When I started in audio, I thought, who am I to do this?
What do I know? Who would listen to me? Hire ME?!?
Maybe you feel this way all the time?
This is Imposter Syndrome, and it's alive and well in all of us.
It's so pervasive that I created a character out of it called Janus and put him in my book, You Get What You Give.
When I first started Audio Issues as a small student blog while I was studying audio engineering at the SAE Institute, I thought, well...I'm just writing down what I'm learning. There's no harm.
But then people started reading and following.
I built an audience of thousands of musicians and producers who found value in what I was writing.
And just so you know: the bigger the audience, the more nervous you get and the bigger your Imposter Syndrome may grow.
I'd think, what if I actually
don't know anything?
What if all of my followers are actually just following me because it's just one big joke?
What if I'm suffering from Dunning-Kruger syndrome and nobody is telling me because it's more entertaining to watch, like a silly silent movie with Charlie Chaplin.
I imagined that in the end, they'd pull the curtain and say,
"Gotcha! We fooled you this entire time! You were SILLY to think you could help others."
Obviously, this is absurd. The thank you emails, positive reviews, and continued success tell a different story
But it demonstrates a feeling that I bet you feel all the time.
You may not have 50,000+ people on your email list
or thousands of people reading your books, taking your programs and buying your products.
But you'll never get there unless you start.
Unless you inherit a fortune or are born into incredible privilege, you're going to start at the same place we all do:
Square One.
What you do after that is what matters.
Doing nothing guarantees zero results.
But taking action and deciding
to succeed through consistent action over time?
That's the first step.
Wouldn't you rather see what you can achieve than give up right away?
If you give up to imposter syndrome, you're giving up to someone who isn't even real.
Imposter Syndrome doesn't go away. He's still there when you wake up in the morning and decide to start your new thing.
When you release
your next song.
When you finish your next mix.
When people start
following you, and you start building an audience.
Even when things are going so great, and you win an award, he'll whisper, "did we really deserve this? It must be a mistake."
And you expect the cage to fall because the universe couldn't have possibly picked you, right?
You'll think, "who am I to accept this
success?"
If you relate to this message, know that everyone suffers from this from time to time.
It's natural.
But it's the truly successful who push on, break through, and keep going despite their negative self-talk.
Because that's all it is. It's you talking to yourself.
Would you ever say the things you say to yourself to another person without feeling guilty?
Of course not.
We say the most hurtful things to ourselves.
You would hate the person who said the things you you say to yourself.
So how about you flip the script?
Instead of saying, "Who am I to do this..." say, "I am doing this."
Chances are you're looking to make better mixes, release more records and achieve more success with your music.
And if you're even thinking about starting to grow your fan base or attracting freelance clients and don't want to do it alone because
marketing feels sleazy or hard, let me help you.
We're starting our weekly group coaching calls at the beginning of October and we have three slots left in our M3 Accelerator group for you if you are a musician, producer, or engineer looking to succeed with your mixing, mastering
and marketing skills.
Click here to learn more and apply to the program.