Last week was the biggest moment of my professional life: The release of my first book into the world.

I walked into Times Square on Monday afternoon and saw a billboard with my book (and face) on it. That evening, at my first launch event, a sold out crowd of family, friends, and devoted readers told me they were inspired by my writing and words.

But I feel it's important to be honest here:

The external reality seemed great—but my internal reality was a completely different story.

Monday night, with the book set to release on Tuesday morning, I found myself unable to sleep, caught in a spiral of deep, gripping anxiety, stress, and fear.

It was the fear of being exposed, of being found out, of having the world finally realize that I did not belong. Despite all of the external datapoints telling me otherwise, that dark internal story—that I was an imposter—was winning out.

The day of release, rather than happiness and joy at the accomplishment, I was in a battle with that internal story. I was in the grips of a common psychological phenomenon:

Imposter Syndrome.

I'm sharing this honest, vulnerable perspective today in hopes that it serves as a reminder: You are never alone. These feelings are natural, and, importantly, you can overcome them.

Here are the exact mindsets and tools I used to navigate the experience—the playbook you can leverage the next time you find yourself in its grips.

Step 1: Remember Three Important Facts

1. You're Not Alone

As soon as I felt myself spiraling, the first action I took was to send messages to the most successful people I know in different domains to ask whether they'd experienced anything similar early in their careers (and how they dealt with it).

From Fortune 100 CEOs to billionaire entrepreneurs to famous actors, authors, and influencers, all of them said the same thing:

It never went away.

Each and every one of them said they still feel it before a big moment. It doesn't go away, you just get a little bit better at moving forward in spite of it.

It's comforting to know that the people you celebrate and admire still experience that same sensation before the big presentation, meeting, or performance.

It's human. It's natural. They feel it. They just act anyway.

2. It's Overblown

Imposter syndrome is grounded in the idea that others are going to find you out. In a belief that everyone is staring at you, that your failure is going to be the central focus of the outside world.

Well, I've got good news: Nobody is thinking about you. At least not for very long. They're too busy thinking about themselves.

That fear is overblown. So, go do the damn thing.

3. It's the Cost of Entry

Your entire life will change when you accept one truth:

Imposter syndrome is a tax on personal growth.

Good things happen when you put yourself in rooms and situations where you don’t feel like you belong.

Imposter syndrome will tell you to retreat to the safety of your current competencies, to avoid these new and uncomfortable opportunities.

But the feeling of discomfort when you start rewriting the stories you tell yourself—when you start pushing past your preconceived limits—is natural.

It's a positive. It's a sign you're taking on things that scare you. It's the cost of entry.

Remember: You asked for the growth, so embrace the cost of entry to achieve it.

Step 2: Embrace the Yet Mindset

This post from Adam Grant changed my entire perspective:

To navigate imposter syndrome, embrace the Yet Mindset:

• "I'm not good enough" becomes "I'm not good enough...yet."
• "I don't know how to do it" becomes "I don't know how to do it...yet."
• "I'm not capable of that" becomes "I'm not capable of that...yet."

Yet becomes your one word reminder that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to. It is the reminder that you are dynamic and capable of so much more than you realize.

Step 3: Have a Coaching Session With Yourself

Solomon's Paradox is the well known behavioral phenomenon whereby we're very good at giving clear, rational advice to others, but very bad at embracing that same clear, rational advice ourselves.

It is one of the key reasons it can be so difficult to navigate an experience with Imposter Syndrome—you can understand the three facts (you're not alone, it's overblown, it's the cost of entry), you can remember the yet mindset, but in the moment, taking your own advice is very difficult.

I learned a trick to fix it from my friend ​Alex Hormozi​:

Have a coaching session with yourself.

I use email—an email chain with myself—but any tool works. Here's what my conversation looked like:

A few key lines that really helped:

• "Let's deconstruct this a bit. What specifically is causing the fear?" This forced me to actually articulate the fear, break it down into real component parts, to understand its roots.
• "Most importantly, it means you CARE. It means you're doing something meaningful to you." This reminded me that the fear is grounded in something positive.
• "Look back on your life and remember that every single transformation you've gone through has come on the other side of a brief, intense confrontation with this exact feeling." This reminded me that my track record for getting through this is good, and that transformation follows.

If you're going to do one of these self-coaching sessions, a few prompts that might help:

• Deconstruct: Ask yourself to deconstruct the fear or feeling.
• Zoom Out: Ask yourself to zoom out and see the bigger picture.
• Question Assumptions: Ask yourself whether the stories and assumptions are true, or if they're just embedded.

A coaching session with yourself may seem like a crazy idea at first—but trust me, it works.

The Imposter In All Of Us

Here's the truth:

At some point, you're going to feel like an imposter. You're going to fear being found out. You're going to tell yourself that you aren't capable.

There is an Imposter in all of us.

But the next time you feel that Imposter reach out and grab the steering wheel in your life, I want you to pause, look it in the eye, and politely give it one simple message:

Not today.

Today, we grab the wheel. We are in control. We have the power. We are capable of anything.

Not today, Imposter. Not today.