Overcoming imposter syndrome and showing up authentically

Have you ever had one of those moments in your business where you KNOW you're qualified... 

You know you have the experience. 

You know you can help someone. 

And yet there's still that little voice saying, "Who am I to do this?" 

I know I have—and I've been running my business for almost 25 years. 

So why does imposter syndrome keep showing up, even after we've done the work and logically know better? 

Today, we're going beneath the surface with clinical hypnotherapist Laura Kate McHugh to talk about what's happening in our subconscious when we feel like an imposter, why some of those old beliefs may actually be trying to protect us, and how we can start changing the patterns that keep us playing small. 

And I have to tell you, there were several moments in this conversation where I found myself thinking about my own experiences very differently. 

Connect with Laura Kate McHugh

Laura Kate McHugh is a clinical hypnotherapist, RTT practitioner, and founder of Your Stellar Life, where she helps deeply self-aware people uncover the subconscious beliefs and fears that keep them stuck in patterns of doubt and self-sabotage. Today, we're going to talk about why imposter syndrome can persist even when you've done all the inner work—and what it takes to finally shift those patterns at the root. 

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Grab her guided meditation for imposter syndrome here!

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Transcript

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Why Imposter Syndrome Returns

Carrie Saunders 0:00

So I know myself and a lot of business owners experience this, I'm sure you have too, where you feel like, you know you feel like you're qualified, you know you feel like you should do this, but in the back of your brain, you're still thinking, who am I to be doing this? So even me, after 25 years of running this business, there's sometimes imposter syndrome really comes into play and really can hold me back. So why does it keep showing up? Even after all the work we've done and we logically know better. Today I have a special guest for us. Her name is Laura Kate McHugh, and we're going to go beneath the surface with this clinical hypnotherapist to talk about what happens to our subconscious mind when we feel like an imposter, why some of those old beliefs may actually be trying to protect us and how we can start changing the patterns that keep us playing small. And I have to tell you, there are some moments in this conversation where I found myself thinking about my own experiences differently. Let's dive in. Struggling

Meet The Hypnotherapist Guest

Carrie Saunders 1:00

to turn website traffic into real sales, you're not alone and you don't have to figure it out all yourself. Welcome to Smarter Online Business, the podcast for course creators, coaches, and e-commerce entrepreneurs who want their websites to convert visitors into buyers without the tech overwhelm. I'm your host, Carrie Saunders, a website strategist and conversion expert with over 20 years of experience. Each episode delivers simple, proven strategies to help you generate more revenue and make your website your smartest sales tool. Welcome back to the show. Today I have a special guest with us. I'm so excited to have her on our show. Her name is Laura Kate McHugh, and she is a clinical hypnotherapist, RTT practitioner, and founder of Your Stellar Life, where she helps deeply self-aware people uncover their subconscious beliefs and fears that keep them stuck in patterns of doubt and self-sabotage. Today we're going to talk about why imposter syndrome can persist even when you're doing all that inner work and what it takes to finally shift those patterns at the root. I'm so excited to have this conversation with Laura today. I was so excited to have you on here because I know for me, I've been running this business almost 25 years and imposter syndrome still kicks in. And I see this in my business friends too. So welcome to the show today, Laura.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Oh my gosh, I know. It it does. It's so persistent, right? You know, even when we feel really confident and kind of know that we know our stuff, it still creeps in. I know. I have it really, I see it with a lot of clients and I've seen it with myself for sure.

Carrie Saunders 2:32

So I just gave a little snip of who you are. Is there anything that I left out that you want to share with a little bit more about who Laura Kate is?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah, you know, um I live in Santa Barbara. I've been doing kind of wellness work for the past 30 years, and I just love helping people. I love being of service. That's kind of my go-to thing. And I also have a little cute dog named Gabby who's sleeping here by my side. And no, I just I am fascinated by how our minds are so powerful and that we just don't use all of that power. And so that's kind of my mission is helping people kind of getting rid of limiting beliefs and and moving forward to get what they really want.

