Imposter Syndrome During Reinvention: The Identity Shift No One Talks About

GGGR 355 – Final

SPEAKERS

Karen Yankovich

00:10

Karen, hello, hello, and welcome to the good girls get rich podcast. I’m your host, Karen Yankovich,

and you know, I’ve been thinking about a moment as we go through life as women that I don’t think

it’s talked about enough, and it’s not burnout, it’s not failure, it’s not even like satisfaction or

dissatisfaction. It’s It’s like this strange, disoriented kind of feeling that you know, like you know how

old you are, you know what you’ve accomplished, and you’re proud of what you accomplished, but

you know, there’s more, right, but you’re not really sure how you fit into that right, recognizing

yourself as you’re becoming it right and as as women who’ve been confident for decades. You know,

we’ve built careers, we’ve raised families, led teams. It can feel pretty unsettling to be in this kind of

who am I place, right? So we’re talking in this episode about reinvention, not the glossy kind, the

psychological kind, the identity shift that we make. You know, maybe when it’s coming from

corporate and going into consulting, or maybe it’s just out leveling up your income, or, you know,

maybe it’s just you’re changing what your next chapter looks like, right? But it whatever it is, there’s

an identity shift. And without fail, without fail, imposter syndrome shows up right on time, right? And

so we’re going to talk today about how to move through this season, honoring who you’ve been and

and stepping into who you’re becoming, right? So this probably isn’t your first reinvention, right? If

you’ve ever been married or had kids, you know, you were single and now you’re married, or you

were, you know, not a parent, and now you’re a parent, those are all identity shifts, right? Those were

reinventions in your life, if we can get a little dramatic about it. So this is probably not your your first

one, but there’s a difference, because I’m asking you to go from what you’ve been known for to

maybe something that’s a little unknown for you. Okay, so So the so I know, and many of the people

that have worked with you know that you are way qualified for this, right? But that doesn’t always

transfer emotionally as we are building this next chapter, and that’s a lot of the work we do around

here, right? That’s at the heart of good girls. Get Rich when you focus on what you are so good at,

that’s when the abundance comes into our life. So as you’re moving into this next chapter, I hope that

what you’re doing is you’re just really narrowing in on what you really want to be doing and what you

are really, really good at. And maybe you’ve been doing a lot of this work for decades, right? But, but

something about how you were doing it before isn’t as exciting to you anymore, right? And I’m asking

you to step into something new, and maybe it feels a little like destabilizing. But you know, imposter

syndrome hits different when you’re changing careers, not because you’re bad at what you do, but

because you’re not fluent yet in who you’re becoming. And that fluency takes time, right? It takestime. And, you know, I know the identity work that has to happen with this. It always lags behind the

growth. And that’s, that’s the uncomfortable part, right? That lag, that’s the uncomfortable part. But

it’s, it’s normal, it’s normal to do that. So, and I want you to know that you’re supported and that you

are surrounded by, I mean, listen, if you’re my world, you’re surrounded by people who are cheering

you on and way supporting you. If you’re not in my world, you know, come join us in the free

Facebook group. We’ll link to that. Come join us in the disability salon. You get a week for free. We’ll

link to that because it’s normal. And every time you hit a new level, or you you have a new

transformation, every time you’re changing into something else, imposter syndrome shows up again.

Like I don’t believe personally that we can eradicate imposter syndrome. I think we just have to

recognize it and learn the tools to get through it and but here’s the thing, there’s a little grief in this.

There’s a little bit of grief as you’re releasing what you’re walking away from, releasing that version of

yourself, releasing the version of yourself that was just so good at what they did. Everybody knew,

just give it to Karen. She’s got this right. And now you’re stepping into something a little unfamiliar,

uncomfortable, and you know, it’s there’s a little grief in that. It’s exciting. It could be really exciting.

It should be really exciting. But as women, right? There’s so many studies around these things, like a

man will apply for a job that has 10 requirements. If he has four of those 10 requirements, women

need to have 12 of them, right? To apply for that same job. We tie our worth to our mastery. We tie

our worth to our contribution, you know. And in some ways, it may feel a little like insulting to start

over, right? You work so hard, but the only way to really get that what’s there for you, and to be able

to make the change that I know you’re here, to make this change in the world, to get your voice

heard by the people that need to hear your voice in that world, in this world, and to earn the kind of

money that you’re here to earn in this world, like you know, I wanted to be well worthy women in this

world, sometimes we got to just do the hard stuff, right? And we know how to do the hard stuff, but

it’s just exhausting, like, again, right? Again. So, you know, I just want you to know that, like, it’s okay,

right? It doesn’t have to be hard, by the way. But you know, maybe you’re, maybe you’ve got these,

like, these fears creeping up. Is this, Do I belong? Here are people looking at me in this new visibility

thing, Karen, things I need to have, and interviews on podcasts or newspapers or magazines or TV or

whatever, right? And thinking like, Who is she to talk about this, right? So you are the one to be on

about this, right? But, but maybe you’re feeling that, right? Maybe you don’t know if people are taking

you seriously. Maybe you feel like you missed your window, right? So, so you’re not uncomfortable

because you’re incapable, you’re uncomfortable because you remember how that grounded

confidence used to feel, and you’re not feeling that now, right? So, if you’re listening to this and

you’re thinking, like, so far, like, Oh, I got this is me. Like, I can recognize myself in this. I just want

you to hear this so clearly. There is nothing wrong with you. You are not behind. You are not

confused. You are in transition. And transitioning is demanding, right? It’s demanding, and this is

exactly why I created spaces where women don’t have to reinvent alone, where experience is

honored, not minimized, and visibility is built with integrity, right? With integrity, and that’s why we

created the visibility science, why we completely reinvented our she’s linked up ecosystem so that we

could be building a community that supports you, right, without it having to be a big, $10,000

decision, right? And, and I want, I wanted to do that. I wanted to just be there for the women in this

world that need that community around them. And that’s visibility salon.com is what gets you there.

