1187 - Tackling Self-Doubt and Imposter Syndrome with I-Fearless's David Stone

May 7, 2022

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In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the co-founder of I-Fearless, David Stone.

I-Fearless helps left-brainers in tech and engineering conquer self-doubt and imposter syndrome. David shares that from the beginning, many of us are conditioned to believe everything we do is not enough. Fear is the common denominator throughout all of this. Infants are only born with two fears; falling and loud noises, David shares. Every fear we pick up on in life is conditioned at some point. Many of us live in fear and anxiety everyday, but this isn’t healthy or sustainable.

For one thing, the solution to imposter sydrome isn’t merely achieving more success. David shares his three step framework when it comes to tackling this pervasive form of self doubt. The first step is to shift your thoughts in order to stop the spiral of imposter syndrome. You need to shift your thinking to focus on your accomplishments as they are. If you interrupt the imposter syndrome habits and negativity patterns with this method, you will establish a focused achievement pattern in your thinking.

The next step is to release your anxiety. David walks his clients through a guided meditation, especially relating to where the body physically stores this stress. The third step is to lock in these practices by establishing these habits; replace your negative thoughts with thoughts of gratitude and purpose, and always take instant action when feeling sensations of self-doubt. Taking control of your fear and imposter syndrome is a vital piece of establishing these habits. Don’t doubt your ability to achieve the challenges in front of you; when it all comes down to it, the worst time to have self-doubt is when you’re in problem solving mode. David says to consider everything you’ve ever overcome until that point in your life and to trust you have the ability to achieve whatever you set out to do. When you have a thought like, “I don’t belong here,” reflect on everything you have done until that point to achieve the success you have. You do belong, because you got yourself there in the first place. Trust yourself and reframe your thinking around your self-doubt.

David shares a great morning ritual to practice when working on self-doubt. First, wake up and find things to be grateful for. Don’t be vague, either; find very specific and different things to have gratitude for every day. He also recommends listening to a meditation each morning to help to ground yourself and help to instill mindfulness.

Check out David’s FREE guide, The Left-Brainer’s Guide to Anti-Anxiety Journaling at https://www.i-fearless.com/josh.

Want to learn more? Check out I-Fearless’s website at https://www.i-fearless.com/.

Check out I-Fearless on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/i-fearless/.

Check out David Stone on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidstone-ifearless/.

Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!