Carrie Saunders 3:15

I feel like that's such a good parallel to like what we do. You love helping people with their inner work and their limiting beliefs, and we help people get unstuck with their tech. And really, I just see a lot of I mean it kind of sounds bizarre, but I see them, you know, sit on a mess to each other. You know, they're helping pull away that block. You know, in your case, you're helping pull away a mental internal block. And, you know, with us, we're trying to help pull away that tech tech block and you know, get you really successful. So I actually kind of see a good parallel to what we do, even though it seems completely different.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

It's so interesting because I bet you run into a lot of mindset stuff with your clients, right? For sure. Just like you know they can do it, and yet they doubt themselves or they, you know, get into that thing of like not feeling good enough. Like, I don't think we came onto this planet feeling less than, right? So, like what happens in our childhood or kind of in our learning that it's just like, oh my gosh, you know, like no baby says, Oh, I shouldn't cry because I don't want to make a scene, you know, like I really don't want to upset anybody, you know. It's like we came into the world kind of going like, yay, and then we got smaller, kind of, you know, kind of made our space smaller, didn't want to show up. I just see that in so much, especially unfortunately in women, right? It seems like my women entrepreneur friends are just like, oh no, I don't want to create any waves, or you know, like being on video is hard for me, or you know, putting myself out there is really hard. And so, yeah, that's all that imposter syndrome.

Carrie Saunders 4:54

It really is. Yeah, and you're totally right. We I work with mindset with our clients too, and really, I mean,

The Subconscious Protection Pattern

Carrie Saunders 5:00

not in the way that you do, but I really try to encourage them that, you know, we will help you, we will teach you, and you know, you will learn this and you'll figure this out. And where you don't want to learn, we'll do it for you, you know. But totally there's mindset there for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Yeah. And I find it fascinating because, you know, the work I do, it works, you know, we can think on a conscious level that we're like, oh, I know this, or I'm, you know, I've half the degrees, or I have, you know, I've done all the training. And and yet there's something that keeps us doubting, or there's something that that wall that we kind of run into. And when we do the deeper subconscious work, which is hypnotherapy, it's kind of the name for going into that state, you know, where not your conscious mind, but your subconscious looking for the root. It's always fascinating what the belief is or where it came from, like what happened, or what's making you think that you shouldn't show up, or that you're not good enough, or that, you know, someone else is better than that, or you know, you're not quite there yet. And it's it's always really interesting because oftentimes there's something that happened, and so your subconscious mind is trying to protect you somehow, thinking, well, we don't want you to get embarrassed, or we don't want you to feel left out. So we'll just not put you out there, you know, we we'll we'll keep it so it's a way it's trying to protect you.

Carrie Saunders 6:22

That makes a lot of sense, and I think that leads really well into our next question. Like, you know, I know you've worked with well-accomplished, self-aware people, you know, it could be coaches, healers, entrepreneurs, etc. Um, and you've done and they've done their inner work, but you mentioned to me that imposter syndrome still shows up for them even after years of personal development. So why do you think that's the case? Why do we keep coming back? Like I said in the beginning, I keep going back to imposter syndrome many times, even though I've done this, you know, business for almost 25 years now. Why do we keep coming back to that?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

It's really about where we're doing the work, right? If we kind of consciously know, oh, I have this thing called imposter syndrome, oh, I shouldn't have it, but we're not addressing the root, that part that's trying to protect us. We kind of have to get to what it's trying to do for us. And so oftentimes what happens when we're stuck in anything in our world in our lives, there's two conflicting beliefs. Like there's the belief that, oh, like maybe um really old one, maybe not our generation, but older generations heard it a lot. You're supposed to be seen and not heard, right? And so if you hear that a lot as a child, then you're like, okay, that's that's a big kind of neural pathway. Like that's a big thing. But then consciously you go, oh, I have to market, I have to put myself out there, I have to be, I have to go on social media. That's an internal conflict. You're supposed to be seen and not heard, but then you're supposed to put yourself out there. So this one may have a lot of emotion to it. And so we have to go and work on like a deeper level and let go of that one so that we can just be full with that other belief. So there's usually a split. And so getting to the root cause in a deeper state, not just with our conscious minds, because we can consciously know, oh, I shouldn't have imposter syndrome. But if we're not working with that deeper thing, it's like we're split oftentimes.

Carrie Saunders 8:22

It makes a lot of sense. Yeah, yeah, it does. It does. That makes a lot of sense, and I can see how, you know, and this is something I've been learning a lot. I mean, my children are all like 19 and older. So I kind of wish I'd learned this a little bit younger when they were a little younger. But even like some of the simple things that we all say to our children when they're little, yeah, they can so internalize. And so I've been trying to use that knowledge I've learned lately that we need to be careful as a parent to apply it to myself now, even as an adult. What am I saying to myself?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Oh, our words are so important to ourselves, right? And it's like your mind is always trying to give you exactly what you want. So if you're saying, Oh, I messed up, I'm so bad at that, I'm just, oh gosh, I'm never gonna learn, or whatever we're saying, it takes that as like directions. Oh, we're never gonna learn. Okay, let's just stop learning, or you know, and what you said about child child children is so interesting. From zero to seven, we're like sponges. Our subconscious mind is taking everything as truth. So all those things we hear, we just absorb and we have to really be careful. But the great thing is, is you can go back. And with this work with hypnotherapy, we do go back and kind of rewrite those stories so that it's not like, okay, well, my parents said this, so I have to, you know, be messed up for the rest of my life in that area of my life, right? It's like, no, we get to we get to rewrite it, and that's what's so powerful.