So here’s the thing. Like, this is different this world that we are living in right now. It’s different. So

that generic career advice, or that culture, that hustle culture, or all the visibility strategies that we

learned before the loudness, right? It’s different. That genetic career advice assumes that you’re

building from zero. It assumes that you’re building from a world you recognize this is not that, right?

That hustle culture ignores the life context, right? I am. Listen, I can work hard when I need to. I

probably work harder than most people I know, right? But I’ve the one of the reasons that we made

this big shift in our she’s linked up ecosystem, is because I am not interested in continuing to build a

business in hustle right? Because my life is important to me, the people in my life are important to

me, and the wisdom that I bring to this chapter understands that right, and that hustle culture does

not and those visibility strategies, they were rewarding loudness, they were rewarding you, just beingeverywhere, not leadership, right? So we don’t need more motivation, like you’ve got the motivation.

What you need is the translation of how those decades of experience show up in this new arena

without pretending you’re someone you’re not, right? We’re not erasing the person that you used to

be. Reinvention is not erasure. It’s integrating. It’s integrating, not abandoning. Okay, so I have a

couple of tips for you here, some practical ways to stay grounded in this, like in between that I’m

talking about here. First, I want you to borrow confidence from your past self, hopefully, and if you

have not done this before, start doing this today. Keep a visible record of your past wins. Maybe you

have LinkedIn recommendations that you can like, go read, read them. Borrow confidence from your

past self. Like, think about people that have written testimonials for you or have said nice things

about you. Confidence doesn’t disappear, right? Like you’ve still that. Confidence is still in you, but it

becomes a little quieter. We have to find it again, as we’re in this spirit of change, okay? And this next

one is a hard one for so many women, and that is, be fluent in building community with others around

all of this community shortens this the imposter. Syndrome phase every single time,10:03

isolation just magnifies the doubt. You know that it’s probably happening at two o’clock in the

morning, right where no one’s awake, but you and your head’s creating all these crazy things that you

think are happening. Be a part of a community that shortens that imposter syndrome phase so that

you can quickly get to be one of the wealthy women that that have the money to make the kinds of

choices and change in the world and in your life and in your family that you’re here to make and and

create like, like, understand that this is not something you have to make all the permanent decisions

about today. You can kind of create like a bridge identity. You don’t need a perfect title. Call yourself

a consultant, and then just build from there. Call yourself a speaker like build from there. You need,

you need language that connects your past expertise with your future direction, and that’s where

LinkedIn comes in, right? Because, as you’re building, as you’re reinventing your your career, you’re

reinventing your LinkedIn profile, and we’re rewarding and recognizing all of the expertise that you’re

bringing to today. Okay, so you want to have language for that, but you don’t need to. It doesn’t need

to be perfect, because we can modify it as you go, right? I’m thinking of somebody in our community,

and if you’re listening to this, you’ll recognize who you are. In the beginning of this year, I had

everybody introduce disability salon meeting in one of the meetings we’re having. And I’ve been

working with this woman for a couple of years now, and she introduced herself, and like my team and

I went, sat back and went, what? Like, we never heard any of that before. It was amazing. It was

amazing, right? But she reinvented how she talks about herself, and it was amazing, right? But it was,

it was actually a pretty funny moment, because I was like, where did that come from? That’s amazing,

right? So, so I’m saying this to tell you that you don’t have to have everything. Doesn’t have to be

perfect as you’re stepping through this, okay? And this, this next one is also important. Stop

auditioning, stop defending, stop explaining. You do not need permission to be to belong. You need to

decide that you belong. If you do need permission, call this. Consider this your permission, right? It’s

it. You’re done. You’re ready, decide that this is for you and just start being this person. Right?

Belonging isn’t something that you earn after you feel ready. Do you really think that that’s ever

going to happen? You need to claim this, and then the confidence follows. So if imposter syndrome is

present for you right now, it’s it’s not proof that you’ve gone too far. It’s proof that you haven’t gone

far enough. This season isn’t asking you to become someone else. It’s asking you to trust that who

you’ve already been is carrying you forward. It’s carrying you forward into the person that you’re

becoming. So if this episode puts some language to something that you’ve been carrying in here

inside your head. Share it with somebody who’s standing at the edge of her next chapter, and be

there for her. Remember, community is what quickly eliminates imposter syndrome. And I’m going to

remind you, and you can remind her, she’s not late, you’re not late, you’re not lost, she’s not lost.

You’re becoming, and she’s becoming. I hope that you this, this landed for you, and I hope that you

are thinking big as you step into your next chapter. Right? I am here for you every step of the way. I’ll

be back here next week with another episode for you, and I cheering you on every step of the way.

Yeah.