Too often we are made to feel that fear or imposter syndrome are character flaws or failings, especially in business. A chance experience years ago put me on a path to redefining fear and imposter syndrome as data, something to observe and analyse, rather than a failing.
Years ago, I came across a video of Simon Sinek and Seth Godin and they were talking about how fear shows up in our bodies and how it is the same as when we are excited. I took this, taught it to my then school-aged kids and then to clients and audiences. I liked the talk because it reframed fear, made us realise that sometimes we go to the negative emotion out of habit not reality, and that it was a way to interrupt and externalise our thoughts before reacting.
So what happened next? Well, my kids termed the phrase ‘ner-cited’ a nod to them feeling nervous and excited about what was making them feel afraid. Clients were able to consider their options, rather than react to their emotions – this lead to improved decision making and outcomes. And for me, I got out of my way and was able to step more boldly into the space I wanted to occupy with my business.
Why it’s important to look at fear or imposter syndrome as data rather than emotional labelling
Looking at the data is not the run of the mill way of addressing fear or imposter syndrome, unless you’re someone who understands Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and understands that there is a body of people who want to be able to understand why they do the things they do rather than habitually react and mindlessly respond. (You know, that whole idea that the definition of idiocy is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.)
Looking at the underlying data behind fear or imposter syndrome works because it retrains our brains to pause and observe before responding. It teaches us that not all emotions deserve actions. It trains us to look for past evidence of our ability to navigate fear, imposter syndrome, or other experiences; thereby retraining our brain away from fear and towards the reality of how capable we are.
There are many benefits to this, it helps us feel safe, it moves the control from external to internal, we become active in our emotions rather than reactive, and it supports resilience.
Labelling our emotions fails when we do not have the language to explain or even identify them. It’s common for people to not be able to name what they are feeling and that is the first step in being able to address them. You need to know what something is before you can know how to approach it. Lions and tigers are still cats after all. However, when we look for the data on our behaviours that express or start an emotion, we don’t need that emotional language; we need to stop and take stock of what happened and what triggered it.
Common misconceptions of fear, imposter syndrome, and data
Most information business owners read about fear and imposter syndrome is based in personal experience, at best it will touch on some aspects of the science that sits behind it. Which may or may not apply to them. If a business owner goes looking for a broader or deeper understanding, they are confronted with research and a diagnostic model of managing mental illness that isn’t easily applied to owning and running a business. In short, it fails the people who rely on the information to help them earn an income, generate wealth, support their staff, and meet their customer needs.
Here are a few examples where the broadly available information goes wrong.
1. Fear isn’t a moral failing
Fear is a response. It’s a set of biological responses (sweating, churning stomach, fight/flight) in response to a perceived threat. Broadly speaking, fear in business is made out to be a weakness, a lack of discipline, or a lack of confidence. It’s none of these. Fear is not a character flaw.
Fear is your brain trying to keep you safe based on past experiences, old habits, or even outdated assumptions. Worst of all fear is a response to a story you have adopted from what someone else has said or said about you.
When you remove judgment, what remains is the data of the trigger and what the fear is trying to protect.
2. Imposter syndrome isn’t a diagnosis
Imposter syndrome isn’t in the diagnostic manual psychologists use and it doesn’t have a special code that doctors use. It’s not a diagnosis, it’s how you feel and not something you have. Imposter syndrome is a collection of thoughts, behaviours, and avoidance strategies people use when they feel or fear they are being judged or exposed.
Here’s the brain f*ck on this one… anything you do can be examined, judged, exposed and thereby understood and changed when you look at the data driving it. (And you have the courage and vulnerability to change it, including imposter syndrome.)
3. Confidence isn’t built — it’s evidenced
You’re not born with confidence. You learn it from looking back at what you’ve done or overcome and going “damn, I did that”.
Confidence comes from proof, evidence, data.
When you look back over what you’ve done and instead of seeing fear, you realise that you’re capable. That trust and proof in your abilities is you backing yourself. It’s your evidence that you’re not starting from scratch, even if you’re new to a particular task, you’re not new to all tasks and you have the proof to back you in your success. You’ve got this. You can be confident of that.
