Dr Jill Stoddard: Imposter Thoughts, Courage, and Doing It Anyway

What if confidence isn’t required before you take action?

In this episode of People Soup, Ross McIntosh sits down with Dr Jill Stoddard — psychologist, author of Impostor No More, and co-host of Psychologists Off the Clock.

Together, they explore the reality of imposter thoughts and why trying to eliminate them often makes things worse.

You’ll hear:

1. Why high achievers still feel like frauds
2. The limits of “positive thinking”
3. How to respond differently to your inner critic
4. Jill’s powerful TEDx story — and what her mind was saying
5. The role of values in taking meaningful action
6. A simple but transformative skill: getting comfortable being uncomfortable

This episode is grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), offering practical tools you can apply immediately.

Over the coming days, look out for Quick Spoon episodes — short, practical extracts from this conversation.

This episode was produced and edited from a previous People Soup interview recording with Dr Jill Stoddard.

People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.

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Visit Ross' Website.

Connect with Ross on LinkedIn

People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life

He's now also on Bluesky

The People Soup Website on CAPTIVATE

Dr Jill Stoddard

Jill's Website.

Jill's Books.

Jill's TEDx Talk - How to Succeed in Every Moment Even When You're Failing

Connect with Jill on LinkedIn.