As a leader we occasionally get to enjoy the high of a big win…maybe it is closing the big deal you have been working on; or finally paying yourself a salary from your startup company. More often than wins we battle through those times where we question whether we have what it takes.

If you are a growing leader each season of company growth presents a new challenge…. you have never managed that many people before, you haven’t dealt with that many zeros, you haven’t worked with executives of that caliber before. When will everyone figure out that I don’t belong here?

If you are growing as a business or a leader you are encountering challenges you have never dealt with before…no wonder it feels new, it is new! Rather than being overwhelmed Alisa Cohen talks about the idea of a “Highlight Reel” in her book From Start-Up to Grown Up. Develop a list of your accomplishments, talents and gifts that got you to where you are now…take time to reflect on those. You weren’t dropped off by helicopter to these new challenges, you climbed there and gained experience, skills, and a few scars along the way to be where you are.

When we reflect on how we earned our way to these new challenges it can help give us confidence to lean into these new challenges. I bet you will win at most of those challenges…and if you don’t one of the lessons you learned to get here now is how to get back up and keep going. You aren’t an imposter; you are a learner….and learners always win in the long run.