If at first you don’t succeed … then maybe skydiving isn’t for you.
Perhaps you’ve had a good laugh about that phrase, or maybe the metaphorical application of the skydiving fail has set you up for something far worse than failure: not trying.
The pages of this issue of COMO Business Times introduce readers to the 20 Under 40 Class of 2025 with mini profiles that, hopefully, encapsulate the driving passions and character of our twenty award recipients. Along with our CBT and COMO Magazine advisory boards, our staff initially whittled down a record-breaking list of nominees to a Top 40 list of finalists. At that point in the process, those forty were asked to provide written answers to a series of questions about their professional careers, educational endeavors, personal goals, and life journeys.
When those responses were assembled, our reimagined selection process included a five-member ad hoc committee, our advisory board members, and our staff scoring the finalists, giving us twenty nominees who stood out as the cream of the crop. There was no public vote and no lobbying friends and neighbors for support.
It wasn’t a popularity contest.
So what about that skydiving metaphor? As a writer and editor who is full of writing and editing angst — or, for that matter, as a husband, father, friend, etc. who is full of angst about whether I fill any of those roles with any degree of success — I am painfully aware of imposter syndrome. Most of us are familiar with the illustration showing a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other shoulder, and their voices compete for our attention.
In my case, I have a little imposter syndrome guy on my right shoulder and a Big Imposter Syndrome Guy on my left shoulder. The former is passive-aggressive … “Hey, you can try, but, really, why bother?” and the latter is just flat-out hateful … “You’re a fraud, and you haven’t fooled anyone. Everyone knows.” Those are my competing voices, spilling automatic negative thoughts (or, ANTs) into my noggin.
ANTs. They sure do suck (the life and energy out of great ideas, hopes, and dreams). Reading through the incredibly insightful and sometimes raw responses of our 20 Under 40 awardees was a helpful exercise in seeing how others have succeeded, overcome, and problem-solved to become shining examples for their businesses, co-workers, employers/employees, families, and community. Collectively, they represent a force that the rest of us can harness to fight the ANTs.
One common denominator — whether they articulated it exactly like this or not — is the pushback against the voice or thought that says, “You just can’t do that.” The pushback? “Just watch me.”
Some of the other common denominators that our 20 Under 40 class demonstrate was having great mentors, giving themselves permission to fail, surrounding themselves with others who have the “just watch me” attitude, and, essentially, learning that the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
When you’re in that kind of company, you can stomp ANTs together.
What are the ANTs that pester you? How do you handle imposter syndrome? Gain some inspiration from the 20 Under 40 Class of 2025, then please consider letting me know how you answer those questions.