Carrie Saunders 9:52

Well, and actually actually resonate with that as well because um I have most people on the podcast probably don't know this, but I had a very interesting childhood, would be one

Scarcity Beliefs And Worthiness Traps

Carrie Saunders 10:00

way to put it. But I was back and forth between my parents. You know, they I got they got divorced when I was three. I was back and forth between my dad and my mother. Um, and and eventually I ended up with my grandmother. Um, she started raising me in fourth grade. And the world of my dad and my mother's life was um very poverty, poverty stricken and very um scarcity kind of yeah, scarcity mindset and all that. And then when I lived with my grandmother, it was abundance in the reality, but still in her mind, there was so much scarcity. Like she would like hold on to all this money because she grew up in the Great Depression. She was actually older, she was like 16 years older than my other grandmother. So she was an older grand grandmother for for me. So she grew up in the depression. So even though she was well off in general, you know, in her mindset it was still scarcity. So I can totally relate to that because like as a child, I saw scarcity from both both situations, but I also saw some abundance in the one while not believing it in their mind, not believing in it, right? Yeah. So like there's all this conflict that can go on in my head, just from what I witnessed from there.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah. Now, obviously, being self-aware helps, but like you still tard. Money things can be run deep, you know, culturally, but also in um the family. Like if we don't feel deserving of it, the classic thing, right, is to people that win the lottery and then they blow through the money, right? Because if they don't see themselves as like deserving of it or growing wealth, they just see it like spending, it they can just run right through it. And you're like, how can you go through that much, right? And it's because they don't have the belief system that they're deserving of it or that money stays, right? It's just right, it's just fascinating. And um, and the scarcity thing is a huge one. I think even with like building your business, right? If you don't see yourself as like deserving clients or you know, worthy, or you you can basically sabotage yourself, right? Because internally there's something saying, like, no, this isn't good. Yeah, it's thanks for sharing that about the scarcity thing, because that is a really one a lot of people, a lot of us struggle with, maybe all of us to some degree, you know.

Carrie Saunders 12:21

Right. Well, and I know that you you would talk a lot about subconscious mind protecting us in ways that don't always look like protection. And I think this is probably one way, but are there any other ways that come up pretty commonly for your clients that you work with them through to help them really, you know, in their life and then the in their business in the end?

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah, when you get to the root cause, it's really interesting because that's what we're trying to figure out like what is it trying to do? Because your subconscious mind is always trying to protect you. It's the part that keeps us alive, it's where our memory lives, it's where our habits live, it's where our emotions are. And it's also the part that controls our heartbeat and our, you know, lungs and like all the things we don't have to think about. If we had to think about everything, we wouldn't get anything done. Like, I don't know if you've ever seen somebody like having a brain injury and trying to learn how to like tie their shoe. Like all those things take up so much effort until they're become automatic, right? But when we get to the root cause, what is really interesting is it's usually one of three things. It's usually trying to protect you. Sometimes it's trying to punish you, and other times it's trying to make you a priority or kind of get attention for you. Like, say a kid that um that has a lot of siblings and you know, maybe just not getting a lot of attention. Maybe they get a rash, right? Oh, they're all of a sudden allergic to something, because that in a way may be serving to get them attention, right? To get them to be made a priority. Oh, we gotta take care of little Tommy, or you know, and so the punishment could be maybe you feel guilty about something, you know, maybe like um you were told you weren't lovable or something. And so you feel like, oh, I must have done something wrong. And so somehow you have relationship issues where you know you you punish yourself in a way because there's this belief that you've done something wrong. And it may be true, may not be true. But the most common one is the protection, right? Like, say in grade school you did a book report and someone laughed at you or something. And so you're like, oh, I never want to do that again, right? I don't want to speak in public. So then your subconscious mind goes, Well, we have to protect Laura because she does she people laughed at her. So that that was really strong emotion. So that's kind of where those things maybe we don't consciously think about them, but they could be really old.

Carrie Saunders 14:49

That makes a lot of sense. And I I think I think that's pretty relatable to a lot of people. And I mean, even the brain injury thing was relatable to me because I actually had a pretty bad concussion in 2020. And oh you did. It was yeah, I did. And it was amazing the things I couldn't do for the first few weeks. Like I had a pretty traumatic brain injury, and I was like, I was like, wow, this is what it's like to, you know, have a concussion and and to not do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Yeah.

