In my moments of quiet reflection, I always ask myself the same few questions.
Am I improving? Are my choices and actions moving me closer to the person I want to be? Have I made progress over the past day/week/month/year?
These are often followed by questions of self-flagellation: Why did I say that? What was I thinking? Why did I make that decision?
Maybe it’s a new job or even a new career. Perhaps it’s a promotion. It could be a spot in a graduate program or a leading role in a big show.
The details can vary, but the underlying thought remains: I don’t belong here and, worse, everyone will realize it any moment now and I’ll be shunned forever.
It’s called imposter syndrome and while it seems to affect all of us, we internalize it to the point that we believe it affects only us.
One of the perks of my job is that I am fortunate to sit in meetings with the leadership of the organization — President/CEO, COO, CFO, VP’s, fellow directors, managers, whomever.
I began playing organized basketball at the age of six.
By the age of ten, I was playing year-round for various travel teams in various leagues, almost always in the age bracket above mine. There was never an offseason. Camps, practices, summer leagues, fall leagues, spring leagues, open gyms – I did it all. When state rules prevented us from holding official practices, we all met at our point guard’s home and conducted practices on the full court in his backyard.
Basketball was an everyday thing.
There are people that take pride in being the last one at work, their car always in the parking lot, their light the only one on in an otherwise pitch-black office. Their career is their life. They’re still at their desk while the cleaning crew vacuums around them.
It’s been an interesting year for all of us, but for me, this was even more true.
2016 was my first full year with my own site.
Not coincidentally it is also the first year since 2012 in which I did not publish a book.
Of all the white male things that I never really got into – Nirvana, soccer, Vineyard Vines, poker, casual racism, blatant sexism – the one that I thought I’d like is golf.
I’ve been thinking about success a lot recently.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 