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When Self-Doubt Takes the Mic: Stories and Science Behind Impostor Syndrome

Rewire your brain. Defeat impostor syndrome. Shine in the spotlight.

On Stage

Public speaking

Thought Leadership

Kris

Kelso

Business Faculty

minute read

Published on

October 27, 2025

Feelings of impostor syndrome can prevent you from serving your audience and doing your best work onstage. Photo courtesy of Kris Kelso.

It’s unlikely you’ll face an actual heckler in your speaking career. But almost every time we step onstage, voice an idea, or engage with other successful individuals, they show up: the hecklers in our heads.

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These ones don’t lurk in the back of the room, but rather, in the dark corners of our minds. They don’t shout hostilities, they whisper them, at the most inopportune moments, for only our ears to hear.

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Impostor syndrome shows up differently for everyone. Our personal histories and unique triggers cause us to feel inadequate, insecure, and anxious.

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Whether it’s a light case of pre-event jitters or a more serious case of project paralysis, if left unchecked, impostor syndrome can quickly erode your confidence and effectiveness as a speaker, author, and thought leader.

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It can make you overanalyze, second-guess, and shrink—even when you know you’re great at what you do.

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It can deter you from making big choices (onstage and in life) and force you to play it safe.

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Worst of all, it can cement your focus on yourself instead of your audience. And that’s a huge roadblock that prevents you from achieving your primary goal: to serve your audience.

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The good news? You have the power to rewire your brain. With a few simple shifts, you can turn anxiety into excitement that can fuel you on your thought-leadership journey.

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Don’t Let Impostor Syndrome Stop You From Doing the Work You Were Meant to Do

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As funny as it sounds, I experienced impostor syndrome while writing a book about impostor syndrome (oh, the irony).

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In between gathering research, creating an outline, and writing chapter after chapter, I would ask myself:

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“Am I really qualified to write this book?”

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“Why would anybody want to hear what I have to say?”

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“Who am I to call myself an expert in self-doubt?”

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Of course, facing those feelings of inadequacy only made me feel even more unqualified. It’s a sinister cycle of negative self-talk that stunts your progress, destroys your self-esteem, and prevents you from doing the work you were meant to do. Over and over again, I thought:

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“If I haven’t conquered impostor syndrome yet, how can I write a book about it?”

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Fortunately, I used the same strategies I’ll share with you today to silence the inner critic and finish writing my book, Overcoming the Impostor: Silence Your Inner Critic and Lead With Confidence. You see, the reality is, I had studied impostor syndrome—a lot. I’d read pages upon pages of research and had personally interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs.

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You don’t have to be tremendously unique or perfectly perfect to share a message that will serve your audience. (And, thank goodness, because that would disqualify all of us.) You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to have the courage to find your voice and the determination to silence the inner critics, no matter how often they appear.

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Why Impostor Syndrome Shows Up in High-Achievers

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Impostor syndrome is actually more common in high-achievers. (Congratulations, you’ve made it! Enjoy an extra dose of anxiety to celebrate.)

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For speakers, authors, and thought leaders who are often in the spotlight, there are a few particulars worth noting.

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You’re put on a pedestal.

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Being seen onstage positions you as a trusted authority and opens doors to valuable opportunities. Public speaking—when delivered with craft, confidence, and impact—elevates you in the minds of your audience. You’re given a seat at the head table alongside CEOs, executives, and company leaders.

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However, it can also lead to uninvited inquiries from your internal hecklers: Do I really deserve this? Are they treating me like something I'm not? When more and more people start to look to you as an authority in a space, feelings of self-doubt can emerge.

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As speakers, we often talk about things we're still figuring out. We talk about areas where we’ve struggled, failed, and persevered. That can make us feel as if we shouldn’t be an authority.

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But the truth is: you have learned valuable lessons through those struggles that both qualify you and solidify your expertise. Through persevering and figuring it out (often the hard way), you’ve gained valuable insights your audience is anxious to hear.

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Proficiency makes it feel easy.