Carrie Saunders 15:16

Yes, yes. I mean it's exhausting, right? It really is. And it it was it was tiring. I mean, it you use up so much energy with your brain. I mean, I think most people know this that their brain uses like a lot of energy even when you're just sitting here working. Um, and it takes, you know, it was exhausting for my brain to relearn how to cook, how to put something in the refrigerator. I would drop it, you know, I drop it before I hit the shelf because I I my perception was my depth perception wasn't working yet. And, you know, it's the little things we take, you know, granted for so much, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:49

And that's why we file everything away, right? It's kind of like we want to be as efficient as possible, because otherwise we it would be exhausting. It's kind of like learning a new language and being in a foreign country. Like your mind gets tired, and that's why the subconscious learns something and they go, okay, we'll take that over. But if you think about it, all of those filing, like imagine your Google Drive being organized by like a three-year-old, right? You know, it's like it was devised and set up in a time when we were we didn't know all

Pricing Fear And Self Talk

SPEAKER_01 16:20

that we know now. So when we can kind of go back and go, oh, I don't need this anymore, and this is an old belief, and this is you know, this isn't working. But yeah, it is our subconscious minds are fascinating, and they're really the most powerful. Like when we say that we're only using up 10% of our brains, you know, when people say that, what's the conscious mind part? The other is the subconscious that's doing everything automatic.

Carrie Saunders 16:46

Well, and I know that you know, a lot of the things that you help people with is um getting the difference, knowing the difference between whether you're a fraud and actually feeling it in your body. And and I know that, and this kind of comes back to the worthiness that we were talking about. Um, and so, like when you walk into a room, for example, or you try to sign on a client and or you want to try to raise your prices, it can be so hard. I see a lot of my business friends and even us have trouble with that. And we especially had trouble with this during COVID because we knew a lot of businesses were hurting, and so we took like years before we raised our prices again. Yeah. So, what's what why does that gap exist? How do we fix that gap? Because I feel like I see it in in myself as well as other business owners really holding them and their business back and their future back because we're telling ourselves, you know, that we aren't quite good enough or, you know, et cetera.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yeah, exactly. It is those words that we tell ourselves, right? And that part of that is getting to know, like familiar, get becoming aware of that, like, oh, what am I saying to myself? Kind of like what you were saying about your kids earlier, and like even the things you say to yourself, kind of stopping ourselves and going, wait, is that true? Or is that what I want to tell myself? Affirmations that we've all heard of, or guided visualizations where we're listening to positive things and kind of because our mind learns by repetition. So if we're repeating all the negative stuff, we have to combat that and put the positive back in. And yeah, I would recommend to your listeners to look at affirmations, not only affirmations, but going a little bit deeper and listening to guided visualizations as well, because you you're kind of reprogramming yourself and changing the story, changing that tape. Because you have to, it also goes back to that worthiness thing, right? If you if you don't feel deserving, right? But you think, oh, maybe a coach tells you, oh, you have to charge more, right? But if you don't feel like you're worth it or you doubt it, then you're gonna show up kind of with that hesitancy or sabotage or, you know, those things. So you have to bring up that your level of worth. And that just takes repetition and looking at those limiting beliefs that could be really old as well.

Carrie Saunders 19:06

So I love the affirmations part because I've heard a lot of people talking

Affirmations That Actually Stick

Carrie Saunders 19:10

about it. Do you have like an ideal way? Let's say somebody's listening and they're like, okay, I really want to either audit how I'm doing affirmations now or I want to start doing it. Do you have like a way you find is most effective to have those affirmations stick and not feel false? Because I know sometimes when I've tried to do affirmations, you know, it feels like I'm like telling myself a lie sometimes, right? So how do we get past that telling ourselves, feeling we're telling ourselves a lie?

