People have been struggling with imposter syndrome, or the deep fear that others will discover you’re a fraud, forever. The fear says that despite all the evidence to the contrary, you are a failure and are faking competence at all times.

Though the term wasn’t coined until the 1970s, even one of the greatest American novelists of all time suffered from severe self-doubt: F. Scott Fitzgerald.

It took Fitzgerald nine years after the release of The Great Gatsby to publish another book, and even still, he wasn’t confident in it. So, he wrote to a friend for advice: None other than Ernest Hemingway.

If you’re looking for advice on how to defeat self-doubt and imposter syndrome, look no further than the words of wisdom written between two of the greatest literary minds of the 20th century.

Hemingway gives Fitzgerald some much-needed tough love

The Great Gatsby, today, is considered one of the great American novels. However, when it was published in 1925, the reception was lukewarm.

“Fitzgerald’s Latest A Dud,” one newspaper headline read.

Partially as a result, he fitzed and fussed over his next novel for years. He also struggled with mental health, his marriage, and alcoholism during that time. Finally, though, he followed up Gatsby with Tender Is the Night in 1934.

By all accounts, Fitzgerald was not happy with the book, even though he had wanted it to become the best American novel of all time—an awful lot of pressure for anyone to put on themselves. He worried he’d never write anything as good as Gatsby again. He asked Hemingway for his opinion, which Hemingway gladly delivered in a way that only he could:

“I liked it and I didn’t,” Hemingway writes, bluntly. He goes on for paragraphs about all the ways the book is lacking before softening. “It’s a lot better than I say. But it’s not as good as you can do.”

Hemingway’s advice to F. Scott Fitzgerald on how to ignore the critics, including himself

Though Hemingway chastised Fitzgerald for taking too many liberties with the story, “cheating,” and stuffing the novel with “good stuff… that it didn’t need,” he ultimately writes to console his friend.

Or, as some would say, his “frenemy.”

“For Christ sake write and don’t worry about what the boys will say nor whether it will be a masterpiece nor what. I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the wastebasket. You feel you have to publish crap to make money to live and let live.”

It’s brilliant advice. One way of conquering imposter syndrome is positive thinking and affirmations: “I do belong.”

Another is to realize that everyone else around you is just making it up as they go, too. And that’s the point Hemingway is getting at. Even he, who had written The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms by this point, admits that most of what he writes is trash.

A wonderful, if harsh, pep talk. But Hemingway isn’t finished:

“Scott, good writers always come back. Always. You are twice as good now as you were at the time you think you were so marvellous. You know I never thought so much of Gatsby at the time. You can write twice as well now as you ever could. All you need to do is write truly and not care about what the fate of it is. … Go on and write.”

Modern psychologists’ advice has plenty of overlap with Hemingway

In parts of his letter, Hemingway urged Fitzgerald to stop feeling bad for himself and to channel his pain into his best work.

“Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to hurt like hell before you can write seriously. But when you get the damned hurt use it.”

One evidence-based strategy for overcoming imposter syndrome is coming up with what psychologists call a “post-mistake compassion plan.” It’s a strategy for moving forward with confidence after screwing up. That’s what Hemingway was trying to help Fitzgerald do; recognize that Tender Is the Night was perhaps not his best work, but that he was more than talented enough to get off the mat and come back stronger.

No one is perfect, and falling down doesn’t mean you don’t belong.

In the end, it’s hard to say if things did get better for Fitzgerald. LitHub writes, “he ended his too-short life doing Hollywood hack work to make ends meet before dying, largely forgotten, his final novel left unfinished. His life has long been viewed as a classic tragedy—glamorous rise, brutal fall.”

But the result was not for a lack of his friends, like Hemingway, trying to help.

“[I] was always trying to get him to work and tell the truth at least to himself,” Hemingway wrote. “Well, the hell with all of it.”

We should all be so lucky as to have someone in our lives who will, harshly if need be, insist on reminding us of our own talent and worth.

A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a  gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. 

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. 

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. 

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. 

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to  loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. 

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:

Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis 

Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community

Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or  in one of 60   countries where we work around the globe

Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door 

Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore

Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. 

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today. 

Robin Williams was notorious for making his scene partners crack up and break character with his off-the-cuff antics. However, one costar remained eternally stone-faced: Sally Field. 

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Field recalls working with Williams on the set of Mrs. Doubtfire, where he would constantly try, and fail, to elicit even a polite giggle from her. 

Much to his disappointment, “I would never laugh, ever,” quipped Field, even when “ everybody else was laughing and carrying on.”

One might assume that a consummate professional like Field perhaps felt the constant jokes were inappropriate or overly distracting. But no. They just weren’t her cup of tea. 

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“It wasn’t funny. It just wasn’t funny,” she told Colbert while chuckling. “Robin was always trying something different to make me laugh. It was so unfunny. I can’t begin to tell you.”

The one joke that actually made Sally Field break

Field remained Williams’ white whale throughout the entire production, which “drove him mad.” And to really add insult to injury, Pierce Brosnan successfully made her lose it with a simple fart gag. 

“We were sitting at a table at the restaurant, and [Brosnan] made a fart noise on his arm. And I was gone. That was it. I laughed so hard they had to redo my makeup.”

Why their chemistry in Mrs. Doubtfire still feels so real

Knowing their behind-the-scenes dynamic adds a whole new layer of authenticity to Mrs. Doubtfire, doesn’t it?

In the movie, Field and Williams are a divorced couple. Miranda, portrayed by Field, constantly feels like she is having to bear all the responsibility of raising their three children while Daniel, played by Williams, seemingly never takes anything seriously. 

That said, Williams and Field still seemed to have a genuine friendship. 

In 2024, she told Vanity Fair that her father had passed away during filming. 

“I was of course beside myself,” Field shared. “I came on the set trying with all my might to act. I wasn’t crying. Being extremely “sensitive and intuitive,” Williams picked up that something was wrong, and even made arrangements for Field to leave filming to make arrangements. 

“Robin came over, pulled me out of the set, and asked, ‘Are you OK?’” she told Vanity Fair. When Field answered, Williams........

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