"Those who can't do, teach"

In 2017 I was hired by one of my mentors, Michael Hyatt.

He gave me a six-figure salary along with the keys to Platform University, a brand with a multimillion dollar membership community and 100K+ email subscribers.

My job was to help thousands of professionals build their own online “platform” by producing Masterclass interviews with the most successful online entrepreneurs on the planet and teaching the step-by-step details myself, leading a small team.

This was a life changing opportunity for me—I went from running $10K to $300K launches overnight 🤯

Michael asked me to join him for a LIVE announcement on video, and I was excited about the hundreds of people tuning in to celebrate—until I read one comment in the chat:

“Those who can’t do, teach.”

Ouch 🫣

...

What if he was right?

99.9% of the comments that day were encouraging and exciting—but I don’t remember what they said.

All I remember is the one guy who got in my head.

While teaching other people to build online education businesses, I’d walked away from my own.

That haunted me for years, as I second-guessed myself over and over again. I was suffering from a classic case of Imposter Syndrome.

Impostor Syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud." Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon remain convinced that they are frauds, and do not deserve all they have achieved.

Have you ever felt like that?

Most creators I know have a moment (or years worth of moments) where they second-guess themselves, downplay their experience, or are paralyzed by paranoia that someone is going to challenge what they say online.

Nobody is immune to this. Tom Hanks suffers from Imposter Syndrome despite being one of the most successful actors of all time!

Congratulations, you’re normal.

How to cure Imposter Syndrome

Whenever you’re stuck with the feeling of being out-of-place, over your head, or exposed to a world waiting for you to inevitably fail, you are experiencing Imposter Syndrome.

At its worst, this “psychological pattern” is crippling. It’s detrimental to your audience, but also your psyche. If you’re looking for flaws, you will find them.

Whatever you do, do not teach from a state of fear.

Imposter Syndrome is real, but it’s also fairly simple (if not easy) to cure.

1) Teach your experiences.

You can overcome imposter syndrome at any point by making one mental switch: switch from teaching from experience to teach from experiences. That one little ‘s’ makes all the difference in the world.

When you’re teaching from experience, you’re putting your “expertise” on the line—but the more you learn about your industry, the more you realize there’s more you don’t yet know.

By contrast, when you’re teaching from experiences you’re sharing relevant stories from your life. Stories you’ve lived through, which you can use to connect to your audience and illustrate key concepts.

How could you doubt your stories when they’re made up of experiences you’ve actually lived?

When you teach from experiences it’s simpler to teach authentically, naturally, and with great effect. Give it a shot, and see how you feel.

2) Collect proof

I used to keep a “wall of love” in my office that was covered with handwritten cards I’d received from clients. Now I’ve gone digital, collecting 200+ testimonials on my website.

Each of those testimonials is proof that I’m getting real results for real people, which helps me cure my own imposter syndrome and forget what that one guy in that one live chat said.