Imposter Syndrome (aka The Resistance)

‘Imposter Syndrome’ is a term for a feeling that nearly everyone feels at least once if not thousands of times in our lives. And yet, it is largely misunderstood. So, let’s talk about it....

Any time we do anything that feels important and risks failure, it shows up. 

When I create a class running order for one of my improv groups, for example, I feel like an imposter. Why? Because even though class usually goes really well, I still can't know for certain when I'm writing it out. It feels like a risk.

If my classes weren't important to me then it wouldn't matter, but because my classes are incredibly important to me, the risk has stakes. And that's when the imposter feelings come out to play.

Personally, I don’t care for the term ‘Imposter Syndrome.’ To me ‘syndrome’ makes it sound like a sickness or defect. But it’s neither. It’s a very natural part of being human. I prefer Stephen Pressfield’s term for it, ‘The Resistance.’ 

This name helps me see it as a universal force like gravity. The larger an object’s mass, the more gravity pulls on it. Likewise, the more important the thing we’re doing, the stronger The Resistance pushes back.

To our ancient ancestors ‘risk’ usually meant real danger and those who heeded the Resistance survived. Now, most of us don’t face life or death situations daily, but our bodies don’t know the difference. All The Resistance knows is that it’s risky, so it thinks life hangs in the balance. 

So, what to do about it? In the same way that Marathon runners know being tired comes with the territory, we as creators (actors, stand-ups, writers, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, etc.) need to know that dealing with The Resistance is necessarily part of our territory. Eliminating it is not an option. Instead, we dance with it.

How you dance with The Resistance is individual to you. There’s no one size fits all magic key to help everyone and I’m glad there’s not. The struggle out of its cocoon is what makes a butterfly strong enough to live. Similarly, what makes our creativity worth a damn is the struggle with all the obstacles we must overcome in order to make something.

So, I challenge you to embrace The Resistance. Experiment with ways to dance with it.  Use it like a compass. The more you feel it, the more you know how important the work you're doing actually is.

Most of this post is inspired by one of my favorite writers of all time, Seth Godin. Here's a video of him laying out wisdom about The Resistance in less than ninety seconds. 

Stay curious!