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As you develop mastery in a certain area, it gets easier for you. By virtue of the fact that it becomes easy, your brain subconsciously undermines its value. (Your brain thinks difficult = impressive, while easy = ordinary.)

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For speakers in particular, the hours and hours of rehearsal and the time you invested honing your craft to become a great communicator sort of disappear when you step onstage. Everything just flows and it feels easy.

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Audience members think: “That’s incredible, I could never do that.” For you, it’s just another Tuesday.

Full Transcript

Don't

devalue your speaking skills just because it now feels easy or commonplace.

remember the deep work, time, and effort you put in to achieve mastery.

A few weeks ago, I emceed a conference in Nashville, TN. After the event, someone came up to me and said, “You're so natural onstage; you just riffed and flowed and responded to whatever happened.”

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It’s easy for me to downplay proficiency by saying something like, “That's just what you do when you're up there.” But the reality is, I’ve trained for years to be able to show up onstage in that way. Just because it’s easy now doesn’t mean it was easy to accomplish.

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Success puts you in the company of other successful people.

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When you’re surrounded by other successful people—speakers with fees double or triple yours, authors with a library of published books, thought leaders with massive followings—it can feel like you’re behind.

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You’re not.

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The truth is: the fact that you’re even in proximity to those people is a sign of your success.

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When I wrote my book in 2020, I only knew about a dozen authors. Now, five years later, I know hundreds. Sometimes it feels like everyone I know has written a book!

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The same goes for public speaking. When you’re surrounded by other talented speakers (especially inside the HEROIC community), our profession can seem normal. We prepare a speech, get onstage, and deliver it—that’s just what we do.

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However, that commonality can cause us to minimize and devalue ourselves and our work. It’s still an incredibly rare thing that we do, and not many people can do it.

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That’s why we need to constantly evaluate our perspective. Sharing stage time and interacting with higher and higher caliber people means we’re growing and progressing, not that we’re falling behind.

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How to Rewire Your Brain and Overcome the Impostor

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The next time those inner hecklers get worked up, try these four techniques for rewiring your brain and overcoming the impostor. Each of these strategies is backed by science and years of research and experimentation. They’ve worked for me and for hundreds of entrepreneurs and leaders across the country.

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#1 Reframe Anxiety as Excitement

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When impostor syndrome strikes and you start to feel anxious, your first thought might be to try breathing exercises or calming techniques to escape those feelings. However, going from a heightened emotional state to a calm one is challenging.

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It’s much easier to reframe anxiety as excitement or anticipation (I go into more depth about this in a different article I wrote not too long ago). Studies have shown that this technique is actually more effective than suppressing anxious feelings.

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You see, anxiety and excitement both produce very similar physical sensations: increased heart rate, “butterflies” in your stomach, those pre-event jitters. So, when those feelings arise, you can rewire your brain by saying, “I’m not anxious, I’m excited” or “I’m not scared, I’m anticipating something great.”

Don't

try to escape the anxious state; this is often counterproductive and futile.

harness anxious feelings and use positive self-talk to turn them into energy-packed statements like “I’m excited” or “I’m anticipating something great.”

#2 Fall Back on Your Preparation

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Don’t lose sight of the effort, energy, and time you put in to get to where you are today. Especially if you’re a HEROIC Alumni who’s spent months mastering the craft of writing and performing transformational speeches. Your training differentiates you from some of the speakers, audience members, and leaders you might feel intimidated by.

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Just like preparing and studying for a test increases your confidence when taking the exam, your level of preparation before a gig can decrease feelings of anxiety. Paired with positive self-talk, you’re well on your way to kicking those inner hecklers to the curb.

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When you start to feel impostor syndrome creep in, remember you can always fall back on your preparation. You’ve rehearsed. You’ve prepared. You’re ready to take the stage.

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#3 Fact-Check Your Feelings: Don’t Believe Everything You Think

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Just a few days before giving a big speech at an industry event, a HEROIC Alumna called me and said, “I’m really nervous about giving this speech; I don’t know if I can do this. Why would they want to hear from me?”

