It is a very commonly observed behaviour in our lives that we tend to shy away from the things that we deem difficult than others. If there are multiple things to do then we want to put off the difficult task until the end, all the while wishing that it gets done on its own by some miracle. Of course, the scale of things will vary but this is generally true in most situations as you can confirm for yourself as well. While it is a perfectly fine strategy to take care of things that are easier first so that you can allocate your full attention towards fulfilling the arduous one later, it often escalates from being just a strategy to you just being afraid of the task itself. If you do manage to succeed in pushing that task farther and farther away from yourself until it gets someone else’s problem, you essentially stray away from your original strategy and start going down a path that acts more like a hack or a shortcut. The scary thing is that you might not even become aware of this until it has become almost a habit for you to keep looking for the shortcut every time.
By looking for a shortcut every time, you give up on the opportunity to actually experience the hardships that came with that difficult task. The same arduous task for which you had originally reserved more of your resources now becomes irrelevant and so you grow accustomed to the easier things. This makes you dread the difficult work more and more as you feel like you are an imposter who is actually not qualified or at least not qualified enough for the position that you are currently in. Not only that, but you also become more anxious when you are not able to find the shortcut as you slowly begin to think that the effort required to triumph over this overbearing task is something that you are not capable of even though it is still the same task. The wall now appears as an insurmountable barrier from which you are now constantly afraid as you think you will fall badly if you try to climb over it.
If you do manage to identify a certain situation in your life that relates to this or if you are just afraid of falling into this pattern, there is no need to worry. The solution is actually pretty simple here(effort), that is, you have to use the opposite strategy now. Whenever you find yourself faced with multiple tasks, you have to rush towards doing the most difficult task first. You have to do that task even if it means delaying the other easier ones to another time. Though this may seem like a general strategy encouraging you to work hard, it actually isn’t. You just have to focus on the task that scares you the most first and dismantle is step by step until you are able to complete it. This may seem like a lot of effort and it will definitely take some hard work from your end, but I can guarantee that it will not be as hard as you are currently thinking. Not to mention that the real benefit of facing the difficult things head-on is not overcoming your imposter syndrome but the experience that comes along by doing it. Firstly, you manage to exert yourself and learn many new things while you are doing such an assignment. This not only improves your knowledge and skills but also makes the other tasks become even more easier. So now, not only are you not afraid of any overbearing task that looms over you, but you are also now more adept at handling such tricky situations. Secondly, you get to try many more new things and explore different avenues when you are no longer shying away from anything anymore. The boost in confidence that you get from doing the seemingly impossible task propels you further and further to new heights. Once you do opt for this approach, you will immediately find that there were a lot of opportunities surrounding you which you had just been neglecting all this time. If you do take more chances by trying many new and different things which you were previously afraid of, then you are also bound to find more success in areas where you previously never thought possible.
In a nutshell, it pays more dividends to take on the things you deem difficult head-on rather than avoiding them or wishing them away. Remember that you are like a diamond in the rough so if you make yourself experience more hardships by actively putting yourself in such situations then you are bound to come out more polished on the other end. Do not be afraid that you will not be able to overcome any challenge that you are currently faced with or if you are lacking something which is impossible for you to get. If you find something is difficult then you only need to dismantle it into small enough parts so that they become easier for you. If there is something that you lack then can always learn it as long as you do not stop trying. I know that you can do even the most difficult of the tasks when you set your mind to it, and I believe that there is even greater success for you whenever you do decide to do so. Good luck!
