Topic of the day
Imposter Syndrome
Plan > Focus > Execute
Be more efficient at work and spend time doing the things you love.
I wasn’t sure about starting a newsletter. I was worried it might be too much work and that I’d run out of useful things to say. The good news is that I enjoy it and I find writing original content every week rewarding. And today, I’ve made it to issue 10! Thanks for your support.
This thought led me to today’s topic - imposter syndrome.
If you don’t know this by name, you might recognise it by how it feels.
Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where people feel like they are frauds and don't deserve their accomplishments. Instead, they attribute their achievements to luck or timing, rather than their own skills and abilities.
You often encounter this when you’re starting a new job, are in a position you feel you might not deserve, or think you don’t measure up to your peers.
Today, I’m going to be open with you. This is how I feel when I write this newsletter and share my productivity tips, because I struggle with it too.
There are several challenges that I experience with my own productivity:
1 - I often have too many things “on the go”.
I love starting new projects, coming up with ideas, and exploring different topics. This often means I get distracted from what I should be doing, by thinking about something completely different!
I’ve learned to get comfortable with this. Variety is fun and to stop doing things you enjoy would make for a pretty boring life. However, I recognise that it can be a problem for me and have started to master the art of focused or deep work to combat it.
2 - I get distracted easily.
If I’m doing a task that I’m not fully committed to, a new email or slack message can easily grab my attention and throw me off track. Sometimes the distraction is self-made and I wander off into a new train of thought.
I can control this and one thing I’ve learned is that we can only really do deep work for about 3 hours per day. The rest of the time we’ll spend on superficial things and being distracted from those is just fine.
3 - I find it hard to estimate how long tasks will take.
I often over or under estimate how long something will take me to do. This might be because it’s easier than I expected or also I might not be in the mood. Either way, this can be a problem when I’m trying to plan my day.
To combat this, I’ve learned to be flexible. I have drastically reduced the number of tasks that I expect to work on. My to-do list used to be 10 to 15 items long and I’ve never get them all done. Now, I have fewer and add news ones when I complete the daily list.
Sharing these things with you isn’t easy.
How can someone share productivity advice, but still encounter some of the most common problems?
The following lesson I learned puts it into perspective:
I’ll finish with the biggest lesson I’ve learned in the last two years, when a friend shared a video recorded by Oliver Burkeman (link).
You’ll never get it all done.
The to-do list is endless and the work never stops.
The key is to recognise this and get comfortable with it. Once you embrace the fact that you’ll never get everything done perfectly, then things change.
You will become more comfortable with what you can achieve, and hopefully you don’t feel anxious or stressed. I hope this resonates with you as much as it did with me.
What is my advice for dealing with imposter syndrome? Tackle it head on. Speak to friends and colleagues and you'll soon realise everyone feel the same. We're all working things out as we go and we're not all as confident as we seem.
Thanks for sticking with me for 10 issues, I hope to earn your subscription (and perhaps even recommendation) for the next 10 issues and beyond.
And even though I feel like a bit of a fraud, I’ll continue to explore new ways of being productive and sharing what I learned with you.
The most important thing to me is that my writing is authentic and as a reader you can accept that I’m not perfect.
Did you enjoy this issue? If you think someone else might benefit please consider sharing it with them. Also, if you have any comments or questions then I’d love to hear from you. Either email me or send a DM on LinkedIn.
Thank you for subscribing, have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week.
Mike
