Imposter syndrome-Are you living in a fantasy world?

Wayne W (00:01) Hey, welcome back to the productive not busy podcast. know, you can look successful long before you become successful. Now, you can look like a top producer in any industry with absolutely no production at all. ⁓ That's the social media craze and kind of a problem that today's society, everybody's building a movie trailer for a life that they're not actually living. Meanwhile, the fundamentals, right? Stuff that actually gets people paid. Wayne W (00:31) are dying on the vine. And what are those? Conversations, ⁓ listening, leadership, confidence, ⁓ empathy, timing, body language, ⁓ voice inflection, right? All the soft skills, your presence, ⁓ OK? You know, human stuff. I came up in an era where if the Internet shut off tomorrow, Wayne W (00:59) I could still make a living before lunch. Why? Because I was trained to talk to people. I learned how to read a room. I learned how to hear hesitation in someone's voice even before they said no. I even learned how to calm nervous sellers down. I learned to negotiate face to face, shake hands, build trust. That skill set doesn't disappear because the Wi-Fi goes out. Wayne W (01:29) But some of these newer salespeople and new real estate agents, Lord have mercy. If Instagram disappeared for a week, they would require grief counseling. Wayne W (01:42) They know how to post. They know how to edit. Wayne W (01:47) They know how to brand, but they don't know how to lead a business. And leadership is what gets you paid when the market shifts in any business. See, AI can organize information. It can summarize contracts. It can help you write emails much faster. can automate sales systems. And that's valuable. I use it. Smart people do use it. Absolutely. Wayne W (02:17) But AI cannot wake your ass up at 6am in the morning. AI cannot make you disciplined. AI can't make you care about your business or your clients. AI can't give you resilience after rejection. And ⁓ AI can't teach you to be hungry. Wayne W (02:37) And for one thing, damn sure can't coach attitude. That's the thing in leadership talks about Wayne W (02:47) why that matters. You can teach scripts, you can teach contracts, and you can teach marketing. But you can't coach somebody to want it, like really want it. I can't coach action or attitude. I can't coach accountability into somebody who's addicted to excuses. So some people want Wayne W (03:11) success the way folks want a six pack at the gym, right? They want to go to the gym and watch everybody else work out and walk out with the six pack. They want the appearance without the repetition required to earn it. Even in the real estate industry, they're getting exposed big time because of that. Look, NAR said 71 % of realtors did not close a single deal last year. ⁓ 71%. Think about that. That means Wayne W (03:41) out of every 10 agents, ⁓ seven ⁓ did actually zero and made nothing last year. Zero. Wayne W (03:50) But if you looked at their social media, you'd think they were selling beachfront ⁓ mansions to movie stars, hanging out on the beach, tanning every weekend. That's the disconnect. Everybody's ⁓ marketing. Nobody's mastering their skill. See, skills are always going to be king forever. Wayne W (04:20) Can you control the conversation? Wayne W (04:23) Can you ⁓ ask hard questions? Can you handle objections without sounding defensive, right? Can you make somebody feel safe enough to trust you with the biggest transaction and their financial decision-making life? Because that's the business. Wayne W (04:43) not your logo. Wayne W (04:46) Right. No AI generated slogan or logo. No cinematic drone footage with the music in the background is going to make you good at your job. People work with people they trust. And trust still comes from human connection. See, I worry that we're getting into a generation of professionals who are becoming allergic to discomfort. Wayne W (05:15) Every hard thing gets outsourced. Every awkward moment gets automated. ⁓ Every weakness gets filtered through some kind of technology until nobody even knows who they really are anymore. Wayne W (05:31) That's why some folks are kind of in the panic mode at the second. actually, ⁓ you know, they have to talk live to a client, no edits, no retakes, no AI, no rewrite button, just them. They freeze in their tracks. And if there's nothing underneath the branding, the whole thing collapses. Wayne W (05:54) So you want to know what separates ⁓ closers ⁓ from pretenders. Wayne W (06:01) Closers take action. They take action before they feel ready. Wayne W (06:07) Pretenders, they prepare into nausea. Closers go to trainings. Pretenders redesign their logo and their business card over and over. Closers practice scripts. And pretenders practice poses and headshots. Wayne W (06:27) Closers build competence. ⁓ Pretenders build appearances. And eventually, the scoreboard tells the truth. Look, I'm not anti-AI. That would be stupid. Technology changes. Smart people adapt. You'd be an idiot not to use tools that make you more efficient. But efficiency... Wayne W (06:55) Okay, without ⁓ effectiveness is really worthless. If you're bad at communication, ⁓ AI just helps you fail and get worse at communicating. If you lack discipline, AI just gives you a prettier excuse. Wayne W (07:16) The people who are really going to win with AI, okay, are the ones who already have the fundamentals in here. The ones who can sell ⁓ without the use of AI to scale it. The ones who know how to lead humans first and use the software to bolt onto that. Because at the end of the day, this business is still emotional. People buy certainty. People buy confidence. Wayne W (07:46) Okay? People buy energy. People buy the conviction that's in your heart. People know. And no algorithm on earth can replicate authentic human presence. You want a future ⁓ proof for yourself? Stop obsessing over looking successful and start becoming valuable. I tell people that all the time. I coach other businesses. Wayne W (08:13) Work on your communication, work on your consistency, work on your emotional control, work on your ability to handle rejection and work on your work ethic. Wayne W (08:26) because trends change. ⁓ Apps ⁓ on your phone change, platforms change, markets change, but people, people still want to feel heard. They still want to feel understood and they still want to feel led. Wayne W (08:48) And if you can do that better than the next person telling you what right now, you'll always have a seat at the table, whether AI exists or not. Wayne W (09:00) I hope you enjoyed this episode. Again, this is the Productive Not Busy podcast. My name is Wayne Weathersby, ⁓ author of the book Discomfort Zone. ⁓ I've got the podcast. I've got the YouTube channel. I would love to hear some feedback from you. I would love for you to like and subscribe. If you've heard something that you hit home for you, please reach out, let us know. Hit the like button, hit the subscribe button ⁓ and do me a favor. Wayne W (09:30) Be safe, take care, go sell something and find somebody and say something nice to them. Have a great day.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/productive-not-busy-podcast--6261465/support. Subscribe today and join a community that’s growing stronger every week. The Productive NOT Busy Podcast isn’t just a show—it’s your playbook for creating momentum, building confidence, and living life on purpose.