If you’ve ever had these questions running through your mind, then this episode is for you.
You’ve navigated overwhelm. You’ve learned to focus on point A to point B rather than staring down the entire mountain. But now you’re faced with a different monster entirely—one that doesn’t freeze you with the size of the task, but paralyzes you with a simple question: Who are you to do this at all?
🎧 Listen to episode 5
To hear the deep dive on how to outsmart self-doubt and activate the Shapeshifter archetype, hit play below.
The Cliff’s Notes
Core Themes:
- The Sphinx represents the voice of self-doubt that questions your worthiness and validity
- Self-doubt often stems from limiting beliefs planted in childhood about what’s possible
- The six lines in your Gene Keys or Human Design profile reveal six distinct patterns of imposter syndrome
- The shapeshifter archetype teaches us that we must “pretend” to be the person doing the thing before we become that person
- Shrinking down what you’re trying to achieve helps you bypass the Sphinx’s riddles
Key Takeaways:
- Audit your inherited beliefs: The doubt in your head often comes from someone else’s limitations projected onto you in childhood. Do a belief stocktake.
- Identify your brand of self-doubt: Each of the six lines carries a specific pattern—from “I don’t know enough” to “What if I’m disappointed?” Understanding yours helps you recognize and move through it.
- Shrink the goal: If the Sphinx asks “Who are you to write a book?” answer with “I’m just writing a page today.” The riddle loses its power when the stakes feel manageable.
- Embrace the shapeshifter: You’ve always been playing roles. Adding “content creator” or “leader” to your repertoire is just another costume to try on—and eventually embody.
- Use imagination as manifestation: Your mind doesn’t know the difference between imagining confidence and actually feeling it. Practice the feeling, and your body will remember it.
Want a personalized Mythic Map of your own hero’s journey? That’s why I created Mythic Journey.
Your Gene Keys profile reimagined as a literal map that will reveal your most challenging internal obstacles to overcome, protective patterns to disrupt, and the gifts that are waiting for you on the other side. Over the course of 75+ minutes (in a pre-recorded video you can watch over and over again), I’ll operate as your very own guide as we weave the new narrative for what you’re being called to and how to step into your full potential.
Intrigued and want to know more? Click here for all the deets!
Meet the Sphinx: The Riddler of Self-Doubt
t is time to meet the next monster in the forest, and this one is known as the Sphinx.
The Sphinx is known to guard a road that you want to go down, and for you to pass, it gives you a riddle that you have to solve.
The reason for choosing the Sphinx for this episode is because the next monster that tends to get us—which can be posed as something external to us, just like all of them, something that is like a logical, rational thing to ask—is really coming from something internal: self-doubt.
That question of “Who am I to do this?” Why would anyone care? Oh, there are already so many voices out there. Or it’s already too late. As if anyone wants this when it’s been around for so long.
There are so many different ways that this voice of self-doubt comes up, but it has us basically falling into a trap of never-ending questions. Questioning ourselves. Questioning the validity of our ideas. Questioning the potential for success.
Again, the logical, rational mind is like, “Oh, but look, here’s all the evidence why it’s probably not going to be possible right now, why you’re being unrealistic.”
Where Self-Doubt Comes From
So often the doubts that are planted as seeds in our minds were planted there in childhood because we grew up being raised by people or surrounded by people—this can also include teachers and aunties and uncles, or any authority figure really—who had their own idea of what was possible in life. And then they kind of project their own limitations onto you.
One of the most common patterns, at least with clients worked with, is that they are the first generation, really, to go out and start paving their own path. And some of the biggest doubt that they have is whether it’s even possible, because they were raised with the belief that you need to find a job, a career path, and you need to get hired, and you need to just master that one skill set, and you need to stay employed and stay safe. Keep going. Do the same thing until you die. And that is how you will be safe and successful in life.
The thought of becoming self-employed or even inventing a career for yourself was so far outside of their parents’ or parental figures’ paradigms. And we don’t realize this often until much later in life that we’re still holding on to some of those limiting beliefs.
Your First Action Item: A Belief Stocktake
While this is an important contemplation for us to do—it is important at many times in our lives to do a bit of a belief stocktake—sit down with a journal and go, “Okay, what were all the things that I heard growing up about career, about business, about money, about professional growth, expression?”
Just see if any of the things that you heard regularly, for instance:
- “A job is always going to be hard work.”
- “Don’t expect to find a job that you enjoy.”
- “You’re better off being safe.”
- “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Write them all down and see: Is there a chance that any of these—as much as you think that you consciously disagree with them—but subconsciously, maybe there is a fear that it is actually true? There is a fear that, “Oh, one day these people might turn out that they’re actually right. And I’m worried that I’m going to go out there and try something, and then I will basically prove them right.”
