A typical day in my work life has emotions ranging from excitement to having self-doubts. It starts with me approaching the work with all excitement. And as the day passes the errors on the screen rise and with it my self-doubt. I start to question my expertise and choices.
It is common for people in the software industry to feel like we are faking it. All our learning comes from YouTube videos. And parts of our work consist of us copy-pasting code written by others.
It is a global phenomenon and around 80% of people go through the same cycle of emotions. If not dealt with, it could lead to depression and anxiety.
I deal with it firsthand by approaching the work with curiosity. Being curious about something gives you the needed dopamine boost. Having a curious mindset is telling yourself that you are going to learn something new. And it is okay to be a beginner.
In the book Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty. He talks about how our brain is wired to have negative thoughts for survival reasons. By being mindful of my thoughts and knowing the fact that most of my thoughts are negative. It helps me shut down the negative self-talk and focus on the work at hand.
Seth Godin gives a great twist to how we should be thinking about imposter syndrome. He says to accept the feeling and understand that you are about to do something important. He views it as a way to find out the growth zones in our life.
To have growth we need to start embracing the feeling of being an imposter. Start to venture out into the unknown by leaving your comfort zone. If we stay in our comfort zone and only do things that we are sure of. We won’t be facing imposter syndrome. But it means we are not growing.
All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone. — Tony RobbinsWhile I start to hit walls and start to sense self-doubt. I refer to this quote by Patrick McKenzie, and it helps me keep going.
Every great developer you know got there by solving problems they were unqualified to solve until they actually did it.