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Yeah, that's a great question. And it it is, you have to find the right ones, right? Because if it does feel like a lie, it's not gonna, you're not gonna say it and it's not gonna land, right? So one of the things that I love to do is put little post-it notes. And the ones I usually use are like, you are enough. Super simple, but it's like I can say that, even if a lot of times I feel like, oh, I'm not good enough, I'm not this, but it's like, I am good enough, right? No, I'm enough, right? And so, um, or I you matter. And you can put it either, you can say I matter or you matter. I kind of like the simple ones, and I like the visual reminders, like put it as a screensaver or put it on um cabinets, you know. Sometimes when I was wanting to drop weight and I had like my snack cabinet, I would say, you are enough. Always have been. And I'm like, because sometimes that when we get into like habitual eating or kind of mindless eating, it's because we're not feeling full, right? We feel like we're not enough, like or we don't have enough inside. And so it's like I put that little reminder. The other thing you can do is work with a hypnotherapist, right, to get to that limiting belief underneath so that you can figure out where that came from and then say those affirmations. There's another really great technique is that I don't know if we have time to go over it today, but it's the looping thoughts where you notice what you're saying to yourself and then follow that thought along. So if you're saying to yourself, like, um, oh, I'm so exhausted. I'm so exhausted, right? Maybe that's not a good one. Let's think of one like um, I never have time. There's not enough time, right? I just don't have enough time. So then you think that thought kind of in repeat, and then you feel what you feel in your body. Okay, so I'm saying I never have enough time. And so I feel exhausted, I feel kind of hopeless. What do I feel like doing when I feel those feelings? So you kind of take it through the whole thing, like from feeling to action. And then you go back and you flip that almost like an affirmation, but it has to land and be true. So what can you say? Like, I have all the time.

The Looping Thoughts Flip

SPEAKER_01 22:00

In the world, maybe that doesn't really land like no. Maybe you say, I have um, I have an extra hour today. I have an extra hour that I can do what I need to do. And then is that true? Yeah, I do have an extra hour. So then you think that thought, and then you feel what do you feel when I think that thought? Have an extra hour. Oh, I feel more energy, I feel more excited, I feel more capable. And then what do I do? I'm more productive. So that's not quite an affirmation, but it's a way where you can kind of see how our thoughts have power over our emotions, and that that's how we what we feel is what we do.

Carrie Saunders 22:43

I don't know if that made sense. It does. And honestly, that sounds, I mean, it sounds very powerful to me, honestly, because for me, I've been trying to re you know, rework and rebuild this business for the past like five-ish years. Yeah. And I feel like I don't have enough time. Yeah. And that, and I know that's like a downfall to keep thinking that. So I think that a lot of other businesses are going to resonate with what you just said, and they can flip the script using the technique you just described. So for those listening, we're gonna have that in the show notes because I think that's really gold.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

So, Carrie, what would you say? Like, what would be your flip for that? So let's go through it with you. So, if you say I don't have enough time for my business, what feelings come up for you when you repeat the negative thought?

Carrie Saunders 23:28

I feel overwhelmed, I feel scared, I feel like I'm not worthy enough because I can't figure out how to have enough time. Yeah. Those would be the first things that come to my mind.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

And what do you feel like doing when you feel like overwhelmed, not worthy enough?

Carrie Saunders 23:44

Probably little simple, easy tasks that I can say I did it, and they're not really pushing my business forward, like deleting email or if you're okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

So you go to kind of busy busy work, like I can do this. I'm gonna do it because I'm overwhelmed. I'll do this. Okay. So I go to busy work. Okay. Well, let's go back and flip it for you. What would be your flip?

Carrie Saunders 24:05

Um, instead of I don't have enough time, I could say, Well, your extra hour was a good example. That one I could track on, you know, let's say a client call got canceled or move. I could be like, Oh, great, I have an extra hour I didn't think I had today.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Okay, so repeat that thought. I have an extra hour I didn't think I had today. I have an extra hour I didn't think I had today. What cup feelings come up when you repeat that thought?

Carrie Saunders 24:31

Um, relief. Um yeah, it's almost like you can breathe, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Like your shoulders feel like they go down. You probably could even see my shoulders like drop. It's like really have an extra hour, yeah.

Carrie Saunders 24:41

Good. Right. And I feel like I can accomplish something. I feel like I can put my mind into something and get something more productive done.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

And what kind of things do you want to do when you feel like you can be more productive and feel relieved?

Carrie Saunders 24:58

Probably more working on my business rather than in. So making sure that we are, you know, doing those uh lead indicators, kind of like a priority. The bigger right, yeah. Yeah, that I know if they're not done, then that hurts like the bottom line and our productivity too.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

More of those needle movers, right? Where you go right, the needle movers, yeah. And so, yeah, you can do this with all kinds of things, right? You know, like it is super powerful. And I've heard other people describe it in a little bit different ways, and it's so simple, but we just have to remind ourselves to do it. So if you sometimes if you're doing something and you just work yourself backwards to what the thought was and then talk yourself through it. Oh, I'm glad we went over that. I hope your listeners get a lot out of that.

Carrie Saunders 25:45

I hope so too. Yeah, because I I mean I we have a bunch of business friends, you know, especially since re remarketing us in the past several years. And when I'm in group calls, you know, that's kind of it's a pretty common theme to hear, especially I think post-COVID, and it's just been so exhausting on our brains, you know, the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yeah. And then even that is a thought, right? That we could look at. And then what do we feel like when we say that thought, you know, and then it's like true, you know, we we can do it with all kinds of things, but yeah, those are yeah, yes.

