Hi everyone,
Welcome to Day 30 of the ‘30 Ways To Play With Your Imposter Syndrome’ Challenge.
The final day.
The 30th way to play with your imposter syndrome.
Thanks for joining me on this little adventure.
With all its ups and downs.
(No really – Thank you! You’re the best!)
Today’s theme:
Do you feel like you’ve had too much success and will have to pay it back somehow? Here’s why you’re wrong.
Today’s story:
The train fare hack costing millions
Key quotes:
“Sneaky commuters have managed to exploit a travel smart card loophole to diddle the taxpayer out of $8 million in unpaid fares, new government figures have revealed.
“A total of $7.8 million is now outstanding on 1.1 million Opal cards. Last year alone, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) failed to collect $3.8 million owed by commuters using the Opal hack.
“This allows passengers to tap on successfully even if they have only a few dollars left on their cards.
“If the journey cost ends up exceeding the minimum fare, the balance on the card will go into a minus amount with the shortfall clawed back next time the user tops up.
“But some passengers are simply ditching cards with a negative balance and then starting afresh with a new card.
“Smart cards in most Australian cities come at a cost of about $6, usually refundable, which means any fare shortfall can be at least partly covered.
However, Opal cards are free to acquire so nefarious commuters can simply ditch the card that’s in arrears and then top up a new one.”
Do you feel like you’ve travelled the journey of success on borrowed credit?
That despite your successes that show what you can accomplish…
… you’ve overdrawn on the success you actually deserve?
And when life demands you pay back the debt…
… do you fear you’ll finally be outed as a fraud, a failure who didn’t deserve to accomplish what you did?
Imposter syndrome can feel that way sometimes.
But overdrawing didn’t bother the above ‘sneaky commuters’.
Because the Opal cards cost nothing, the travellers used that as a loophole.
They could overdraw their Opal cards into a negative balance, and not pay it back.
They just ditched it for a fresh one.
Perhaps we could learn something from those transport thieves.
Now, I believe honesty is a better way to go.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t pay your debts.
But the point I want to make is…
… people who used that loophole had freed themselves from certain ways of thinking.
They weren’t stuck with the travel card they had.
They realised they didn’t have to pay back the debt.
They realised they could start fresh.
And a fresh start can make some of us very uncomfortable.
Over a year ago now, I realised I was doing really well in life.
(At least, in my own judgement.)
I finally felt on top of life’s challenges (for the time at least).
Work was great.
My health felt fantastic.
My confidence in myself had skyrocketed.
And many other parts of my life were wonderful.
It felt weird.
It felt unfamiliar.
It felt… free.
This actually made me uncomfortable.
I kept waiting for the downside.
I felt like I had overdrawn on my ‘success’ account.
And that I had to pay it back somehow by having some terrible thing happen to me.
Just to put things back into balance.
I waited.
And waited.
But the terrible thing never happened.
And I realised… why should I have to pay anything back?
While the ‘sneaky commuters’ realised they didn’t have to pay back their travel card debts…
… I’ve realised I also don’t have to pay back my ‘success debt’.
Because unlike the travel card debt…
… my ‘success debt’ doesn’t exist.
It’s just something I made up in my head.
Perhaps some of my success really is just luck.
(It wouldn’t surprise me.)
But even if life hands me good luck, I don’t have to pay it back by inflicting bad luck on myself.
And life doesn’t seem to demand that I do.
(I’m sure I’ve got challenges up ahead. But it’s got nothing to do with a cosmic balancing of success.)
I’m actually allowed to enjoy my success sometimes, without the idea I have to pay it back somehow.
And for whatever reason, I find enjoying it easier to do these days.
The next time you feel imposter syndrome, I’d like to ask this…
What ways of thinking are you trapped in?
Have you noticed what they are?
Are there any loopholes in how you think, that might free you?
How could you think about things instead?
For me, that’s what was fun about this ’30 Ways To Play With Your Imposter Syndrome’ Challenge.
I had to come up with 30 ways of thinking about imposter syndrome.
30 angles.
Each point of view I took about imposter syndrome, I tried to find the bright side.
It means depending on the situation, I now have 30 choices of angles to think about it.
If I sense my imposter syndrome weighing me down, blocking me, or trying to rip down my worth…
… I can switch to the angle that’ll help me most in that moment.
And if I come up with new helpful angles… even better!
And you know what’s even better than me coming up with helpful angles?
When YOU do it.
You’re more familiar with your thoughts than I am.
The more perspectives you can take, the more loopholes and alternatives you can find.
And find a point of view that’s the perfect fit for YOU.
I hope this challenge helped kick-start your own perspectives, insights, and realisations.
And I wish you all the best in your own journey.
Keep it real.
(Not imposter-y.)
Good luck!
Lucus “a kaleidoscope of perspectives” Allerton
Screenshot proof below:
(You’ll see it only if you have images enabled.)
Taken 2018-11-29 at 5.12.17 pm