“Are you saying that my internal thinking, my doubts as a leader, seeing myself as an imposter, IF I can deal with all of that, the problems in the project will be easier?” Ryker was curious.

“No, the problems in the project will still be difficult,” I replied. “But, if you have doubts in yourself, the problems in the project may be impossible. Slay the imposter first.”

“Slaying the imposter sounds easy and impossible at the same time. Do I just ignore the imposter, pretend it doesn’t exist?” Ryker asked.

“The first step is awareness,” I nodded. “And you are aware. Your stomach relays the message loud and clear. Your stomach wants to win. It tells you to just go with the flow. You have been drifting along in life allowing your stomach to make the tough decisions, mostly to stick with the status quo, do not tackle anything difficult. It wants to lull you back into familiar patterns where there is no conflict.”

“But, the conflict is still there,” Ryker reminded me.

“Yes,” I continued to nod. “Which will win. It’s like two dogs in a fight. Which will win?”

Ryker knew this story. “The dog that wins is the dog I feed.”