Carrie Saunders 26:18

I think I think um a big thing that people listening need to think about is what are we telling ourselves right now? You know, because you know, you just brought up some things that I've been telling myself. I'm like, well, why is that still true? It's been six years. Why am I still telling myself that now?

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah, right. Yeah, is it really the fact that we tell ourselves that's what makes it true, right? And so then we act on that, and then it's like, yeah. And um Marissa Um Peer was my mentor, the rapid transformational therapy. And she she wrote a book called Tell Yourself a Better Lie. And it's interesting because it is, it's like we're telling ourselves things, and so it's like, oh, what if we tell a better lie? Like, I can do this. This is this is figure out a bowl or you know the different things, you know, like, and like we talked about the affirmations, they have to ring true that we can repeat it and kind of feel it and then move forward.

Carrie Saunders 27:12

Yeah, I mean, I mean just just us talking together already right now. I feel so much relief. Like, I hopefully all of our listeners can feel so much relief of the possibilities we can do, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Yeah, we're we have infinite possibilities, I believe.

Carrie Saunders 27:27

We really do. Yeah, yeah. And and speaking of which, um, I'm actually reading a book right now. I absolutely love it called Limitless by Jim Quick. Have you oh yeah, and then I could have that in my Kindle. I haven't read it yet. Oh, you need to. Okay, that's an awesome book. I think it would go really well with this podcast episode and we can be unlimited in our brains. Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Yeah, I have it in my Kindle for sure.

Carrie Saunders 27:51

So then let's talk a little bit about root work. I know you you mentioned this to me, you know, before our interview. Can you walk us through what root work, root cause work actually looks like? Um, like what happens in a session that's different from talking therapy or or like from coaching. What does that root cause work? We kind of touched on it, I feel like, but let's go into a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Yeah, I would love to talk about that because when when I mention hypnotherapy, a lot of people think of stage hypnosis, right? And that like they've seen something where someone's quacking like a duck, or they, you know, they think, oh, I can't be hypnotized. And it's actually, I wish it almost needs to be like um rebranded or something, because it is we're in hypnosis or in that state of like that trance state multiple times throughout the day. It's that kind of daydreamy feeling, like you're still aware and your mind's always there protecting you, but it's like it's distracted. Like, have you ever been on the highway and you're like, oh, wait, how did I get here? Like 10 minutes is gone, you know, and you're just like, you know, daydreamy. So in the root cause uh work or the hypnotherapy, the RTT, we basically go into that state where if we say to your conscious mind, you can take a little break, you know, you don't have to effort. We're really talking about the memories and the emotions and the habits. So it's not really going into your old story, but it's going back to the root cause. Like, what is the cause of this insecurity or this fear or this impulse or this pattern? And so oftentimes we regress back to memories in different times

What Root Cause Work Looks Like

SPEAKER_01 29:30

of our lives. And you're talking to me, and I, and then we're looking at the feelings that came up, and we're going, oh, what belief did you come up with about yourself because of that incident? Like the example of the young girl that did the book report, right? So that could have been something that she may not have remembered. And then in this, in this root cause work, in that kind of trance state, you're kind of in a relaxed time. Then she goes, Oh, yeah, I felt like a failure. I felt like um my friends didn't like me. I felt rejected. I felt, you know, stupid, right? All those things. And so, oh, what did it mean make you believe about yourself? Oh, that I was never gonna go up and I'm not a good public speaker. I never want to speak in public, right? So then we're looking for that and go, but is that really true? You know, and are you you're not eight years old anymore, right? You know, and so we we get to look at it and kind of understand, like, oh, wait, I don't need that. This isn't working for me anymore. So that's kind of like kind of deep therapy work, but working with the subconscious mind. So we're kind of at this different level and not just saying like our story and repeating it, but kind of changing the story, like, oh yeah, that that doesn't serve me anymore. It's just trying to protect me, but I don't need that protection. I'm you know, 40 years old, or I'm, you know, I'm capable, or you know, like bringing that real awareness to what we do want. And so we can let that part go. And the transformations I've seen have been so amazing. Well, again, like I said earlier, oftentimes it's either protecting you, punishing you, or making her a priority. Like I had a client that came in with polycystic ovaries. Do you know what that is? Where it's like affects your ability to get pregnant and you have all these crazy symptoms. And so she came in for that and she was like, went to the root cause of this scene where her uncle was really like upset because he was going broke because of his kids. And it's like, she's in a different culture, and you know, this was like this big never seen her uncle like that. And as a young woman, she's like, having kids is gonna make you financially ruined, and I don't want kids, right? As this little kid, she's deciding now. So her body goes, Okay, we can make that happen. Let's have it be really difficult for her to get pregnant, okay? Polycystic ovaries. So we had the she had this realization, and in that session, it was like, oh, wait, no, I'm an adult now. I do want to have kids. This was an old thing, and this doesn't make sense anymore. After the session, her symptoms cleared up, you know, and it was just like it doesn't have to happen very slowly. Sometimes the change happens slowly, but sometimes it is like that. Like, oh, wait, no, this isn't me anymore. So it's pretty fascinating. I just I love it's like I'm a detective and I get to go, like, where did this come from? And what's it trying to do? And they get the big aha's. Like the client themselves is kind of figuring it out. I'm not saying, oh, it looks like this. It's like they get to go, oh, this is what this is. And yeah, I love it.

