the gift of feeling like a fraud

That queasy feeling when you walk into a room full of experts. The voice whispering that you don't belong, that everyone will discover you're not as qualified as they think. Most of us treat these feelings as warning signs—red flags telling us to retreat to safer ground.

But what if we've been reading the signals wrong?

Best-selling author and marketing guru Seth Godin offers a radical reframe: impostor syndrome isn't a flaw—it's proof you're pushing yourself. When we feel like frauds, we're not experiencing personal failure. We're receiving confirmation that we're doing exactly what we should be doing: stretching beyond our comfort zones into territories where real growth happens.

You never feel like an impostor when doing something you've mastered. Impostor syndrome only appears when we're attempting something that challenges our current abilities. This means feeling like a fraud is actually proof you're evolving—your internal growth detector alerting you that you've found the edge of your competence, the exact place where learning accelerates.

The key isn't eliminating impostor syndrome—that's impossible and undesirable. Instead, learn to decouple the feeling of intimidation from the decision to act. You can acknowledge the butterflies while still walking through the door. You can feel out of your depth while continuing to move forward.

This separation is liberating. You don't have to wait until you feel confident to take on challenges. Confidence often follows competence rather than preceding it. By moving forward despite intimidation, you create the experiences that build genuine confidence.

When you push through intimidation, you discover one of two outcomes: either you'll realize this challenge isn't for you—valuable self-knowledge—or you'll find your initial fears were largely imaginary. The intimidating task becomes routine as your competence catches up to your courage.

The next time impostor syndrome strikes, try gratitude instead of retreat. Thank it for the valuable information it's providing: you've found your next growth opportunity. Your feelings of inadequacy aren't holding you back—they're pointing you forward.