The imposter syndrome is something you’ve heard me speak about before on my podcast. But how do we give ourselves permission to be uncertain when we hear that inner voice that screams, “I feel like an imposter!” while we are delivering a speech or presentation?
Dr. Kelly Flanagan, psychologist, blogger, and author is not your typical clinical psychologist. Every week, he has a community of more than 50,000 people that wait for his newsletter where he shares personal stories from his blog, UnTangled. I am one of them. His blog is about telling a redemptive story where he breaks down the suffering and pain of life and makes room for love, grace, and belonging.
The sharing of stories is not common in a psychology practice. However, it has brought him and his family onto the The Today Show. It has also spearheaded his journey to writing his new book, Loveable: Embracing What is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life.
Kelly’s commencement address, Chase Your Dreams but Chase Them for the Right Reasons, gave me another reason to interview him.
Come join me as Kelly shares how we can normalize the imposter syndrome, why we don’t need to plan too far ahead, and how we can embrace the voice of shame and our worthiness. You’ll learn many nuggets about how he was confronted with the imposter syndrome at his commencement address, the reason for his writing his heartfelt letter to his daughter, and the process he went through to publish his book.
Show Highlights
3:19 What does being redemptive mean?
5:45 How Kelly became comfortable about sharing his personal stories on his blog and with his clients
7:45 How to push the boundaries of traditional clinical psychology but making sure it still serves the client
9:09 The speaker vulnerability crisis and managing it
11:00 Embracing your worthiness, getting on stage and knowing you’re alright, but what are the chickens going to think?
14:00 The ‘Can we all agree on one thing about beauty?‘ post and how Kelly was invited to the Today’s Show
15:40 ‘Of course you’re an imposter!‘ and normalizing the imposter syndrome
16:32 How when we say, “I feel like an imposter” is actually an important moment of becoming more authentic
19:10 Kelly speaks about his experience delivering his commencement speech 20 years after graduating
20:00 How Kelly handled it when he didn’t receive a lot of feedback from the crowd during his speech
22:01 The first core tenant of his speech: Give yourself permission to be uncertain
22: 35 The second core tenant of his speech: Don’t plan too far ahead
24:14 The third core tenant of his speech: The voice of shame and the voice of grace
26:25 Why it’s important to set aside time to be still, quiet, and to listen to the voice of grace
27:32 Kelly answers questions from his new book, Loveable: Embracing What is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life
35:54 He shares about the process of writing a book including submitting proposals, writing, sending revisions, and getting ready for the launch
37:35 The Karma Envelopes and what they mean
Resources
Read Dr. Kelly Flanagan’s blog