Carrie Saunders 32:46

Yeah, that's pretty fascinating because I I know that you know, when we're little, for thoughts, for example, we're trying to protect ourselves. And we're not taught how to unwind that as a kid or even as an adult. Yeah. Unwind, you know, these things that have happened to us. They could be as simple as like an uncle's comment. They could be something really traumatizing too.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Like, you know, it doesn't take a whole lot. Yeah.

Carrie Saunders 33:13

Yeah. It didn't take a whole lot to ingrain something in a in a young child's um mind, you know, and they don't even realize it.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Yeah, you're not conscious of it. You're not consciously saying, well, I need to protect myself now. Like that all happens at that deeper level. And that's why we have to go, like, you didn't consciously decide to have this compulsive eating thing, right? No, it was trying to do something for you, right? So you have to get to that root and not just change the the pattern with willpower, you know, you have to kind of once you get to that route, then it's easy, right? Because it's like, like you said, you're kind of on you've unwound it and then it's not holding on anymore. It's like, oh no, this isn't what I believe anymore. But when you have those conflicting beliefs, it's hard to move forward. It's kind of like speeding with the brakes on or trying to ride two horses at once. It's like you have to pick one, but if you don't know about this other one, it's hard to know what to let go of.

Carrie Saunders 34:13

Right. And you probably don't see a path out until your eyes have been opened as to, you know, what's what's really holding you back. So you don't see a path to where you want to go and you feel so stuck.

unknown 34:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Consciously, you kind of know, no, I shouldn't feel insecure. Right. I'm okay. Yeah, I know. But then it's like there's this younger part of this, you know, that still believes something that's that you don't know you're even fighting against.

Carrie Saunders 34:38

Well, and I feel like we sometimes even will judge ourselves, like we'll know, okay, I shouldn't feel this way. Yeah. Then we might judge ourselves, well, why do I feel this way? I shouldn't feel this way. And then so that I feel like that also can cause like a subconscious block too, because we're like externally looking at ourselves, why are we not out of this problem yet?

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Right. Especially for all of us who've done a lot of work and they kind of like there's a shaming element, like, you know, this, you know better. And then it's like, well, that doesn't help, right? So now you've just added another element of like, okay, you know, but yeah, we we get so hard on ourselves, don't we? You know?

Carrie Saunders 35:13

We do. Yeah. So for those listening, um, you know, before we wrap up today, I would love to know is there anything else that you feel like would be um a really great tangible advice for business owners that that feel like they're stuck with something in their business? How can they try to start unwinding it? Obviously connecting with you, Laura, and we'll we'll have um we'll talk about how they can better connect with you in a moment, but like how can they start to work on themselves and make those next steps um in addition to the tips you already gave us?

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Well, remember how we said earlier it's like what we're telling ourselves. This is one little tip kind of trick that you can do starting right now is you know, when you don't like something like tech, for me, maybe, you know, not for you, right? But like saying, like if you keep saying yourself, oh, I'm not good at the tech, I'm really not good at tech, I'm not even just saying that, I'm gonna resist it so much more. And it may be true that I'm not that great at it, right? But if I say, Oh, I love learning, and I do love learning, I can learn this. I love learning tech, right? Changing the words can make such a huge impact, right? Like, oh, I hate showing up on video. This is the one I'm working on because I do. And so I have to, you know, hear myself go like, oh, I don't like doing this, and go like, I love showing up on video. I love being able to connect with people that I can best serve, right? I love helping people. So then showing up on video can be really helpful. So Marissa Pierre gave an example of this when I was learning with her, and it just stuck with me. And then maybe this can help your people as well. She was like on the back of this jet ski, and the water is like in her face, like, you know, and wasn't very pleasurable. And she's like, Well, I can't spend this whole time going like I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, right? And so then she's just like, I love this, I love this. And so now I think of that when I think of things, something does I'm like, I love this, I love the tech, I love, I love learning new things. And so just even flipping that, noticing how we're telling ourselves that we don't like something can really make it so much more difficult. And that if we say we love it, we start loving it. I did that with tech, and I'm like, I really have gotten so much better because I'm not fighting myself so much. And I'm like, I do love learning. So it's like I love learning tech things, you know, and so just those little things, if you can, you know, like I think we get so like, I don't like this, I don't like that. And but if it's not getting to where you want to go, like if there's things for your business or things for your, you know, your growth that may not seem the best, but if you can switch it in your mind and go like, I do really love something about it, you know, like it makes it so much better.

