Here’s something you might relate to.

Not long ago I found an old laptop that had been tucked away in a cupboard for years (it was running Windows XP, that’s how old).

I’d forgotten what was on it and was a bit curious, so I fired it up to have a look.

Long story short, after looking through a lot of old junk, I came across some articles and an entire email campaign I’d written around 15 years ago.

Now to be fair, it was all a bit rough around the edges and if I’d written the same stuff today it’d definitely be more polished, but some of the content wasn’t too bad.

But do you know what?

I’d never put any of it out!

In fact, as I was reading it I found myself becoming more and more gobsmacked because not only was the content better than a lot of rubbish you see online today…

… but it dawned on me that a lot of people missed out because they never got to read it!

So why am I telling you this?

Because it highlights that little bit of madness that affects us all when we’re just beginning our creative journey.

The feeling of imposter syndrome!

I remember it well when I wrote this stuff.

At the time I’d had a tiny taste of success having managed to make a very small profit online and was documenting my journey, but I just didn’t feel worthy of telling others about it.

Which was crazy!

What was the worst that could happen?

People didn’t like it?

They might have loved it!

People thought it was rubbish?

They might have thought it was fantastic!

People didn’t see it?

Well one thing’s for sure, they didn’t see it while it was sitting on my bloody laptop!

Had I put it out, at least there’d been a chance of it getting infront of a few eyeballs and I’d have had the benefit of learning from the process of making it available!

The thing is, I’d already done so much more online than the majority of people and definitely had knowledge that could help them if they were just starting their journey on the same route as me!

The problem was I felt like an imposter and somebody would ‘find me out’ if I was to continue going on about something I wasn’t THAT successful at yet!

So I scrapped it!

The whole bloody lot.

It wasn’t until much later when I started seeing results and living life on my terms that I got over it and started believing in my abilities, but the point is, had I put this campaign and those articles out back then, I’d almost certainly be way further ahead than I am today!

Now to be fair, it’s said that some of the most successful people on the planet suffer from imposter syndrome.

I’ve even read somewhere that the acclaimed actress Meryl Streep felt this way for much of her career.

Here’s a woman who’s won so many prestigious awards for her amazing acting ability and who’s been nominated for more Hollywood Academy Awards than any person in history.

Yet she’s apparently reported to have said things like “why would anyone want to see me again in a movie? I don’t know how to act, why am I doing this?”

Let’s face it, although common, imposter syndrome is extremely destructive and you really must get over it if you want to be successful.

Action is the key.

From now on, if you want to get that stuff whirring around in your head out into the the big wild world, shove the feeling of imposter syndrome to the back of the ‘don’t be such a dick’ part of your brain and just get on with it.

Develop that website, create the product you’ve been thinking about, write that email campaign, and get it out there. You can always refine it later.

Think about this, you don’t need to be the best there is in any given niche, you just need to know a little more than the next person who wants to learn, and then make it available to them!