Welcome to Happiness Simplified, a weekly podcast about the simple things that can make your life awesome. Part of being human is having negative thoughts creep in and cloud your mind – these are the “dragons” that hinder people from reaching their goals. But, should these thoughts have all the power? How do we counteract the negativity? Listen as Kayvon and Dai takes us into a deeper discussion of The Imposter Syndrome and provide you with tips on how you can control your dragons.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:28 – Introduction to the podcast

01:27 – Dai and Kayvon met at Crossfit

02:09 – Today’s episode is about the Imposter Syndrome

02:30 – Imposter Syndrome is the situation people get into when they set out to pursue a goal or dream

03:00 – Steven Pressfield’s books, Do the Work and The War of Art explain the Imposter Syndrome

03:25 – As human beings, the next thing that comes to our minds after positive thoughts is negative thoughts

04:15 – You can’t get away from negative thoughts, but you can learn to control them

04:30 – “Defeat the resistance”

05:11 – The Imposter Syndrome causes entrepreneurs to think they are not able enough to achieve their goals

06:03 – Kayvon shares about his experience with the Imposter Syndrome

07:14 – The Imposter Syndrome is just an illusion

07:47 – Dai alludes to the book, The Secret

08:48 – The first step in dealing with Imposter Syndrome is knowing that it isn’t the only voice you hear or have

09:39 – Acknowledge the voice, first, before dealing with it

10:09 – Kayvon explains that people get inspired from biographies because people see the “human” inside those success stories

10:32 – The Domino Effect is like a vortex

11:07 – Life is like a spiral that goes either up or down

11:49 – All you have to do is to change the first direction of your path

12:39 – “Remember, it’s not as big and scary as it feels”

13:14 – “Remember your previous successes in life”

14:04 – Dai wrote an article about his experience running his first half-marathon, this year

14:40 – How you deal with the Imposter Syndrome is totally up to you

15:46 – Dai shares about Kayvon’s mental fortitude

17:39 – Kayvon heard about his mental fortitude from a lot of different people over the past year

18:02 – What Kayvon thinks of himself is the exact opposite of what people think about him

19:36 – Kayvon shares a conversation he had with his daughter, in 2013

21:30 – Catch that positive thought in yourself BEFORE the negative thoughts creep in

22:53 – Turn your dream to a vision, and then, a plan

23:28 – Kayvon sets a criteria that defines success in order to bring clarity to his mind

25:27 – It’s just one day at a time

26:12 – If what you are doing is public, backing out is so much harder to do

28:59 – There are real moments of self-doubt, but that’s when you have to remind yourself that you CAN do it

29:30 – Dai believes it comes down to self-introspection

31:45 – Reach out to people when you need help

32:49 – Reach out and leave us a comment on iTunes!

3 Key Points:

We’re only human—it’s normal to have negative thoughts and experience the Imposter Syndrome at different times in your life.

You cannot eliminate the possibility of having negative thoughts, BUT you can learn to control them.

Know yourself and believe that you CAN do whatever you set out to do.