Teens, imposter syndrome, entrepreneurship & EF
Parents, this one is for teens who struggle with Executive Function, think outside the box, and who might make awesome entrepreneurs someday. It also discusses how Imposter Syndrome can hold them back. Check it out, share it with your child if you think they will like it.
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Video Transcript: Click here to download the transcript PDF.
Hey, what’s up, students? It’s me, Seth with SethPerler.com. I am what’s called an executive function coach, based in Colorado, and I help struggling students navigate this thing called education so that you can have an awesome life. And in this video, I’m going to tell you about you becoming an entrepreneur. And I’m going to be talking about what’s called ‘executive function,’ and I’m going to talk about something called an “imposter syndrome.” So here’s the first thing. If you struggle with executive function, that means that you struggle with organization, motivation, you always have lates, incompletes, zeros, missing work, you argue with your parents about homework, you have a lot of good excuses. You like to argue with your parents about stuff, you don’t like to ask your teachers for help, particularly if you’re in middle or high school. So school. I struggled with that, a lot of people do. And if that’s you, be honest with yourself, and that’s cool. But the point is, how do we have a great life? Well, a lot of my students that I work with are what are called ‘neurodiverse,’ they have a diverse brain, they think differently, they don’t fit in the box. And this is good. You don’t want to fit in the box, you want to be you, you want to be the best you that you can be. You want to develop your strengths and the good things about yourself and work on your weaknesses. But we spend a lot of time working on weaknesses in schools, but it’s really more about the strengths as far as I’m concerned.
So, my students who don’t fit in the box, and who really struggle with this school stuff, and they’re not that into school, and they struggle with homework and all these things. They have a different brain and they know it. They’re creative, or they just think differently than most people think. These kids have enormous potential for becoming entrepreneurs. What that means is that you, literally you, can do anything, anything. You’ve got a short life, you got maybe a 100 years slip, what are you gonna do with it? How old are you now? How much more of your life do you have left? And what do you want to do with it? What matters to you? What is purposeful to you? What is interesting, what are you passionate about? I know some of you watching are like, “Yeah, I don’t, I’m not really passionate about anything. I’m not into anything.” That’s cool. Just at this point, explore everything in your life. Don’t be on screens all day long, and stuck in that stuff, and have a sedentary life. Go explore life and the world, you’ll figure out what you like, I promise you. You’ll figure out what matters to you. And you can, and when I say this, I mean this, you can do anything you want with your life. You can create any business, job, whatever matters to you, you can do that. If you’re able to execute, if you have decent (doesn’t have to be perfect), but decent executive function, then you can do anything, anything. So if you think when you get older, you might want to be an entrepreneur, you might not want to work behind a desk, or working in an office, or work a traditional job where you have a cool idea. I have one of my students who’s an amazing rock climber, everything outdoors, fishing, camping, rowing, whatever, he is into all of that, and he’s so good at it. He could develop a touring company that helps. He likes what’s called dirt bagging, which is people who like to live out of a van and rock climb all the time, or something like that. He could create a business where he could rent out, you know, the vans and the stuff and take people on tours. Anyhow, it’s endless what you can do. So you really can do crazy idea jobs, and do what you want to do if you can execute.
The thing is, is this, and this is a really important point. If you have an outside-the-box mind, and you like to think differently, you have different ways of coming up with things. You feel like sometimes people don’t understand you. But you know you have good ideas. And it’s outside-the-box, you’d like to think differently. And you think “Maybe someday I want to be an entrepreneur,” then inevitably, you will absolutely, positively, 100%, come up against this thing called ‘imposter syndrome.’ And I did this, I’ve done this many times in my business and every successful entrepreneur has done this. Your parents who’ve gone through this, we go through imposter syndrome. That means that we have situations in our life where we think “Who am I to start a business with rock climbing? Who am I, who says to start a business with executive function? Who am I to start this or that? Who am I to speak on this? Who am I to teach people about this? I don’t know enough. I’m not good enough for this.” With imposter syndrome, we’re saying, “Who am I to do this? I’m just a normal person. I can’t, you know, write a book or this or that.” No, every single thing that’s ever been done in the world has been done by people just like you, they’re not special. They’re not above it. They’re not magical. They weren’t given some magical spell that makes them more powerful or capable than anybody else. Okay. And they went through the imposter syndrome too. So that is normal to think “Who am I to do this?” That’s cool. The point is, is you want to do it anyway. So even though you’re asking yourself, “Oh I’m not really… I’m not…” So we have a lot of excuses. We have a lot of ‘buts’. “Yeah, I wish I could do that, but you can’t do it because of this. Oh yeah, but there’s a lot of people that already do that. Oh, yeah, but it’s too hard. Oh, yeah, but…” so we have a lot of excuses. That’s our mind telling us, “Yeah, it’s scary so I don’t want to do it.” And that that resistance holds us back in life. Okay. So everybody has imposter syndrome. The key to overcoming imposter syndrome is doing it anyway. Listen to the voices in your head, acknowledge them say, “Alright, Seth, thank you for telling me that I can’t do it. But I’m gonna try anyway”, and see what happens. And go for it.
Look, the world needs you. This is gonna sound cheesy, but you do have something special. You have special gifts, and talents, and interests, and passions, special things that nobody else has. Things that matter to you, things that you’re good at or interested in, that you can develop. Jimi Hendrix was nobody. Nobody knew him when he was a kid. The way Jimi Hendrix (I’m a guitarist, I love guitar) but the way Jimi Hendrix became Jimi Hendrix, is by playing for 1000s of hours. He didn’t magically become Jimi Hendrix overnight. And a lot of students that I work with get into this ridiculous, and I’ve done it too, this ridiculous perfectionism that says, “Oh, I tried guitar. I tried it for a year and I was horrible.” Yeah, try for 10 years and try playing 1000s of hours, then you’ll be awesome. This stuff doesn’t happen overnight, we have to really take our time. People, we live in a society, and culture, and a world that’s all about instant. Quick, fast. We want things just like that. That is not reality. If you want to build something awesome that you love, that brings you high quality of life and deep fulfillment, it is an investment. Putting a nickel in the piggy bank every day of whatever you want to develop towards. So you’re gonna feel imposter syndrome, you’re gonna have the resistance. “Oh, I can’t, but I can’t because I blah, blah, blah.” Listen to those voices and be like, “Thanks. Appreciate it. But I’m not listening to you.” I’m gonna not say, “Can I do it?” I’m gonna say “How can I do it?” That’s my last thing for you. Don’t say, “Can I do it? Yes or No.” That’s very binary. People get into perfectionism, they get stuck. They say “No, I can’t,” and they just stop.
Don’t say “Can I do it? Yes or no?” Say, “How can I make this happen?” How can you make something happen? The world needs you, your strengths, your interest, the world literally needs you to show up and develop your craziness, your quirkiness, your interestingness, the things that make you, you. They may make you a not successful student but will make you awesome, and incredible, and powerful, and amazing at doing something if you want to become an entrepreneur someday.
Anyhow, that’s all I have to say. Again, my name is Seth, SethPerler.com. I’m an executive function coach in Colorado. I hope you’re safe, healthy, happy, and connecting with others today. Go ahead, if you liked this and it helped you, please give it a thumbs up on YouTube. Leave a comment below, that helps me out. Subscribe on YouTube, that helps my stuff grow. And then check out my website and sign up there, I got some freebies and stuff. Have a great day. I will see you next Sunday