One action item from listening to this today is that you do have a think about these things and write them down and just consciously question them.
Pick them up—Marie Kondo your beliefs. Pick up each belief individually in your hands and go, “Does this serve me? Does this bring me joy? Is this helping?” And if it doesn’t, then put it in the pile of beliefs that need to be recycled.
And what is meant by recycled is we need to replace them with other beliefs, which sometimes is simple and sometimes can take some time. But just know this is a work in progress. We’re going on a much longer journey. We’re only just getting started. So we will circle back to some of those belief-related things actually in season two.
The Six Lines: Your Personal Brand of Imposter Syndrome
The other place that can be helpful to look for the source of your own Sphinx—the Riddler, the thing that triggers your own self-doubt—is looking at, again, your Gene Keys or Human Design profile.
The six lines of your profile. In Human Design, we all have a profile. Everyone has two lines in their profile. So you could be a one-three, a two-four, a four-six, for instance. We also have those in the Gene Keys. And you also have—every single placement, so every Gene Key sphere or Human Design gate—also has a line expression.
It’s where you see a number then a dot and then another number. The number that comes after the dot—and this is just so that if you’re playing at home, you can look up one of your profiles and know what to look for—that is often where we find the source of wounding, fears, and beliefs.
Whether you’re looking at Human Design or the Gene Keys, know that your actual profile—your Gene Keys profile—you’re going to see this in your life’s work and your evolution. Those top and side numbers are where you’re going to notice that those lines have the biggest pull. They tend to be the most obvious to you. But really, any line in your Gene Key profile has the potential to play out these patterns.
So when listing these next six lines, there’s a good chance you have some of them everywhere. And the key is to really go, “Well, which ones actually have a lot of pull? Which ones are my Sphinx?”
What follows is a quick run-through of the six themes, the six brands of imposter syndrome. It’s using your Human Design and Gene Keys profile to look at how does imposter syndrome show up for you.
The funny thing is, imposter syndrome is actually a very specific thing that is related to someone who has actually accomplished something amazing, but then has this belief that maybe they fluked it—they didn’t actually earn it. But we’ve kind of mislabeled imposter syndrome as anything that gives us self-doubt.
So these are the six brands of imposter syndrome, but really it’s the six brands of self-doubt, and it’s going to be the thing that has us questioning whether we should actually put ourselves out there, because then we risk being called out for the fraud that we’re scared that we are.
Line One: “I Don’t Know Enough Yet”
For the line one, the most common riddle in your head is: “Oh, but I don’t know enough yet. I need to wait till I feel like an expert.”
This was mentioned a couple of episodes ago, so there’s no need to go into much depth. But at this point, you’ve hopefully realized that this is a very linear podcast—every episode builds on the last. If you’re hearing this now and you haven’t listened to some previous episodes, go back to the beginning.
Line one never feels like enough of an expert and always thinks that there’s more to know before they can go out there and share. So their kind of endless riddle is: “How can I learn more so that I feel like an expert finally?”
Line Two: “I Don’t Have Anything Uniquely Valuable”
Line two doesn’t believe that they necessarily have anything uniquely valuable to share because they struggle to see how their own natural gifts are anything great to anybody else.
They’re like, “This comes easily to me. Why would anyone care?” Or they don’t even see that they’ve got any gifts at all. It just doesn’t feel like they’re anything special, even though every line two ever met is very magnetic and has all sorts of natural, incredible gifts that need to be shared with the world.
Being really careful here—at least for the two-fours that are really close and there are a lot of them in inner circles—the inner circle is full of two-four profiles. What’s been found is they often don’t easily fit in a box. Two-fours, or people with a two line, often really need to pave their own path. They’ve got such a unique blueprint and unique gifts that until they position themselves to do this their way, people aren’t going to see their value. If they’re trying to fit in a pre-existing mold, their gifts don’t shine.
So your line two Sphinx is this riddle: “Who am I? I don’t have anything uniquely valuable to share.”
Line Three: “People Will Realize I’m a Hot Mess”
The line three is a tough one. There’s line three in the profile worked with, and it is directly related to the shadow of inadequacy mentioned in one of the last episodes.
For the line three, the riddle you’re posed with is: “Yeah, but if I start sharing, aren’t people going to realize that I’m a hot mess?”
The line three is so convinced that they’re broken in some way. It’s like, “Who are you to do this at all? You are a mess. You do not have your stuff together yet.”