4. Avoidance is data, not laziness
Procrastination, overthinking, hiding, or delaying; none of these mean you’re lazy or unmotivated. Avoidance is a way to protect you from something. To be fair, we tell people to avoid an accident or hurting themselves.
When clients look at the data behind their avoidant behaviour, the data usually points to:
- fear of being judged
- fear of getting it wrong/failure
- fear of disappointing someone
- fear of losing control
If you treat avoidance as information instead of a flaw, you can uncover exactly what fear is trying to shield you from.
5. Perfectionism isn’t a personality trait — it’s a protection strategy
I can personally say that this is the one that hits home hardest. I used to think that my perfectionism was a way to control my situation, environment, outcomes. The thing is, when you dig a little deeper, perfectionism is fear trying to keep you safe from:
- criticism
- rejection
- failure
- visibility
- or disappointing people
It isn’t an identity. It’s not really a way to control. It’s a shield.
And when you treat it as data, you can finally ask the real question:
What am I afraid will happen if this isn’t perfect? And so what if it isn’t? Would it really matter in the long run?
How fear & imposter syndrome shows up as data in business
Once you stop treating fear or imposter syndrome as personal flaws and start treating them as data,
you realise something important:
The data is already there.
It’s in your behaviour.
Every. Single. Day.
It just shows up in ways most business owners don’t recognise, like:
Delaying a price rise (even when you know you’re overdue)
Sound familiar? I know this is a common one for me. I think I’m being kind to my clients. Perhaps you think this is a wise move. Reality is that this isn’t “being strategic.” It’s fear trying to protect you from judgment, backlash, or being seen as “too much.”
What it really says is that this is what I see my value as. Here’s the kicker, we teach/show people our value and if we don’t think we’re worth it, why should anyone else?
Rewriting a proposal 7 times
That’s not “attention to detail.” That’s imposter syndrome looping through, “If I get it perfect, they can’t criticise me.”
Here’s the thing, delaying doesn’t make the proposal better. Even wine and cheese go bad when left too long. The best artists know when to step away from their masterpiece because “one last tweak” can mean ruining their work.
Remember, it’s a proposal for work, not the work itself. By this stage, the client already has a solid idea of your capabilities, they’re convinced that you’re a good fit at this stage.
Spending hours tweaking Canva instead of emailing the client
So it might not be Canva. It could be sorting your inbox. It could be filing. It could be anything to avoid a task you fear. This is one of the most common avoidance data points. It’s not laziness — it’s fear redirecting you to a “safe” task you can control.
This is your data point.
Saying “I’m fine” when you’re absolutely not
That’s a protective pattern. Not speaking up keeps you safe from vulnerability, conflict, rejection, or being misunderstood. The issue is that it costs you emotionally and professionally. Regardless of whether you actually don’t understand, aren’t coping, were not ok with the comment.
Perhaps asking for help wasn’t something that was safe to do. Perhaps boundaries weren’t modelled or respected. Perhaps martyr behaviour was valued. Whatever it is, it’s data you can use.
Doing everything yourself “because it’s faster”
Yes, I am this person and I tell myself that it’s because the mental load of explaining how to do it is too much in comparison. This is, this isn’t efficiency. It’s fear of delegating, fear of loss of control, or fear of someone discovering you don’t “have it together.”
The data, at least for me, is similar to the one above – martyr data. Consider that the other person really does want to help and possibly could do it just as well, if not better, if not faster. In other thoughts, give them the pleasure of doing something nice for you.
Waiting for the ‘perfect time’ to launch, hire, or scale
I have a question, what if that time never comes? There’s a reason why you need to do this thing and now is a good time if you need it.
Waiting isn’t caution, it’s fear of risk or fear of failure masquerading as strategy. Not taking action on something you or your business needs is never a good strategy.
