Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
A whopping 70% of the world’s population is estimated to have imposter syndrome in some manner or another.
Imposter syndrome embodies inadequate feelings of fraudulence despite not being an actual fraud. In other words, you’re successful but filled with crippling self-doubt that others will see you as a phony.
For example, people usually feel like an “imposter” when they accept a new and ambitious job offer or get accepted into the graduate school program of their dreams.
The inability to internalize accomplishments is likely a sign of an innate fear of failure, driven by perfectionism. For example, you look great on paper and your friends admire you for your achievements, but you are worried that others will find out you’re a “fraud”, so you compensate by doing more things, which fosters more praise.
Essentially, it’s an endless loop of despair, that could spiral out of control.
According to Dr. Valerie Young’s book The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, there are many types of imposter syndrome:
- The perfectionist, the person with incredibility high expectations of themselves who might crumble if the slightest mistake is made.
- The natural genius, the person who is used to getting things done seamlessly, who is now struggling to overcome a hurdle, and is now harbouring self-doubt and shame.
- The soloist, the person who dislikes asking others for help, because if they do, they’re not a true expert.
- The superperson, who puts in many hours of work, with little time off, and has to succeed in every avenue of their life, just to prove themselves to the world.
- The expert, the person who pursues continuous training and certification because they never truly feel qualified.
It’s possible that you might self-identify as belonging to one or more category. In fact, it’s quite reasonable to be worried about how others think of us. When we have a new achievement, there is an expectation and pressure to succeed. However, these feelings are quite normal, even for the most successful people.
Some of the most common themes associated with imposter syndrome are:
- Never failing, as there is an immense pressure to work even harder to avoid being outed as a “fraud”.
- Feeling fake, where you believe that you don’t deserve this opportunity or promotion, even though you were selected for the role.
- Attributing success to external factors like luck, instead of internal factors like personal insights or professional skills.
- Downplaying success, as if it were no big deal, even though you know this situation is a big deal.
Furthermore, various research has suggested that imposter syndrome is usually more strongly prevalent in high-achieving women, people of colour, graduate students, and many more.
It can be much harder to challenge this type of thinking as social media has allowed us to document instances where we have succeeded and failed. Thus, there is additional pressure to make sure that you don’t make a mistake.
However, it’s best to remind yourself that imposter syndrome, is just a momentary lapse in our own abilities.
To deal with the negative impacts of imposter syndrome, consider the following:
- Recognizing your feelings of inadequacy and mapping it out as it happens, to see if there are ways to avoid scenarios that produce it in the first place.
- Figuring out why you are feeling this way, why these feelings first arrived, and the context behind them.
- Focusing on the facts, but not on our emotions.
- Rewiring yourself to internalize that you are just as worthy as others who have received similar opportunities in the past.
- Reminding yourself that it’s okay to not be knowledgeable on every little thing and that you will learn more things as you go along.
- Talking about your feelings with a friend, family, or therapist.
- Reframing your obstacles as potential learning opportunities.
- Rewarding yourself with presents or other fun activities to keep yourself motivated.
- Visualizing your success, especially as you work towards becoming a better version of yourself.
Overall, while imposter syndrome is a challenging circumstance, it’s a common occurrence, even for the most successful of us. Constant reminders may humble ourselves to be realistic in our expectations, and hopefully, these feelings may simmer down over time.
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