Welcome to Podcast Suck, a podcast about starting a podcast, where we dive headfirst into the wild, wacky, and sometimes frustrating world of podcasting. If you've ever sat down with a microphone, hit record, and thought, what on earth am I doing? Or if you're just curious about the magic behind your favorite shows, then you're in the right place. Get ready for laughs, insights, and a whole lot of what not to do advice as we embark on this podcasting journey together. Let's dive in. What's happening, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Podcast Suck. If you don't have one, so glad you're tuning in here. We record this podcast live on Facebook, YouTube and on LinkedIn just for additional content purposes. And then, of course, it gets produced as an actual podcast episode. So if you're tuning in on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube right now, thanks so much for taking some time out of your day. to hang out with me and help you better understand what you don't know that you don't know about the world of podcasting. Today's topic is about imposter syndrome, which is just a fake word and made up term. And I'm going to explain why in just a minute. But the reason I decided to talk about this is because I do hear this from people a lot. I get the opportunity to work with people that want to start a podcast and that are starting a podcast. So I hear all kinds of scenarios of why someone hasn't got started yet. And through. my content and people that I get the opportunity to meet and talks and whatever it may be, the conversation is consistent that someone has imposter syndrome and they haven't started yet because they feel like they're, well, an imposter. So I want to break that down for a few minutes today and really help you understand the reality of this so-called imposter syndrome. Now, first of all, imposter syndrome doesn't even exist. What imposter syndrome is, is a dressed up fancy word for fear. Another thing that doesn't exist. It does exist, but it's not real. If that makes sense. So it's the analogy I heard a long time ago. You may have heard it false evidence appearing real. false evidence appearing real. That means it's not real. So imposter syndrome is just something that we make up in our heads because we're scared to do something. We see someone doing something great. We know that we possess a similar talent or similar gift to be able to do something similar, but we think, no, that individual is better at it than me. And if I go start doing something like that, well, I'm just being an imposter of so-called individual. I'm going to be the first to tell you to number one, knock it off, because someone is out there and they're missing out on the thing that you want to create, the content that you want to share, the thing that you actually want to do because you're stuck in this so-called imposter syndrome, in this world of fear. It doesn't exist. We need to make a decision to step out of fear and walked directly in the direction that we know we should be going. Now, I know that's so much easier said than done, but When I think of imposter syndrome and I think of fear, when I first started doing comedy about three and a half years ago, I was terrified to do it, but I could go deliver a talk or emcee a large conference with thousands and thousands, I'm talking like five, six, 7,000 people with no problem. There were nerves, of course I was nervous, nerves are real, but I don't know that I was ever scared to actually get out on stage and deliver a talk or emcee an event. But when it came to making 50 drunk people laugh in a bar at 11 o'clock at night, I was absolutely terrified of doing it. until I did it. I had a friend of mine, fellow comic here in Miami on my podcast, right around the time I was starting to do comedy. And I asked her about this whole fear thing. And she said, Sebastian fear, the fear of doing comedy is not going anywhere. It will always be there. The nerves will always be there. It's what you decide to do with the nerves and the fear that matter. She said, every time I step out to do a set, I'm full of nerves, I'm a bag of nerves, and I'm nervous, and there's fear, and shows up, but I decide to do something with it, and the something that I decide to do with it is the actual comedy set. And when I crush that comedy set, it fuels me and reminds me every single time I've got fear, or imposter syndrome, or the nerves show up, it was all a complete waste of time, because I'm sitting there in my own head thinking, oh my gosh, I'm scared to do this, but I actually went and did it, and I did a good job of it. I use this example because you use the same thing with whatever you're creating. In this case, we're talking about starting a podcast. When you don't get started doing something, there's somebody out there that's missing out because they're not able to consume what you would create because you're sitting, you're stuck in this world where I'm scared to do it or I'm being an imposter. So let's set the record straight today and really let this land in your head. and really understand that your fear of being an imposter of somebody else is a complete, absolute, total waste of time. You may be saying, of course you're saying that, Sebastian. You're a podcaster, professional speaker. You're not scared to do this stuff. That's not true at all either. Again, the nerves always show up, always. but it's me making a decision on exactly what I want to do with those nerves that makes all of the difference. When I don't get out on stage and deliver a talk, someone's missing out on the audience. When I don't show up and do a comedy set, someone's missing out on the opportunity to laugh. When I don't record a new podcast episode and talk about so-called imposter syndrome, well, people really don't understand the reality of this so-called imposter syndrome. And I preface, preface imposter syndrome was so-called because I think it's so important to understand that it's not even real. It's just being disguised as fear. Another thing that isn't real. Remember false evidence appearing real. It's not even real. It's made up. It's also important to understand how our brains work. As human beings, we are interpretation machines, which means we make stuff up constantly. And the scariest part is that it's on autopilot, so we're constantly making stuff up in our head. this story, this new narrative we're creating in our mind, attempting to convince ourselves that it's true. And then if that's not enough, we take it a step further and we start enrolling other people into the process and into the story that isn't even true. And then we rinse and repeat that process. And then we wonder why our lives are hectic or we're crippled in this world of fear and imposter syndrome. We've got to break the cycle and the only way to be able to do it as massive action. If you feel like you've had imposter syndrome, if you feel like you've been nervous, if you feel like you've had fear of actually starting a podcast and stepping into it, writing a book, stepping out on stage, whatever it is that you know that you should be doing, but are not doing, whatever that thing is, the only cure that you're going to find with all of that is massive action. Taking, making a conscious decision to say, listen, I know I feel the way I feel right now, but the story that I'm telling myself isn't even true. And I don't want other people to miss out on what I can bring to the world because I'm stuck in my own head can attempting to convince myself that imposter syndrome is actually a thing. So I hope you're getting something from this episode. The goal here is to really get inside your head and get you thinking differently. Just stop using the word imposter syndrome. Just knock it off. And the next time that fear shows up, remind yourself that fear isn't even real. Write it down. Put a postcard on your monitor, below your camera, whatever you gotta do that says false evidence appearing real. Remind yourself of the reality, but also remind yourself who you are. And remember, When you're not getting it out there and creating something great and you're not bringing it out to the world, someone is missing out. And I don't know about you, but that doesn't settle very well with me. If you have any questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns about this episode, comment below wherever you're watching this. If you're listening to it and on the podcast episode, feel free to send me a DM on Facebook over on LinkedIn, Instagram. I check all of those. I do respond to each and every one of you lovely people. I sure do appreciate you taking time out of your day to hang out with me for just a few minutes. And I hope that you now better understand what you don't know that you don't know about this whole so-called imposter syndrome and fear. So, Go on, get out there, create something great. I'll see you next time. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show, wherever you consume podcasts. It's a way to get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and share the show with someone you know should start a podcast or may already have one. And remember, podcasts suck if you don't have one. Until next time, friends.