Apologising before you even start speaking
To all the reforming good girls and boys or people pleasers, this isn’t politeness. It’s the fear of being judged before they’ve even heard you. It’s a way to stay safe. Like a dog that cowers when you raise your hand, it doesn’t know if you’re about to pat it or something else, and so it makes itself smaller trying to stay safe.
These behaviours aren’t flaws or bad habits.
They’re data signals that point to:
- what you fear
- who you’re trying to avoid disappointing
- where you don’t trust yourself yet
- what your nervous system thinks is unsafe
- which old stories or experiences still have power
The key then is to have courage and vulnerability to stand up to and for yourself and to objectively analyse that data. Remember that quote about idiocy being repeating the same thing and expecting a different result. This is your time to break that cycle, be brave, and do something different with this data. What you’ve been doing up until now hasn’t worked, trying something different after analysing the data may just yield a different result.
This is exactly why so many business owners resonate with the 12 Symptoms of Fear — because once you see your behaviour as information instead of failure, everything shifts.
What happens in your brain when you look for data with fear or imposter syndrome
I want to take a moment to inject a little science in here. It’s important because it will help you to understand why this work matters. The other thing is that, if you’re like me, you like to understand what’s happening behind the scenes and my explanation will leave you with a memorable mental image.
Fear, emotion, fight/flight/freeze all originate and even the associated memories are stored in the limbic system. The limbic system is affectionately called the lizard brain as it a common and primitive part of brain structures across animals.
When we experience fear, when we recount negative memories, when we are ‘triggered’ by events it’s our limbic system that activates. The limbic system is a reactionary centre.
Here’s the thing, when we look for data, when we organise information, when we plan or rationalise we activate the frontal lobe of our brain. The frontal lobe is commonly called the logical part of the brain, because that’s where logic, reasoning, perspective-taking, and decision-making happens.
So when we look for the data on what is behind the behaviour, fear, or imposter syndrome – rather than reacting with the emotion – we switch from the limbic system to the frontal cortex. We go from lizard brain to logical brain.
This matters because switching on and over to the logical brain, switches off the lizard brain. It interrupts the fear, flight/fight loop. And honestly, isn’t it better for you, your staff, your family, your business that you are more logical and less lizard?
How to avoid overthinking the data
Sometimes, when we start looking for the data behind fear or imposter syndrome, it can sometimes
lead to analysis paralysis. It’s like the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Alternatively, when you’ve spent so many years reacting from your limbic system, switching to the logical brain can feel unfamiliar or even hard. These are both perfectly normal feelings when you’re learning new skills we either go all in or we struggle with the unfamiliar. Here’s what you can do:
Observe the behaviour — don’t judge it
Overthinking kicks in when you turn data into self-criticism. Easily enough done when your brain is already programmed for it and it’s part you’re trying to reprogramme.
Instead of:
“Why am I like this?”
Try:
“Interesting… I’m avoiding this email again.”
Curiosity keeps you in the logical brain. Judgement drags you straight back to the lizard. Above all, of all the people in the world, you’re the most important person you need to show kindness to. (If you can’t do it why would anyone else?)
Look for patterns, not perfect answers
You don’t need a detailed breakdown of every fear response. What you do need is answers to these questions:
- What tends to trigger you?
- What do you usually avoid?
- What do you overdo?
- What story do you attach to it?
Trends give behavioural scientists important information and they are excellent predictors of future behaviour. The aim is to understand the past trends to change future behaviour and outcomes.
Use one grounding question to short-circuit the spiral
You need to flick your brain from lizard to logical, that means that you need to ask yourself a question. Remember, the limbic system quietens down as soon as the frontal lobe is activated.
Further into this blog, I’m going to get you to answer a few questions, the one to ask right now is:
“What is this protecting me from right now?”
This single question cuts through the noise, pulls you out of the emotional reaction, and anchors you back into the frontal lobe. It’s a fast way to stop overthinking before it starts.
4. Anchor yourself in evidence, not imagination
Fear lives in “what if.” Evidence lives in “what has already happened.”
