Jordan Peterson on why imposter syndrome is not the problem you think it is:
1. feeling like an imposter is actually a marker of mental health and competence. the people who do not feel it are the narcissists. if you have any sense and you are not deluded about your abilities you will feel some version of this every time you level up. peterson says the absence of imposter syndrome should concern you more than its presence.
2. every time you move up you will feel like an imposter. that is not a flaw. it is accurate. when you first enter a new role you are a beginner. you do not know what you are doing yet. feeling like an imposter at that stage is not a sign of weakness. it is a sign that you have enough self awareness to recognize the gap between where you are and where you need to be.
3. admitting ignorance to competent people never goes badly. people are afraid to ask questions because they think they are the only one in the room who does not know. they are not. if you were paying attention and you had a question the probability that half the room had the same question is very high. you only have to ask a stupid question once. after that you are no longer stupid about it.
4. intellectual humility is endearing to people who are actually good at what they do. competent people are always asking questions too because they know how much they do not know. when they see you asking questions they do not think you are incompetent. they think you probably are competent.
5. there is a darker version of imposter syndrome called imposter adaptation. hedonic adaptation is where happiness resets after good things happen. imposter adaptation is where the feeling of being a fraud persists no matter how many times you disprove it. you keep succeeding. the feeling keeps returning. at some point you have to admit the feeling has nothing to do with your actual capacity and everything to do with an addiction to feeling like an imposter.
6. high neuroticism makes this significantly worse. neuroticism is sensitivity to threat and punishment. people high in this trait need more evidence to feel safe and competent. the calibration problem is nearly impossible. you wake up with an ache in your side. is it nothing or is it cancer. most of the time it is nothing. the neurotic brain cannot easily tell the difference and applies the same logic to professional competence.
7. the only treatment that actually works is voluntary exposure to the things you are afraid of. you keep facing challenges. you keep paying attention. you develop competence. the environment becomes more predictable. the evidence accumulates. the people around you build confidence in you and that confidence reflects back. there is no shortcut. that is the pathway.
“Most people don't know why Steve Jobs fired two board members of Pixar.”
“The reason he fired them was that they never disagreed with him.”
“Steve said ‘If they don't disagree with me then they aren't bringing any value to the company.’”
“That's an unusual way of thinking and he really believed that.”
"You can't ignore human nature."
Join us tonight for a compelling conversation with American journalist and writer Sebastian Junger.
Don't miss the full episode tonight, Saturday, June 13th, at 7PM UK | 2PM ET on YouTube, Facebook and X.
The American Psych. Assoc. says therapy is “effective,” but Americans diagnosed with depression rose from 20% to 30% since 2015, while the number of Americans in therapy rose from 17 to 22 million. Victimhood ideology and the valuing of feelings over virtue are to blame.
Cell phone usage and EMFs can have a negative impact on sperm health and testosterone levels:
"The electromagnetic fields and the heat-related effects of smartphones can indeed have a detrimental effect on sperm quality and, yes, indeed, on testosterone levels as well."
"Phones emit radio frequency electromagnetic waves and have potential adverse effects on brain, heart, endocrine system, and reproductive function."
"Probably not a problem for most males to carry their phone. But probably best to not carry it in the front pocket. Maybe even avoid carrying it in the back pocket as well."
@hubermanlab
I come back to this speech every once in a while:
“in the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches
… what percentage of points do you think I won in those matches?
only 54%.”
Simple test for gauging recovery and workout readiness:
"How do you know when a muscle is ready to be challenged again?"
"If you're training when you're really sore, it's probably not a great idea and it's a good indication that that muscle's not recovered."
"When you start to see a drop-off of 10% or so, or even greater, of your grip output, you really should skip the gym that day."
@trainer2thepros on @hubermanlab
today's lifts !! far from the heaviest weights i have touched, but i'm pretty happy considering i basically had under two weeks of training for this meet. :-) anyways see you in fort worth !!