Carrie Saunders 38:04

Well, and as you were talking, one thing that came to my mind is we've lost our curiosity. As we've gotten older, we've lost our curiosity. So you saying you love to learn tech is is like a cure it out curiosity thing too, in my mind, as you were talking. I was like, you know, we need to bring back our curiosity as well to help our minds be a little bit more free and being blocked on the things we don't think we like or aren't good at.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

Right, because we can get so set in our ways, right? You know, and and that and that makes sense because your your mind wants to go to what's familiar, like like

Change Your Words Using Curiosity

SPEAKER_01 38:40

the putting the files. It's like wanting to save time, and so it's just like trying to figure things out. But yeah, we do kind of start limiting ourselves. And I love that you said that about curiosity, because that's like one of my biggest values, as I'm such a curious person. And I love, I I just I'm especially curious about people and what makes them, you know, tick and work. And obviously, this is what I do, but yeah, the curiosity is a great one.

Carrie Saunders 39:06

So I'd absolutely love this conversation. I think it's going to be really helpful to our audience. I know for me, just listening, I'm gonna have to go back and re-listen to it. I think it's been very helpful for me interviewing you. So, Laura, how is what's the best places? We'll have your bio and your info on our show notes at Smarteronlinebusiness.com. But what are some good, what are the best ways to connect with you?

SPEAKER_01 39:27

You know, I actually made um an imposter syndrome guided visualization for your people. As you know, before we did this, I was like, oh, I'm gonna make an audio. So it's a 10-minute audio that um do you want to just put it in the show notes too? If they go to my website is Laura Kate McHugh, and then it's imposter syndrome audio. But yeah, that would be a great way to just kind of reach out and then they'll have ways. But my website as well, and um that can be in your show notes too, probably. But yeah, I'm always open for a conversation. Like, even if, like I said, I'm so curious. If people wanted to jump on a call and talk about where they feel stuck, I would love to even just give them some quick wins on a one-on-one basis. And I've loved this conversation, Carrie. Thank you so much for having me on the show and yeah, resonate so much with what you do.

Carrie Saunders 40:20

Yeah, I love having you on the show, and I'm so glad we connected in um that mastermind group that we're in together. It's been wonderful to get to know you so much better.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Yeah, I love seeing you on the calls, and yeah, that's been great talking today. Thanks for being on our show, Laura. Thank you so much. Bye, Carrie.

Carrie Saunders 40:38

Wasn't that a great conversation with Laura? I absolutely loved it. I learned so much from it, and I can't wait to re-listen to it. I hope it gave you a different way to think about those places where you feel stuck in your business. One of my biggest takeaways is that sometimes we consciously know we're capable, but there's still an old belief underneath that's telling us something completely different. So instead of judging ourselves by saying, I shouldn't feel this way, maybe we can get curious about it. Where did that belief come from? What am I telling myself over and over again? And does that belief serve the person I am today? I especially love the part where Laura's simple suggestion to start paying attention to the words we use. So instead of using, I'm terrible at this or I hate doing this, what happens if we approach it with curiosity and remind ourselves what we can learn and that we can learn? Laura

Guided Audio And Final Takeaways

Carrie Saunders 41:30

also created a special 10-minute guided visualization around imposter syndrome for our listeners. I am excited. I cannot wait to listen to this, and I hope you really enjoy it. So make sure you go to smarteronlinebusiness.com and just search for Laura's name, and you will find her podcast episode and the link directly to that, or search this podcast title on our website, and you will find a link to that special guided visualization created just for you guys. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this episode. I enjoyed creating it for you. And make sure to share this with a business friend because we all have struggles like this in our lives, in our businesses. We all struggle with imposter syndrome or something else where we're playing small in our business. And I want this episode to really help us all move forward and move forward with courage, confidence, and just that conviction of taking that next step and really serving our clients and our spaces with our expertise. And we will see you next week.