We were lucky to catch up with Austin Sweeney recently and have shared our conversation below.
Austin, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
How did I? It’s a work in progress. It requires overcoming all of the time. I often forget that I operate while feeling like an imposter most of the time, so half the battle is remembering that I’m operating like that in the first place. A big thing is building a stack of undeniable proof that I am who I say that I am. It’s hard to feel like an imposter at the gym if you go to the gym everyday. You may feel like it at first, but after months of consistent gym attendance, you begin to settle in as a gym-goer and the imposter syndrome starts to dissipate. The same can be said of my work as a musician. Yes, I feel like I’m an imposter a lot. I feel like I’m getting away with something. Ultimately though, upon reflection, I know that I’m not an imposter. I write songs weekly at least, I study the guitar, I record albums, I play live shows constantly. Where’s the imposter? An imposter wouldn’t be neck-deep in all of these projects. Reminding myself of that fact certainly helps alleviate symptoms of the syndrome.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a PNW-born, AZ-based Americana musician. I’m a singer-songwriter as well as guitar player. I’ve toured the country as myself, as well as a lead guitar player in other bands. I was born and grew up on a family farm. I learned my work ethic from my parents and from the nature of farm work. Those ethics and worldview bleed into my songwriting. The title of the best musician is always up-for-grabs on any given stage, but I can say, without a doubt, that there’s a decent chance I’m the hardest working, and if I’m not, then I’m always willing to learn how to step up my game/work-ethic.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Work ethic. Self-knowledge. Humor.
Work ethic is self-explanatory. Get up before the sun and don’t stop until it’s time for bed. Learn to enjoy it, because it can be tremendously enjoyable to work diligently towards your destiny.
Self-knowledge. Inquire into yourself. Figure out why you do the things you do and why you enjoy or dislike the things you enjoy or dislike. Identify blind spots and weak points. There’s a tipping point on this skill that results in simple navel-gazing where you end up with diminishing returns, so that’s worth identifying. Be an active participant in your life. Study the regrets of people nearing the end of their life. What do they wish they would have done or should have experienced? Commit those things to memory and work tirelessly to avoid those same regrets. When you look at the regrets of the dying, you’ll notice that they aren’t all that unique. Realize that the most important things in life can be condensed down to like 5-10 things. Work hard, avoid or engage with those 5-10 “most important” things, and let the rest of life fall into place. If you live presently enough to take care of issues that crop up within each 24-hour period, you can stop worrying. It all works itself out in the end if you work hard, keep your eyes open, and check in with yourself.
Humor. Learn to configure your default state to be slightly amused rather than slightly annoyed. Life is weird and chaotic and unpredictable. Attempting to face that uncertainty with the utmost seriousness results in frustration that your “serious” effort wasn’t rewarded with “serious” results. It’s worth noting that it’s important to interact with life seriously, as it’s the only life we’ve got. However, if you can treat your days with professional seriousness, while maintaining a humor and awareness on a larger level, that we’re all in the midst of the big “Cosmic Joke”, you can become a much smoother operator, while vastly improving your joy in the here-and-now.
My advice is probably just a reconfigured paragraph of the above statements. Work hard, understand yourself, seriously laugh at the life we’re blessed with, and keep on truckin’.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It’s advertised as a book for artists and creatives, but it’s really a book for anybody. The key takeaway is how it identifies and defines the concept of capital-R “Resistance”. Resistance takes many forms. It actually takes any form that keeps you from sitting down and doing “Your Work”, whatever that means to you. It’s like that thing where you’re in school and you’ve got a big test coming up. This test will make or break your future. Yet, just before sitting down to study, you realize that you don’t want to study in a messy room. So you clean your room. This makes you realize that you’ve got dishes in the sink that need washing. So you wash the dishes. Finally, you can sit down to study… but wait! You realize that your sister’s birthday is tomorrow and while your studies are important, you need to get her a gift. You want to be a good sibling. So you go to the mall to get her a gift. You get the most splendid gift and feel good about yourself as you finally sit back down to study… but wait! On and on and on and on it goes. Resistance is what keeps you from doing what is most important. The more important the task, the stronger and more devious the Resistance becomes. Learning how to identify, address, and move through Resistance is the portal to a better and more fulfilled life. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://austinbsweeney.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/austinbsweeneymusic/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/austinbsweeney
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@austinbsweeney
Image Credits
Jenna Oxford, Kassi Pine, Kaeden Indelicato
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