So the line three can stay in this battle of trying to feel like, “Once I’ve got my stuff together, then I’ll finally share.” Or there is this avoidance of sharing anything that could call them out.
You could also be masking a lot. Not showing up very authentically, trying to hide your true self because you’re like, “I can’t let the cracks show. Don’t want to let people see behind the scenes.”
That is your very unique Sphinx riddle that keeps you in place.
Line Four: “What If They Don’t Like Me?”
For the line four—bless their beautiful hearts—the line four is all about heart. Literally. It’s a very vulnerable line, and it’s connected to the core wound of rejection.
This is a really challenging one, but the riddle you’re posed with is: “What if I bare my soul and they don’t like me? I would rather avoid that humiliation.”
So the four line can end up rejecting others first before they can be rejected, which often keeps you from putting yourself out there in a meaningful way. Or maybe you hide behind other people. You highlight other people for being incredible, but you don’t let yourself step into the spotlight because there’s just this fear that if people see the real you, they just won’t like it. They won’t get it.
That is another really challenging one. You’ve got to learn—it is a lot about bravery, but it’s also about creating safety to gently show up and start sharing rather than just throwing yourself in the deep end.
This is also where, when doing parts work and things like that, it helps identify: are there some really vulnerable parts of you that are really not safe yet to be seen? Because there are ways to incrementally work up. And by the way, this applies to all of the lines—we do need to gently and patiently, step by step, take action in a way that’s gentle, that creates safety for those more vulnerable parts of us to be seen or to face whatever it is they were scared of facing.
If it’s facing rejection or failure or disappointment, we need to ease into that. It’s not a matter of just kicking yourself up the butt and being like, “Go on, just get over yourself.” That’s a horrible way to approach life. And yet that’s been totally done before. Thank goodness there was waking up to that.
Line Five: “What If I Don’t Live Up to Their Expectations?”
Line five is a line of natural leadership. You’re someone that often commands a lot of attention and builds authority without trying too hard and can be very magnetic and visible.
And the fear, the riddle for the line five, is: “What if I don’t live up to their expectations and they end up hating me?”
Because the line five really carries this wound of guilt and responsibility. And it’s fair. There is a whole thing to the line five of—if you don’t have your expectations really clear, then people could end up hating you because they thought you were offering one thing and you were actually offering something else.
So there is some validity here, but the line five can take themselves out of the game, which is a crying shame because the line five is here to be a leader of some sort.
If you are so worried about carrying the responsibility for other people’s well-being, and you’re too worried about what people will think of you and that they’ll end up disappointed, then you’re kind of cutting yourself off from the impact that you’re supposed to be making.
Line Six: “What If I Try and I’m Only Disappointed?”
And finally, the line six is another quite vulnerable line. If you have line six anywhere in your profile, this may be something you need to work through. It’s in some really prominent spots in some charts.
One way of looking at it is: “What if I try and I’m only disappointed?”
The line six tends to be quite an idealistic, beautiful line that sees the potential for perfection in everything, but then has to come crashing down to earth when they realize, “Oh, my vision will never look the same in real life as it does in my head.”
So sometimes it’s just easier not to try. It’s almost like keeping yourself in an ivory tower. It’s easy to stay up in fantasy land and in the land of ideals and dream about the kind of impact that could be made than to actually get amongst it, get your hands dirty, and really lean into messy magnetism, which is, “Okay, I’m just gonna have to be real. I’m gonna have to make some mistakes in public. And that’s that.”
If you have a line six, there can be this sense of impossible-to-reach standards that can just put this crushing pressure on you. You’re just so worried that what if this vision that you had, you go all in, you pour your heart and soul into it, and then what if it’s not as good as you thought it was going to be?
And we kind of just need to get okay with the fact that it won’t be. It won’t be the same as what’s in your head.
But what if it could be better? What if the thing that you’re going to do, even if it’s imperfect in your eyes, it’s actually exactly what your audience needs?
This is where we need to get our egos out of the way. Because often when our ego is—and this can happen for all of the lines—our ego can get in the way and say, “Oh no, well, I know what’s best. I’m not at a place where I’m good enough yet. I can’t share yet.”
But we’re forgetting that this isn’t about us. This is about the other. This is, what is the work that you want to do in the world? Believe it or not, you can start making that impact and doing that work today. You just have to find the right scope for your work.
Two Ways to Solve the Sphinx’s Riddle
One of the issues that we can fall into—or traps—is that we’re really, again, jumping all the way ahead and looking at how we would ideally like to be showing up. As in, the version of us that’s published three books, that gets paid fifty thousand dollars for a talk, or that leads a team of hundreds of people.
