This is not the blog post that I have been working on for months. Many more months than I would like to admit to.  BUT every time I tried to write the other blog post, I was blocking myself and it wasn’t the topic on how to overcome imposter syndrome as bloggers that I was talking about.  It was my mindset.

I have been blogging now for over 6 years.  I love blogging.  It is as much a part of me as being a mom at this point.  I mean, I was actually referred to as a professional blogger.  (That may have been one of the happiest moments of my life.)  I have only been coaching women how to start their blogs since January.

As a blogger, I have always felt a bit of imposter syndrome kick in and I can normally handle it well but this blog post threw me for a loop.  I couldn’t get past it and it was affecting my work. 

That is, until one night it finally hit me.  I NEEDED to write about that.  I needed to remind all the bloggers out there that no matter how much experience you have and how confident you are, there are moments that little voice creeps in and takes over.  

And for me that moment was writing a guest blog post for an amazing blogger like Arfa with She Means Blogging.  

I can’t even tell you when I joined her facebook group but from the moment I did, I wanted to be like her.  Ok that is probably the wrong way to say it.  I wanted to portray myself as her.  I wanted that confidence.  I wanted that success.  I wanted to know (because she must know) how to feel fierce. 

That is going to be my word for 2021.  FIERCE!

I wanted to be fierce.

I wanted to feel fierce.

I wanted to be known as fierce.

BUT I WAS STUCK.

I couldn’t move forward.  I kept questioning myself every time I sat at my keyboard to write the initial guest blog post for her website.  

What am I thinking writing for a blogger like her?

She is going to laugh at the post that I sent her.

What do I know that she doesn’t already know?

My words are going to have no impact on her readers.

These questions had me questioning myself, my ability and worse of all, it took all of my confidence and threw it in the garbage. 

UNTIL I DECIDED THAT IT DIDN’T MATTER.

As I sit here and am finally putting words together on a page, I know that I am good enough.  That my story and her story are different.  That I offer different things than she does.  We may do the same.  She may look confident to me on social media but deep down I know that she will feel the same way I do.  Feeling like your work won’t live up to those that you look up to.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome As a Blogger

I would love to say that there is a magical way to overcome this awful side of blogging.  Let’s face it, it doesn’t just happen in blogging.  Imposter syndrome can find you no matter what you do.  

There are no tricks to getting through it. 

There are no magic cures.

There are no ways to keep it from affecting you.

There are ways to help you move past it though and to continue to grow and expand as a blogger.  No matter what, we all have a story inside of us that deserves to be told. 

We all have a unique perspective that we bring into this world.  No matter our past.  No matter our current reality.  There is someone out there that is waiting for our voice and our voice alone.

There is a way to move forward with that little voice in your head that is telling you to stop.  I mean, that voice is still in my head telling me that I am going to get laughed at for this post.  I

am no longer choosing to listen to that voice and what it is telling me.  I can hear it and I know that it wants to be acknowledged.  So that is what I did.  

Before sitting down at my keyboard, I looked in my bathroom mirror and said, 

I no longer care what you have to say.  Someone out there needs to hear that they can move forward even with you whispering to them.

Yes I do often give myself pep talks in the mirror and I highly recommend doing it.

Tips to help you take that leap forward when you feel you can’t

A thought came to me today before I started writing this.  I wrote it down on my whiteboard next to the idea for this blog post.  Does anyone else love whiteboards as much as I do.  

Sometimes it is about the small steps versus the big leaps.

I am still terrified to hit send on the blog post but I am writing it anyway.  I am taking this step by step in order to move forward.  

Getting past imposter syndrome for bloggers isn’t always about taking a giant leap.  Sometimes it is about taking one small step at a time. 

For me, that meant taking that other blog post and deciding not to use it.  For me, that meant walking to my computer desk and just start typing this post.  For me, that meant being completely honest in how I feel as my fingers type as fast as they can to keep up with my thoughts. 

Small steps mean action. 

Action means that you are moving forward.  Moving forward means that you aren’t allowing that voice in your head to control what you do.  You are regaining your power.  

#1 Criticism is scary but it isn’t the end of the world. 

I am an emotional person (always have been and always will be).  I remember when I was younger, a basketball coach of mine told me that he screamed at me because I could take it. 

I knew how to handle criticism when it was thrown my way.  I would love to say that I am still like that but there are days when criticism just knocks me down. 

Not as long as it used to and that is because I have an action plan to help me overcome it.

At the end of the day, it won’t matter what ANYONE else thinks of your blog post.  How do you feel?  Do you feel stronger after you wrote it?  Do you feel like you put in your best effort? 

Truly, this is all that matters.  

#2 Just suck it up and do it. 

This is another quote by me.  I was in an accountability call a couple weeks ago and I was talking about writing a guest post that I had been putting off.  (Yes this one of course.) 

When I was telling the beautiful women in that meeting what I had to do, I finally just said, I have to just suck it up and do it.

You won’t get over feeling like an imposter unless you stop acting like one. 

Write that scary guest blog post. 
Publish that post that shares your story. 
Reach out to a blogger that you want to work with. 
Fear will hold you back if you allow it to.  

#3 Have a blogger friend that can help you.  

Blogging can be a lonely world.  When I first started I believed that we needed to do everything on our own.  That anyone in my niche was going to try and steal my work or my clients.  As I grow and expand, I realise how wrong I was in that belief.  

We all want to feel and be supported.  We all want to succeed and there IS room for all of us.  Find a blogger in your niche that you can talk to.  Someone that you can be open and honest with.  Focus on building your blogging network.

Someone that will truly listen to what you are struggling with.  Someone that can help you succeed and grows while you do the same for them.

It isn’t about being better than one another.  It is about having a collection of voices to share with the world.
  

#4 Let go of being perfect.  

For a lot of us, fear is just our belief that we aren’t good enough.  That we need to be perfect before we put anything out into the world.  I want to remind you right now that you are already perfect.  

There truly is no such thing as perfection.  The only thing that perfection does is stop you from being the creative person that you are. 

Let the creativity flow and you will learn that being imperfect is way more fun anyway.

Still trying to overcome imposter syndrome as a blogger?

Keep reading…

#5 Just say yes.  

I have this habit of just doing something.  If I sit and think about it too long, I decide that it is something that I can’t do. 

I begin to overthink everything and then I get stuck.  My husband is not a fan of me just doing without overplanning but it is how I have to live my life. 

Take a moment to send that message to a blogger you want to write for even if you are a brand new blogger. 

We were all beginners at one point. 

Begin by saying yes to something small but out of your comfort zone.  Get your mind used to that word.  It will begin to change your life.

A friend once told me something that changed my outlook on feeling like an imposter.

“Let me share a secret, the fact that you feel like an imposter means that you aren’t one.”

To me it is similar to that quote about being afraid that you aren’t a good mom means that you aren’t one. 

Feeling like an imposter feels awful.  It has us questioning everything that we do and everything that we say but we have the power to make sure that we can move forward from there.

Accept that feeling and then move forward.  

Do you feel blogger imposter syndrome? Do you ever try to overcome that feeling and move forward?

Share in the comments.

This was a guest post by Samantha

Hi, I’m Samantha, owner, and creator of Samantha Laycock Blogging.  A blogging coach for women ready to share their stories.  I am 35 years old, a mother of 3, a wife of 14 years, a sexual assault survivor, and a big advocate for sharing your story through blogging.

Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.