Anyone doing meaningful work—anything on any cutting edge—is to some degree an imposter. No first-time CEO knew how to be a CEO. Bill Gates made up Microsoft. Every entrepreneur is making it up as they go. That’s literally the definition.
The problem isn’t being an imposter. The problem is feeling like you need to not be one. Imposter syndrome is most prevalent among high achievers precisely because they’re doing things they don’t fully know how to do—which is the prerequisite for meaningful work.
“We are all imposters. In fact, if you’re doing anything meaningful at all, if you’re doing anything that you don’t know about completely, you’re to some degree an impostor.”
The freedom comes from owning it: “Yep, I’m an imposter. I don’t know everything. Now let’s get to work.” When Brett felt like an imposter recording the first podcast episode, the only thing that changed five years later was that he no longer needed to know everything.