Even one piece of proof like “I’ve handled something harder than this before”, is enough to regulate the fear response and bring you back into clarity. Your evidence doesn’t have to be an exact match to the issue you’re confronted with in the moment.
Your confidence is built not from positive thinking, but from positive past evidence.
5. Take one small action before your brain talks you out of it
Data gives you insight. Action creates new data. You are at the start of a process where you need to replace your current negative data set with a positive one, that takes insight and action. From here it will snowball.
The longer you sit in your head, the louder the fear gets. A tiny, imperfect action interrupts the old pattern and builds evidence that your brain can trust next time.
That’s how you slowly retrain yourself away from fear-based habits and into self-trust.
Questions you can ask yourself
Once you’ve interrupted the fear loop, shifted into your logical brain, and gathered the data behind your behaviour, the next step is making sense of it.
The following questions are grounded in psychology and are proven to help you uncover the story fear is trying to tell. The data and answers you uncover will help you to decide whether that story still deserves a role in your business.
Now I have the evidence, what is the story it comes from
Grounded in cognitive behavioural therapy, there’s always a story we are telling ourselves that fuels our behaviour. The thing is, when this story is one we’ve adopted because (examples from my life):
– someone told us we should do a particular thing (you should get into social media marketing, you should build an agency), or
– someone told us how they valued us (don’t you think you’re a bit to big for your boots, let someone else have a go, you haven’t done your time), or
– everyone else is doing that so it must be right (I need to be afraid of public speaking), or
– I’ve always been this way (because you’ve never questioned if it still needs to be).
Understanding what the story is and where/who it comes from moves the fear and imposter syndrome from emotion, through memory, to story to analyse. It again moves it from the limbic to the logical. From something you react to and now something to analyse.
What is the behaviour helping me to avoid
Avoidance is data. Remember, the limbic system is the home of the fight or flight response. Your thoughts are trying to keep you safe, but we need to know from what to be able to move on.
Could you be trying to avoid:
- Discomfort
- Conflict
- Decisions
- Risk
- Growth
- Judgment
When you know what you’re trying to avoid, then you can look for the evidence to see if what you’re trying to avoid is actually a logical threat or have you overcome this in the past?
Is there something or someone the behaviour is protecting me from
Again, your brain is trying to protect you. So it’s time to work out what? Could it be:
- Visibility
- Vulnerability
- Disappointment
- Shame
- Losing control
Naming it not only reduces its power, it gives you data to then look for the evidence to see if it’s logical and if there is evidence that you have overcome this in the past.
What do I get out of the behaviour
Every behaviour has a payoff, even the unhelpful ones. So what is it? Maybe you get:
- Safety
- Certainty
- Control
- Approval
- Temporary relief or respite
This question helps you to see the benefits of maintaining the fear or imposter syndrome thought pattern. Benefits are data points that show you the perceived value of the behaviour. Now you need to work off it they actually paid off and if the pay off is worth the discomfort.
The point of these questions
What I want you to remember is that you’re not interrogating yourself. This is how you begin understanding yourself. What you’ve been thinking about yourself has been hurting you, it has been hurting your business.
When you stop reacting from the lizard brain and start gathering the data behind your behaviour, you give yourself the chance to choose:
- the story you operate from,
- the direction you take,
- and the identity you show up in.
And that’s where self-trust grows. Need someone to help you through this? I’m here.
What I want you to remember is that you’re not interrogating yourself — you’re finally understanding yourself. For years, the stories you inherited, the fears you absorbed, and the habits you repeated have dictated how you show up in your business. They’ve kept you reacting instead of choosing. But the moment you shift out of the lizard brain, gather the data, and analyse the story behind your fear, everything changes.
You move from “something’s wrong with me” to “oh, this makes sense now.”
From reacting to responding.
From old stories to your story.
From fear running the show to you deciding what comes next.
And that’s the transformation:
when you understand the data behind your behaviour, you stop trying to fix yourself — and start trusting yourself again.
I’m here when you need me.