Innovator Mindset = Considered Confidence = Imposter syndrome done well

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By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.

Reading time: 3 mins

Summary: Just because you have never done something before doesn’t mean you should have no confidence. We need people to be able to do things they have never done before. We need people to be able to do things that have never been done before! You might never have done people management before, that doesn’t mean you should have no confidence in yourself. You might be trying to build a product that has never been built before, if you have no confidence in your ability to do it (imposter syndrome) it’ll likely hinder your ability to make progress. 

Definitions - These are my version of definitions, so may differ from what you find elsewhere

  • Imposter Syndrome = Doing something you have not done before and as such not having confidence. 

    • “Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you are right.” Henry Ford

  • Innovator Mindset = Being new to something (not having done it), but believing you’ll be able to make progress. 

  • Considered Confidence = The optimal amount of confidence for a given circumstance. Underconfidence is a problem, overconfidence is a problem. 

Underconfidence is a problem, overconfidence is a problem. 

  • What I used to think made sense

  • What I now think makes sense

  • In some respects these graphs look like they contradict each other. What I’m suggesting is that there is likely an optimal amount of confidence to have at each level of ‘experience’. I call the optimal amount of confidence ‘Considered Confidence’. I believe Considered Confidence is key to making progress.

  • Overconfidence = Do things when you shouldn’t = Don’t do appropriate planning

  • Underconfidence = Don’t things when you shouldn’t = Over plan

  • Considered Confidence = Believing you can make progress = Always have a crack at things = Appropriate amount of planning


This blog has a lot of overlap with “Innovation = 10 Units of Effort for 1 Unit of Progress”.

  • Jingle: Don’t worry about never having done something before. Worry about never doing things that you haven’t done before. Worry about never doing things that haven’t been done by anyone before. 

  • Fortune favours the bold. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. The biggest risk is taking no risk.