There is one impostor among us.

No, this is not about the game, but about something far more important.

With the whole fad of Among Us (super fun game, seriously) taking over the internet, everyone’s gotten hold of ‘Impostor’ as a new word in their glossary. But, do we understand who an impostor really is, beyond the context of the game? Or are we limited only to our privileged information from social media and meme subreddits?

By definition (thanks to Google, obviously), an ‘Impostor’ is someone who pretends to be someone else and ‘tricks’ people. There is a phenomenon beyond that is way too common across all of us. If you’re reading this newsletter, chances are that you’ve taken your first step at being open-minded and looking for other perspectives (kudos to you on that!). In this pursuit, you can get lost soon enough, thinking that you only know very little and the other people might know a lot more than you do. If you get to be in the midst of such people, your self-confidence takes a hit and stops you from sharing your ideas because ‘log kya kahenge’. You’re more afraid of having your alleged bluff called out; than actually about the ideas you have in your head. This experience that almost all of us go through at least once at some point in our life, is what experts call as an ‘Impostor Syndrome’.

If I were to assign it a definition, I would say that an Impostor Syndrome is what that makes you feel inferior in a room filled with people who you believe are more smarter than you are; and you constantly feel very insecure to get your ideas across because you’re scared of having your bluff called out. In short, you feel like an Impostor in that room.

But, have you ever realized what would the other people be thinking in that exact same moment? Without being judgmental, what if I tell you that at least 75% of the remaining people in that same room, are going through the exact same experience as you are! They all silently think that they are the impostor in the room, when in reality no one actually is an impostor there.

Impostor Syndrome is a widely accepted and acknowledged phenomenon. Almost all the smart, successful people that you think have their shit together, go through this on a daily basis. This fear of not being enough or not knowing enough, is killing more people on the longer run than inaction ever will, for this fear inhibits action; even if you wanted otherwise.

The next time when you feel this way, it is essential for you to understand the following things:

1. Nobody can possess all of the world’s knowledge at once.

2. There are people who know more than you about a particular subject, and that is fine.

3. There are things that you know better than most people about a particular subject, and that is fine too.

4. We are here to share and exchange ideas, not compete on who knows the most.

5. Don’t underestimate yourself. You can still bring value to the table if you identify what is it that you have that others don’t, in the context of that situation.

6. Don’t overestimate yourself either. There are literally millions of other people who know exactly the same things as you. Yet their understanding and your understanding of a common subject could be totally different.

7. Focus on the bigger picture and understand what and how you can contribute to the system. You can’t always be the misfit in the room.

8. If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room.(Get out!)

I’ve been stripped off of a lot of opportunities just because I thought I wasn’t good enough to take it upon myself. Well, I was wrong; and I realized it very late. I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy and I certainly don’t want that to any of you - to realize it later than you should've and underestimate that you aren’t enough.

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Lesson of the Week

There are people smarter than you, and there always will be. That doesn’t make you any less of a person than you already are.

Following up with our discussion on the IS, I’ve always wondered why nobody has ever thought about something, when I get a crazy idea. But when I actually dive deeper into it, I would realize that the idea has already been validated in another part of the world by another person, maybe two years ago. Definitely they were as smart as me, if not more. So I would naturally think that this is already done and I would move on to another idea. But I never stopped for a moment and wondered, the world isn’t the same today as it was two years ago. If it failed back then, it doesn’t necessarily mean it wouldn’t succeed in today’s world. Even if it didn’t fail, the person and their execution skills matter, the market matters, the team matters and a lot of other factors do matter which could actually make you more capable than the other person to take the idea to the world. You are what you ultimately do, not what you say you’ll do, or think you can do.

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Quote of the Week

We see the world not as it is, but as we are. - Stephen Covey

All of our learnings, opinions, preconceptions, biases ultimately affect our perception of the world. The world that we see and feel is just uniquely ours, in all it’s glory and misery. We seldom care about the existence of people beyond the circle we interact in. We seldom care about causes that doesn’t directly impact us. It’s a selfish world out there, and it’s equally selfish to expect everyone to be selfless, because baby, you shape your own world.

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Editorial Notes

I actually haven’t been able to keep up with a lot of my initiatives that I had started over the course of the pandemic boredom. Now that I’ve returned back to my own place, far away from my parents’ home (where I was for almost 7 months), I can finally try to focus on things that actually matter to my health along all verticals, physical, mental, emotional, financial and spiritual. Getting stuck in one place can take a serious hit on all this for a person, and the hit was quite deeper in my case. If you’re experiencing something similar, fret not, you’re not alone in this, we will make through this more stronger than ever. You will bounce back, stronger than ever and you will fight all your demons. We’re in this battle together, always remember that! My aim through this newsletter is pretty simple. I don’t want 10-20 thousand people reading this every week (although I wouldn’t mind that if you’re down to help :P), all I want is a close inner circle of self-aware, conscious people, whose existence would matter to me and vice versa; in the sense of touching upon as many lives as possible.

Wishing you for the most and more,

Ash.