Use your SUBCONSCIOUS MIND to RISE ABOVE IMPOSTER SYNDROME (inspired by the wisdom of Joseph Murphy)

7 min readJul 7, 2024

Imposter Syndrome is a challenge that most of us face throughout our lives, particularly when you are starting something new or have a fire in your belly to achieve a dream or goal.

Imposter syndrome is the little voice in your head that tells you that you’re not ready, that you don’t have enough experience or knowledge, or that you could never be as good as the other people out there who are years ahead of you.

Imposter syndrome stems from the ego and places these thoughts in your mind to keep you small and to ‘keep you safe’.

The journey to overcoming imposter syndrome requires unlocking the innate power within you — the power of your subconscious mind.

I recently read the book ‘The Power of Your Subconscious Mind’ by Joseph Murphy. Murphy explores the incredible potential that you have when you can tap into your subconscious mind and overcome the barriers of imposter syndrome.

Joseph Murphy discusses how the subconscious mind is a powerful force that influences your thoughts, beliefs, and actions.

Your subconscious is a pool of limitless potential, capable of reshaping your self-perception.

You can use your subconscious mind to rewrite narratives of limiting beliefs that fuel imposter syndrome.

By using tools to reprogram your mind and release the thoughts that hold you back and keep you in your comfort zone, then you can achieve so much more then you could imagine.

You will begin to excel into the best version of yourself.

How to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind…

1: IDENTIFY LIMITING BELIEFS

Identify your limiting beliefs and spot the voice of imposter syndrome when it arises.

What are your limiting beliefs? Have you ever thought about where your beliefs come from?

Maybe it’s from a parent, teacher or friend telling you that you are not good at something.

Maybe you failed at something in the past and now you choose not to try again for fear of failure or embarrassment.

From a biological perspective, back in our tribal days, rejection was a serious fear of life or death.

If you were rejected from your tribe, you would likely die on your own.

This biological fear is still within us. But in the modern day, if you are rejected by a friend, a romantic partner or from a job interview, you don’t have the dangers of wild animals eating you or the challenges of survival in the wild without food for days.

When the voice of fear arises, try to shift your perspective.

Ask yourself, ‘if I fail at this or get rejected, what’s the worst that can happen?’

…Usually ‘the worst’ is not that bad.

Failures and challenges are part of the learning experience and help you build the strength and knowledge to excel in the future.

2: AFFIRMATIONS FOR EMPOWERMENT

Replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations.

Create affirmations that reinforce your capabilities, achievements, and worthiness.

For example:

“I am worthy of success”

“I am worthy of my dreams and goals”

“I trust in my abilities”

“My knowledge and wisdom positively impacts the lives of others”

“I am a talented…”

3: VISUALISATION TECHNIQUES

When you can clarify your goal, your higher-self or your dream life, you can create a visual of that future reality.

When you continue to hold these visions and ideals in your mind, then circumstances and situations will begin to appear and unfold that materialise your visions into your current reality.

You can do this by…

- Creating a vision board.

- Write what you want on paper and put it somewhere in your house where you can see it each day.

- Visualise yourself succeeding or living within your dream reality before you go to sleep at night or during a meditation.

- Listen to guided manifestation meditations on Spotify or YouTube (Dr Joe Dispenza has some great ones).

- Surround yourself with like-minded people and people that champion you.

- Find a mentor or coach to help you define what it is you want and take the actionable steps to succeed.

- Identify and celebrate when an element of your dream/goal materialises into your life — Often our dreams manifest in stages as you lay the foundations and energetically draw it towards you. Acknowledge that happening and fuel the desire within yourself.

4: USE THE POWER OF AUTOSUGGESTION

Murphy teaches the power of autosuggestion techniques that repeatedly imprint positive thoughts into your subconscious mind.

To demonstrate the power of autosuggestion, he uses an example of a man whose daughter has a crippling arthritis

This man would repeat over and over again “I would give my right arm to see my daughter cured.”

Around 2 years later, the family was in a car accident that resulted in the man’s right arm being torn off at the shoulder.

Coincidently, the daughter’s arthritis vanished.

“You must make certain to give your subconscious only suggestions, which heal, bless, elevate, and inspire you in all your ways. Remember that your subconscious mind cannot take a joke. It takes you at your word.”

- Joseph Murphy

Affirm your ability of success and maintain consistency.

Engrain intentional suggestions into your subconscious mind.

Daily Practices for Subconscious Empowerment

Practice 1: MORNING AFFIRMATION RITUAL

Begin each day with empowering affirmations.

Create an energetic field of positivity that you can carry with you into your day.

Remind yourself of your worth, your capabilities, and the certainty of success.

As you move through the day, you will attract situations that will strengthen this energy and belief.

You might like to write down your affirmations and leave them next to your bed or on your bathroom mirror so you can read them as soon as you wake up, re-affirming the thoughts of your previous evening’s visualisation that you hopefully carried into your sleep.

Practice 2: EVENING VISUALISATIONS

Murphy believes in the power of positive visualisation before you go to sleep.

You could picture yourself achieving goals, overcoming challenges, and embracing your success. Allow these images to permeate your subconscious as you rest.

“ Every night before you go to sleep, lay down and relax in your bed, close your eyes and picture yourself (in a first-person view) in a scenario where you have already received your desire. As you are visualizing, let yourself feel all of the emotions that you would actually feel if this scenario were real. Fulfilment, thankfulness, love, happiness, or whatever feels natural to you. While you are soaking up these wonderful feelings, you will most likely drift off to sleep.

… All you need is a simple, 30 second scene.

…When you do get the full feelings, hold onto them and let them wash over you, over and over.

…While revelling in these feelings you’ll fall asleep and they will sink into your subconscious, and over time will recondition your subconscious, and your old beliefs will be replaced with the new beliefs that you will receive your desire…”

Practice 3: INTENTIONALLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SUCCUSS

When something fortunate materialises into your life, acknowledge it.

It was your innate power and your faith that caused it to happen.

I believe in hand-writing things down to make it even more material — add it to your vision board, write a note and stick it on your mirror or write it in your journal.

If you’re not much of a writer, then tell a friend about it or contemplate on it during meditation.

Acknowledge that you are proud of yourself and are making progress toward what you desire.

The more you give credit to your unique talents, skills, abilities and the power you have within you to achieve all of your dreams and desires, the easier it will be for your true and highest self to drown out the voice of imposter syndrome.

Through the journey of overcoming imposter syndrome, continue to remind yourself of your ‘why’.

Use mindful practices that feel natural to you such as journaling, meditation, vision boards, talking with like-minded friends or mental imagery to tap into the power of your subconscious mind.

Through the wisdom and lessons from Joseph Murphy you can use tools to reprogram your beliefs and mindset, to build confidence, and to empower yourself to identify and rise above self-doubt.

Your journey begins within and lies in the limitless capabilities of your subconscious mind.