Imposter syndrome

“Imposter syndrome is real and it arrives whenever we are doing important work.” – Seth Godin

Imposter syndrome is when you doubt yourself and feel you are inadequate, not supposed to be here, aren’t good enough to do this, and feel you don’t deserve to be successful.

You won’t feel it when you are doing the same thing you have always done – you are an expert at that.  It shows up when you are out of your comfort zone, doing some higher-level work, breaking new ground, and doing something for the first time. 

I have walked on stage in front of 1000 people doing keynote speeches, lined up at the starting line on a dirt bike for a 1000-mile race, and flown airplanes by myself – I know all about this feeling.

But remember – if anyone can do it, than anyone can do it.  And if they have done it, they have done it the first time.  If you want to, you can too.

All growth is outside your comfort zone.  Growth is not for sissies.  It takes courage.

Control your thoughts, believe in yourself, and keep moving forward.  

You got this!

Changing your life – What are you glad you did in the past?

Think about it.  What significant “moves”, decisions, trips, discussions, or actions have you taken in the past that you are so glad you did?

Everyone has decisions that lead to great experiences, a better path, a great outcome, or something big in their life.  What were they for you?.

Well there is more of those decisions to make!

In the end, people will regret the things they did NOT do, far more than the things they did.

Become the person your future thanks you for.

Here are a few for me – 

I am glad I sent a little postcard from Builder magazine back to find out more about something in 1986.  Changed my whole life.

I’m glad I said “yes” to my friend Franz Froelich in California when he said “Hey we should get a group of guys together and go riding on a tour in Baja; my neighbor Chris Haines does these tours”.  Changed my life.

I’m glad I read this little book from A.L. Williams back in 1988 called “Common Sense”.  I learned about compound interest.

I’m glad I bought my brother Rick’s dirt bike in 1997.  Changed my life.

I’m glad I said yes when my son Tanner suggested we race in Baja.  Changed my life.

I’m glad I bought all the empty property in the commercial park my first building was located in back in 2000-2003.

I’m glad I learned how to sell like an expert.

I’m glad I started writing Think Daily in 2009.  It has made me better and expanded my network!

What decisions have you made that you are glad you did?

What decisions are still to be made that you will thank yourself for?

You have no energy because you are bored.

That’s your fault.

Do something that energizes you.  Take on a project that stretches you.  Challenge yourself.

Go help someone who really needs it.  Go do something really cool.  Create something exceptional.

You can do so much more.

You’ll have energy when you are engaged.

Let’s go!

Feed your mind, and the rest will follow.

We are programmed to pay attention to bad news and shocking images.

The media knows that, so they produce it by the truckload.  They want your attention and know how to get it from you.

Don’t put junk in your mind. 

Guard your inner world. 

Crowd out darkness with light.

Feed it with information and images that build your character and skills.

Your mind is the source of everything you’ll ever do or become.

Don’t forget to be happy now.

“Joy and happiness.  If you can feel that all the time, who cares what happens on the outside?” – Michael Singer

The point of everything you do is to be happy.

But if you keep thinking that you need to accomplish/do/experience things you haven’t yet to be happy, then you will suspend your own happiness.

You can feel happiness and joy now, if you just allow it.

Don’t suspend it.  This is it.

Be happy now.

Now is YOUR time.

“In the long run, we’re all dead.” – John Maynard Keynes

Before you leave this place forever…..notice – isn’t it beautiful?

Don’t you have something you must do while you have the chance?

Suffering is self-made

Pain is a part of life, but suffering often comes by what we think about it.

When something bad happens, it’s pretty hard to suffer without thinking about it – how much it hurts, how it’s not what you wanted, how it’s unfair, how you didn’t deserve it, and how justice was not served to someone else.

The story you tell yourself, over and over for days, months or years becomes the source of your suffering over the (often one-time) event.

Sometimes, you repress the story, and pushing it back because it hurts.  Now the story is just waiting until you are vulnerable to come forward and take control.

Instead, you could let go of the story.  Face it, feel it, look it square in the eye, and let it go right through and past you.

Even better, you can make a new story about what happened.  You can see how it empowered you, made you stronger, and opened the door to something new and better.  Use what happened to make you better.  Use what happened and share it with others who are struggling with the same kind of thing.

What happened and what we do with it are two completely different things. 

One is over with.  The other is always up to us.

The best way to get what you want…

“The best way to get what you want is to deserve what you want.” – Charlie Munger

What do you want?

Do you deserve it?  

Do you want it bad enough to change so that you do deserve it?

Poor learning, poor earning.

“The acquisition of wisdom is a moral duty.  If you aren’t a lifetime learner, you aren’t going to do very well.” – Charlie Munger

The way to win is to learn faster than everyone else.

“But I don’t have time”, you say?  Here’s how to learn while having a busy schedule – 

First, stop doing unproductive things that waste time, like scrolling social media, news, and watching TV.  That’s frees up hours a day for the average American.  Now you have time.

Then turn your car into a mobile university.  Do the same for the time running, shopping, on airplanes, getting ready in the morning, time before bed, eating time, workout time, when gardening, doing chores, and many other times in the margins of your day.  Listen to audiobooks, podcasts, audio tracks from YouTube, iTunes University, Masterclass, Ted Talks, free courses from colleges, or a thousand other free and valuable things available today, in 2025, for free to anyone with one of those supercomputers in your pocket.  You can even have conversations with an AI assistant who answers your questions by drawing on all the world’s information in seconds.

This is how I learned what I know.  I listened while driving for 40 years.  It used to be cassette tapes.  Now it’s so easy.

These days, it’s not the “haves and the have-nots”.  It’s the “wills and the will-nots”.

Will you? 

Your test can become your testimony

Whatever bad things happened to you can be helpful to you or someone else.

No event is wasted. 

You can experience “post-traumatic growth” if you don’t try to hide and bury what happened.

It can be your poison or your fuel.

You are not the only one.  Your story can help others avoid a crisis or get through one themselves.

You are not damaged goods.  You are more valuable, more experienced, stronger and wiser.

Learn.  Understand.  Talk.  Share.