessarily do away with these beloved deadlines completely, but instead, find more creative ways to set goals and enjoy myself along the way.

It’s definitely easier said than done, but there is truly no need to set a time limit in which you want to achieve your goals. Perhaps in taking my time to work at it, I will enjoy it more. Because once I get to the destination, I’m just going to look for a new thing to work toward. And the truth is, there’s only so much we can actually control when it comes to new challenges. So I’m trying to stop clinging to arbitrary timelines when there’s nothing I can do to make things go quicker.  

That balance is tricky. It’s something I’ll probably be working on my entire life. But I think I’d rather work on the balance than rush through something for the sake of meeting the goal at the end. For what reason? Just to create a new finish line? I’ve got so much time to set new finish lines for myself, so I may as well do my best to take a slower approach when it comes to challenging myself. That impostor syndrome certainly won’t go away, and when it’s time for me to kick things up a notch, I’d like to think I’ll be grateful it’s there.