i beat impostor syndrome (and here’s how i did it)

There are two kinds of impostor syndrome. There’s the one that says “I don’t deserve to be here among all these other people who are much, much more talented than I, what will they think of me” and there’s the one that says “oh no, I am doing something way way beyond my capacity/skill/talent/whatever. I shouldn’t be here.” I have spoken to a great many people about impostor syndrome, and it seems like most, if not all of them, fall into these two categories. Growing up, I remember my dad having a mantra that went something like “<a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/08/15/tell-em/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">tell ’em what I’m gonna tell ’em, tell ’em, and then tell ’em what i told ‘em.</a>” He was fond of telling people this in regards to both preaching and the “Scoutmaster’s moment,” where he’d give our Boy Scout troop a little talk. As someone with then-undiagnosed ADHD, I found myself with a very strict aversion to this method of writing, and school only strengthened that aversion. What people want you to do in school is often informative or argumentative essays, and they prefer that you structure your essays in a way that begins with some kind of “thesis statement” (‘tell ’em what you’re gonna tell ‘em’), followed by the body (‘tell ‘em’), and then, of course, the conclusion (‘tell ’em what you’ve told ‘em’). It’s the same structure, and it does work really well, I imagine, for neurotypical people. But I’ve found that a storytelling structure — linking interesting thoughts and ideas — works best for me as a writer, and seems to hit my audience just as well. So that’s what I like doing. <a href="https://docseuss.medium.com/i-beat-impostor-syndrome-and-heres-how-i-did-it-b6879422af2b">Website</a>