That version of us—we think we have to be that version before we start making a meaningful impact, because we’re kind of measuring future impact of what we think is possible.
But we can be making impact today. Whatever you have available to you today is enough to get started.
Strategy One: Shrink Down What You’re Trying to Do
When we are working through this riddle of the Sphinx, sometimes one of the ways that we can solve it is by simply shrinking down what it is we’re trying to do.
Because if the question is “Who are you to write a book?” it’s like, “Well, who am I not to?” If we shrink it down and go, “Well, all I’m really trying to do is just write a page or write a chapter of a book. Who am I to do that? Well, who am I not to do that? What’s the big deal? I’m not claiming fame or anything like that.”
The Sphinx is going to lose its power if we can shrink what it is that we’re trying to aim for.
It’s very similar to the previous episode where if we look at the whole thing we’re trying to achieve straight on, that’s when the self-doubt is the worst. Sometimes if we can just shrink it down to micro goals, we can work through this riddle and this self-doubt a little easier.
Strategy Two: Embrace That You’re Pretending (Until You’re Not)
One of the other things that we really need to keep in mind—there’s that quote that says, for us to be able to fall asleep first, we have to close our eyes and pretend we’re asleep.
And that is basically what life is all about. At some point, you’re gonna have to pretend that you are the person who’s doing the thing in order to become the person who actually is doing the thing.
Want a personalized Mythic Map of your own hero’s journey? That’s why I created Mythic Journey.
Your Gene Keys profile reimagined as a literal map that will reveal your most challenging internal obstacles to overcome, protective patterns to disrupt, and the gifts that are waiting for you on the other side. Over the course of 75+ minutes (in a pre-recorded video you can watch over and over again), I’ll operate as your very own guide as we weave the new narrative for what you’re being called to and how to step into your full potential.
Intrigued and want to know more? Click here for all the deets!
Activation & Contemplation
Your Archetype to Activate: The Shapeshifter
One of favorite archetypes to consider is the shapeshifter.
The idea is—and the quote, Shakespeare, it’s a bit cliche, but—all the world’s a stage. And all the men and women players.
Everyone is out there playing roles, and you play roles all the time. There have been so many things that you’ve done in your life where you actually had to do it the first time, and therefore you were pretending to be someone who knew what you were doing, who was capable of doing this thing. And then you did it, and then suddenly you were actually the person who’d done the thing.
We have this capacity to act.
What you’re being called to do now, whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish, whatever journey you’re on or wherever it’s calling, see that part of this is about you being called to expand your repertoire as a divine actor. To basically just stretch yourself a little bit to go, “Okay, I’m going to try on another costume for size and know that, yeah, I am going to probably have to pretend for a little bit and that’s okay.”
But that can be just another way that we work through the self-doubt. Because trying to jump from being the person who’s learning the thing to being the person who knows the thing—we have to build a bridge between where we are and where we’re going to be.
If we’re waiting to feel like, “Oh, I’m already this thing. Therefore I’m going to be able to take action”—we are obviously going to struggle to take any sort of action.
So it’s like, what’s the baby step that we can take? What if I just for now accept—embrace even—the fact that I am acting?
Obviously acting with integrity because there’s no wanting you to go out there and tell everyone that you have experience that you don’t have, or manipulating people and using this to trick others. This is about tricking yourself.
And the reason that we need to do this: we need to remember that our minds are powerful. And our imaginations can be used for good when we’re being intentional about it.
Your Practice: The “I Wonder” Exercise
Rather than going, “Okay, I am this thing and I’m just gonna convince myself this is the thing that I do,” try a little imagination exercise where you go, “I wonder…“
And you’re gonna have to fill in the blank with something else. But here’s an example first:
“I wonder what it would feel like to be completely confident in my leadership ability, and to know that I have a team that looks up to me.”
We’re future pacing a little bit, and there’s a reason we’re going to do this.
You’re going to insert it with that thing that you are truly working towards. Whether it’s:
- “To be a published author”
- “To have a massive following”
- “To have a community that is meaningful to me”
- “To have a successful YouTube channel”
We are going to actually allow ourselves to let our minds drift and just go: What would it feel like if that was here now?
The thing that is incredible about our minds—we know this to be true, we’ve proven it to be true—is that our minds don’t actually know the difference between dream state and waking state. It all feels just as real to us.
We don’t actually know the difference between truly feeling like the person who is that way and just imagining that.
But the magical thing that happens when we allow ourselves to imagine—we’re basically giving ourselves permission to feel that way because we’re saying, “Well, we’re just imagining. I’m just trying it on for size.”
Once you have that feeling in you, your body remembers it. And the more times you revert to that feeling—as in you call that feeling in for yourself—the more it’s going to become true.