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This successful woman has a podcast, one well-regarded in her industry. She's put in a lot of time researching her topic. She's trained at HEROIC and is a powerful and effective communicator. But that didn’t stop impostor syndrome from creeping in.

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As we talked, I told her, “Here’s what I observe about you: You’re a leader and a voice in your industry. You’ve done original research that no one else has done. It’s solid, it’s sound, and it’s been validated. That means you have something to offer that’s unique and valuable. And, you’ve been trained at HEROIC—you know how to deliver onstage, how to show up in a room, how to perform, and how to share a message that changes the way people feel, think, and act.”

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I didn’t give her a pep talk. I simply confronted her with the facts. By objectively looking at all of the things in your life and career that have led you to this point and qualified you for this opportunity, you can minimize feelings of anxiety and regain confidence.

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As we ended our conversation, I told her, “Objectively speaking, there is literally no one else in the world qualified to deliver this speech, other than you.”

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She realized that she was prepared and she was tremendously capable of delivering a powerful and insightful speech for her industry. The facts were clear. She was prepared to make an impact and transform her audience. And guess what? She did.

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#4 Shift Your Focus to Your Audience

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Ultimately, impostor syndrome is a focus on you, the speaker. When you start worrying about what everyone thinks about you, how you appear onstage, and whether or not your ideas are good enough, you’re not serving your audience.

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Onstage, when you shift your focus from yourself to your audience, you’ll feel more comfortable and more confident. Your goal is to serve the people in front of you, provoke new ways of thinking, and inspire them to make the changes that matter.

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As you remember your true purpose as a speaker and craft a performance that’s completely in the service of your audience, there will be no time or space left for negative thoughts, inner hecklers, or impostor syndrome.

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Ditch the Peanut Gallery, It’s Time to Step Into the Spotlight

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From the very first moment students step onto HEROIC’s Campus, they’re invited into a space that dares them to dream bigger, move out of their comfort zone, and become world-class performers, in every sense of the word.

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Both onstage and off, deciding to create rather than critique makes all the difference. In craft and confidence, in progress and prowess, deciding to silence the inner critic is essential.

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These four techniques are your trusty sidekicks in outwitting the impostor and doing your boldest, most brilliant work yet. But the golden thread through it all is this: the decision to be a performer, not a critic.

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And as you lean into that truth and choose to step into the spotlight, you might just find there’s simply no room left for those invisible hecklers. It’s a sold-out show, and only your biggest fans are in the audience, waiting for you to take the stage.

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‍

Success puts you in the company of other successful people.

‍

You’re not.

‍

The truth is: the fact that you’re even in proximity to those people is a sign of your success.

‍

When I wrote my book in 2020, I only knew about a dozen authors. Now, five years later, I know hundreds. Sometimes it feels like everyone I know has written a book!

‍

However, that commonality can cause us to minimize and devalue ourselves and our work. It’s still an incredibly rare thing that we do, and not many people can do it.

‍

How to Rewire Your Brain and Overcome the Impostor

‍

#1 Reframe Anxiety as Excitement

‍

Dont

try to escape the anxious state; this is often counterproductive and futile.

harness anxious feelings and use positive self-talk to turn them into energy-packed statements like “I’m excited” or “I’m anticipating something great.”

#2 Fall Back on Your Preparation

‍

When you start to feel impostor syndrome creep in, remember you can always fall back on your preparation. You’ve rehearsed. You’ve prepared. You’re ready to take the stage.

‍

#3 Fact-Check Your Feelings: Don’t Believe Everything You Think

‍

As we ended our conversation, I told her, “Objectively speaking, there is literally no one else in the world qualified to deliver this speech, other than you.”

‍

#4 Shift Your Focus to Your Audience

‍

Ditch the Peanut Gallery, It’s Time to Step Into the Spotlight

‍

Both onstage and off, deciding to create rather than critique makes all the difference. In craft and confidence, in progress and prowess, deciding to silence the inner critic is essential.

‍

Don't