Imposter Syndrome

Viola Davis.

I heard a few snippets of an interview with her earlier this week after winning an Oscar. She talked about the “Imposter Syndrome”, and despite her tremendous success in her career she was still waiting for someone to “find her out”. To figure out that she wasn’t that good/didn’t belong.

Shew. Have you ever felt that way? I know I sure have. I’ve been in this business for 15 years. I’ve personally helped well more than 600 families to buy, sell or rent homes and still there are many days when that little voice on the inside is saying “who do you think you are”, “you aren’t that good”, “someone’s going to figure you out”, “just stay small over here to the side, big things are for someone else”.

The older I get, the more I understand “me”, the more I try the hard things the easier it becomes to tell that voice to take a hike. I’ve learned that the voice isn’t “me”. It isn’t my gut or my intuition trying to protect me, it’s fear trying to hold me back. I know this because the times I ignored it and did the big thing anyway, put myself out there, the rewards have been great.

During this season of my life I’m not able to be a big TV or movie person, but I’m pretty sure when I do Viola Davis will be my new favorite actress.