So you’re not only—this isn’t just a hack to help you take the action, but it’s also a form of or a technique to help you manifest that to be true. Because it’s also a frequency thing.
You’re going to shift into a different frequency, the frequency of the person who has that thing or who is that thing. And you’re more likely to then start attracting the opportunities that are aligned with it. People are more likely to look to you and just naturally go, “Oh yeah, that person is a leader,” or whatever your example is.
Your Reminder: You Already Shapeshift
There’s a couple of things we’re trying to do here. Number one, we just need to find a way to duck past the Sphinx, because if you’re asking that question of yourself or it’s asking you, “Who are you to do this?” then we might be looking at it too head-on. And we’re getting too stressed out about what we’re trying to achieve in the future. It feels like there’s a gap for us.
Can we first just shrink it down a little bit? “Well, all I’m really trying to do is just take this next step. I’m not saying that I have to be some famous author or anything like this. What I’m trying to do is just see, is it possible for me to write a page or write a chapter of a book? Who am I to do that? Well, who am I not to do that? What’s the big deal? I’m not claiming fame or anything like that.”
But then the other thing that we’re going to do is acknowledge the fact that it is important for everyone—everyone had their very first talk that they gave. Any person who wrote a book wrote their first whatever it was, and often had a lot of things rejected before they had a book deal that was signed. Anyone who has stepped on stage and sung in front of an audience had to do it for the first time.
So that first time, even though maybe they were getting paid to do it, that doesn’t mean they felt like a professional singer.
Everyone has to pretend. You are pretending all the time. Because in your purest state, you are beyond roles and identities. You have this absolute neutral state where you literally could be anything, but you’re also nothing at the same time. (Getting a little esoteric here.)
But then when you step into a different room with different people every single time, you are shapeshifting a little bit to be the role that you need to be in that particular circumstance.
So you are already an actor, you’re already a shapeshifter. So celebrate that fact.
Have a look at all the roles that you’ve played in your life, and maybe look at the ones that feel the most natural and which ones were the most stretchy, the biggest leap. And now just go, “Cool. So this is just another one that I’m adding to my repertoire. I am now going to play the role of YouTuber, content creator, writer, speaker, leader…”
And don’t worry—we’re not saying that you’re not going to do the work. You’re going to get to a place where the knowledge and the wisdom, it’s integrated, it’s embodied. You have the skills, but it’s a work in progress and that is completely okay.
You’re allowed to show up with what you have today. You have something that you can contribute already. You have so much you can contribute already.
We need to get you to start sharing those things, because it’s going to lead to the rest of whatever it is that you need to do to learn, to grow, etc. And at least then you start making a difference now, and your impact is only going to grow.
But it’s certainly not going to happen—you’re going to make zero impact if you keep listening to the Sphinx and allowing yourself to buy into these stories, these questions of self-doubt. It does not help anyone.
Your Question
So do we have a deal? Can we find a way through this forest, or at least through this next little obstacle that is the Sphinx?
Want a personalized Mythic Map of your own hero’s journey? That’s why I created Mythic Journey.
If you are really in a place where you’re like, “Okay, I am my own worst enemy. I know I’ve got blocks, I know I’ve got internal resistance, but I do not know where to start. And what you’re saying sounds great in theory, but in practice, I just am struggling”—that is what the mythic journey is for.
When we put together your personalized mythic map, that’s where the starting point becomes clear. “Okay, these are the key patterns that we need to really focus on right now. Here’s how to recognize when you’re in the shadow. Here’s how you get yourself out of the shadow and into the gift, which always involves practical steps. And here is the bigger picture that I’m seeing as well. Here is the narrative. This is the journey that you’re going on. You’re being called to step into this version of yourself or this kind of essence or style of impact.”
That whole journey then will be personalized to you and is how we start to get things moving.
Obviously, if you want to work one-on-one, do some coaching, do a few sessions to get unstuck, that’s there as an option too. But plenty of people who have done the mythic journey have then just been like, “Wow, okay, I know what I need to do.”
And they’ve gone off and started a Substack or made some changes in their job or had a difficult conversation, or just started moving in a different way because it just became so obvious: “Oh, this is the thing that I’m supposed to be doing. I should just stop ignoring the call. And here’s how I’m now going to start leaning into what it is that I’m really meant to be experiencing in my life.”
Long story short, you can get a mythic journey, and often that is a huge unblocker on its own. And then continuing the journey as a guide is completely optional.
Intrigued and want to know more? Click here for all the deets!
With two monsters down and three to go, thanks for listening. Chat to you in the next episode.
