SCABs

You’re A Fake – by @robyn_frost

Robyn Frost

By Robyn Frost

You’re A Fake

It’s been 4 months since I got my place at SCA. I spent the first month on a high. Seriously high. I woke up each day like “hell yeah my future is looking bright AF I’m gonna make whatever work I want I’m off to SCA yaaasss”. I found my balls at the selection day, and they got bigger once I got my place. Getting into SCA felt like some sort of confirmation that the work I was making (controversial), and staying true to myself (cheesy I know), was the right thing to be doing. I kept making stuff I was excited about and that I cared about. Life was SWEET. 

I rode the high until month 2, when I was hit with the feeling that any day, Marc was going to phone me up and be like “yeah that place we gave you, that was for the other Robyn Frost. Lol bye”. I had this overwhelming feeling I’d somehow cheated my way in. Google informed me that this feeling was the ‘Impostor Phenomenon’, and that everyone experiences it at some point in their career. When you achieve something great, the Impostor Syndrome gatecrashes the party and tells you it’s only a matter of time before everyone realises you’re the wrong person for the job, that you’re a fraud, or you’ve faked it all. 

The real problem is when we feel like it’s ‘just us’, and that everyone else on earth has their shit together. The truth is, nobody has. I know this isn’t news to many people, but it can strike at any time and you’ve got to be prepared, because it’s a shocker. You doubt everything you’ve ever done and it’s crippling, especially when you have to churn out creative stuff on the daily. 

So how do you deal when you just can’t even?

  1. Stop comparing yourself to other people. Don’t always try and be the next Ogilvy or Superman. Be the first you. 
  2. Get down off your high horse and realise you’re a bit shit. It’s when we achieve something great that we start to think we’re more than we are. Before we know it we see some vision of ourselves that isn’t real then compare everything to it. STOP IT.
  3. Screenshot or save everything fab that’s said to you or about you, or anything you’ve done that you’re proud of. All those bits of good news, or ways you’ve helped people, or great chats you’ve had with people in industry, friends, etc. 
  4. Go scare yourself and take some risks and you’ll feel legit human again. I recommend: phone up or email (I hate phoning) some big dogs in the creative industries and ask them what they’ve seen this week that’s inspired them. Scary but sometimes you get cool answers. 
  5. Get on with writing SCABS and tackling the book list and you won’t have time for that stupid bit of your brain to take over?

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