We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kate Tilton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kate, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that has held people back forever and we’re really interested to hear how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome to me is the feeling of doubt; that I am not good enough, that I cannot live up to expectations, and that my skills are not advanced enough. Imposter syndrome is the feeling of not being enough.
I am blessed to work at a job I love (connecting authors & readers, helping people) but sometimes I feel like my skills and talents are not enough, that people see me as far better than I am, that I am an imposter of this better version of Kate who can do and be everything. Someone I can never be.
And this self-doubt doesn’t just happen in our work lives. It can be in our personal lives too.
Am I really good at anything? Am I smart? Am I worth being friends with?
So how do we fight against this overwhelming feeling of not being enough? Here are the rules I live by that have helped me combat imposter syndrome.
- What I feel is not always the truth. Our feelings can lie to us. Just because we may feel like we are not enough does not mean it is true. I find reminding myself of this (by even saying it out loud to myself) is key to beating imposter syndrome.
- What I do is not what I will always do or who I am. When I first started on my career path I put my whole identity and self-worth into my job title. I was proud of the work I did and happy, but circumstances changed and suddenly I found myself jobless. Worse than that, I found myself without an identity. What we do for a living is not who we are, it is only a part of it. Reminding ourselves of this during times of struggle at work is key
- Being one thing today does not mean I won’t be something else in the future. You may be lazy one day but that does not mean you won’t be a hard worker the next. Remind yourself not to box yourself into labels. You can change. You can grow. You can have bad days where you may be unpleasant to be around but 99% of the time you are a great person to be with. Do not let one day define your life. Do not let one person define you.
Reminding myself of these three things helps me when I feel self-doubt creeping in. Beating self-doubt is never easy. The more people look to you (the more you publish, expand your network, grow your career, and get involved…) the more self-doubt can creep in. And when it does just remember: What I feel is not always the truth. What I do is not what I will always do or who I am. Being one thing today does not mean I won’t be something else tomorrow.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Hi, I’m Kate Tilton and I love helping others succeed.
My work at Kate Tilton’s Author Services, LLC allows me to help authors reach their goals and connect with readers.
I work with authors of all publication paths, from New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, award winners, and six-figure earning authors, to pre-publication authors, to authors somewhere in the middle. By standing beside authors as a partner, I turn scary and overwhelming things like marketing and finding an audience into tools we use to make an author’s dream a reality. I achieve this mission with one-on-one partnerships with authors and free resources on my site and many others.
You may have seen me in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, RT Book Reviews, or on Kobo Writing Life sharing my insight into the current publishing and marketing world. I’ve also shared my knowledge of the industry by contributing to The Self-Publisher’s Ultimate Resource Guide and by presenting at Book Expo America, NINC, and other venues. Kate Tilton’s Author Services, LLC was founded in 2010 after I was hired to work with a New York Times bestselling author as an assistant while I was finishing my last year of high school. The new challenge of running my own business fueled my creative right-brain and gave me the perfect job for my detail-oriented left-brain.
My creativity shines brightest when working on a problem or discovering new ways to do business. But for a more traditional form of creativity, I pen the occasional poem and enjoy the art of pottery and printmaking. I’m a cat-lover and fan of many geeky things. On most days you can find me curled up with tea and a good book, plotting world takeover, cuddling with my cats, or connecting authors and readers in any way I can.
For my 30th birthday this year I published my first poetry collection called YOU. It has been a dream of mine for so long to hold my own book in my hands and I’m so glad I hit that publish button!
You can pick up my poetry collection, learn more about me and how I may be able to help you by going to my website: katetilton.com.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I am so blessed to have found a job where I can lean into my natural strengths. I’ve always been super organized, and that skill has come in handy as I’ve helped authors run entire businesses with very little outside help. It’s a lot of work being your own publisher, marketer, publicist, bookkeeper, etc… and my skill for taking all those moving parts, organizing them, and making a plan of action has kept me in business for over ten years.
I also love to learn new things and analyze systems to see how they can be improved. It’s such a joy for me to be able to create systems for authors that work for them!
Having the natural inclination to be a problem solver, with the tools to learn new things and how to use them, put them into practice, and teach others has been vital in this job.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I am a big proponent of focusing on growing our strengths instead of chasing after weaknesses. One of the authors I work with, Becca Syme, gives this example in her presentations.
A study was done where they took a group of people who were naturally fast readers and a group of people who were slow readers and had them take the same speed-reading course. Those who were slow readers improved some, while those who were already fast improved greatly. I can’t recall the exact numbers, but we’re talking something like the slow readers improved by 10% and the already fast readers by 200%. It was mind-boggling.
There are so many different types of people in the world and we need them all. Instead of trying to be like everyone else, I encourage you to look at what makes you and polish that to a shine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://katetilton.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k8tilton/
