Swati Kameswar On How To Thrive Despite Experiencing Impostor Syndrome

Get familiar with your inner voice. Listen to your thoughts. The feeling of imposter syndrome is first triggered by thoughts, so getting familiar with your inner voice can give you clues to transform it. Recognize the voice of the inner critic, how does it sound, what words does it use and when does it show up most?

As a part of our series about how very accomplished leaders were able to succeed despite experiencing Imposter Syndrome, I had the pleasure of interviewing Swati Kameswar.

Swati Kameswar is a Visionary Coach helping individuals in their 30s/40s/50s to transform midlife crisis into midlife awakening by activating the power of their authentic voice.

After 2 decades in the world of engineering and management, she found her calling in midlife to help others express their genius through their voice.

She specializes in helping individuals transform career burnout into passion, uncover hidden skills, embrace their unique ideas, and speak with authority, so they can experience growth and recognition in their chosen career and set up the second half of their life for meaningful, authentic & joyful success. You can learn more about her courses and workshops at https://activateyourtruthandpower.com/

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

I was born in Mumbai India and lived there for the first 22 years of my life. As a child, I loved to paint, read and be in nature. Both my parents were engineers and very unconventional. They went through a big awakening phase in their 40s, that was catalyzed by challenges in the environment that we lived in. This expanded their minds and opened their hearts. Their awakening had a big impact on how I was raised, and it influenced my own midlife awakening phase in a big way. Being good at science & math meant that I followed the conventional career path and became an engineer myself. I came to the US to pursue higher studies and have lived here since then. The seeds sowed by my parents’ experiences and interest in higher consciousness had a big impact on my own life and eventually paved the way for my career change from engineer to visionary coach/astrologer/artist.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

This story is related to what was ultimately the catalyst for me to change my career. The turning point.

I had been coaching informally for many years even when I was in my engineering career, and I knew that was the path I ultimately wanted to pursue. But apart from the people I coached, no one else knew I was doing that. I was hesitant to share that part of me, to really claim that skill, while at the same time trying to function in my then career.

But I was feeling disillusioned, even though I had been successful thus far.

I soon reached a point, that when I spoke in meetings and with my colleagues, I felt like I was lying. Not outright lies, but a sense that I was being false. This is what imposter syndrome is like. I would feel discomfort in my throat & chest and that’s when I realized what the term ‘Speak your Truth’ means. It means to speak, communicate, express about what I care about every day, let that come through my voice, and my actions, letting people know who I really was. So, I started to share my personal transformational journey with others, allowing for vulnerability; and through sharing my story and my authentic skills & interests, my own voice became stronger. This eventually enabled me to transition my career completely.

The falseness started to fade away because my authentic voice was coming through.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

In my coaching practice, I work a lot with folks who are going through ‘midlife crisis’; they are disillusioned with their career & life, which is typically what we experience during midlife planetary transits. My expertise in astrology gives me an understanding of human nature, behavior, and potential through the lens of the 12 zodiac archetypes as well as information of sacred timings of our lives that create initiations (ie midlife planetary transits).

I find this to be a phenomenal personal development tool which allows me to help people create big transformation. Working with these sacred timings consciously is essential because that is when new gifts come in. The natal chart gives us clues and access to our greatest gifts, many of which are hidden and get revealed as we move through the midlife transformation phase. But if we are in imposter syndrome mode, we will miss this opportunity completely.

My coaching techniques are unique because they combine transformational coaching methods with Intentional Creativity processes & clues from the astrology natal chart & sacred timings of initiation, to enable people to get access to their unique gifts & skills that are being awakened at this key time of midlife. My workshops and programs help them awaken their playful brilliance, so they can step into their next higher potential and bring it into their life and career. This enables their authenticity to shine through with joy. And this makes the process of transformation not only long-lasting and sustainable but also fun!

This is exactly how I transformed my career from engineering to coaching. The skill of Astrology awakened in me during the midlife years, and I learned how important it was during this time, to go beyond doubt, fear and limiting beliefs of yourself, perceive new possibilities to awaken your unique hidden skills, refresh your image of yourself, and intentionally curate a path to your highest expression.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I have had so many different people play a role in helping me recreate my career and am grateful to all of them! All these folks are masters in their respective fields, bold & unique in the application of their craft and generous with their teachings.

Some that stand out are ones I have studied with extensively. Joanna Lindenbaum from whom I learned the power of coaching, David Palmer an amazing astrologer whose work supported me deeply during my transformational journey of navigating intense planetary transits, Shiloh Sophia whose work with Intentional Creativity is groundbreaking and enabled me to reclaim the artist within, Dominique Oyston whose work allows your own voice to break free, Alena Hennessy who re-kindled in me the heartfelt joy of painting and Sandra Walter who is simply the most unique person walking on this planet and has had a profound impact on my life. Deeply grateful to all these amazing Humans!

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the experience of Impostor Syndrome. How would you define Impostor Syndrome? What do people with Imposter Syndrome feel?

Imposter Syndrome is when a person feels like a fraud, a fake. Like they are not qualified or skilled enough for the position or role.

Even the success they have had does not feel real and feels undeserved. They may feel like they just got ‘lucky’ and don’t really deserve that position or success.

The effects can show up in the:

• Mental realm: as the perfectionist, inner critic, judgmental thoughts about your own self, success, skills. A voice inside may say that the success is not real, that they are not deserving of success.
• Emotional realm: a feeling of not being good enough, not measuring up, feeling incapable. Not deserving. A sense of doubt, second guessing yourself, lack of trust in yourself and your skills and capabilities.
• Physically: through actions that tend towards self-sabotage, overcompensating by trying to prove yourself, working harder than most, because you feel like you need to earn the respect, overcommitting.

What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?

Constant dissatisfaction and low self-worth: Firstly, it prevents them from feeling good about what they have achieved. Even the success they have worked so hard to get doesn’t feel good. So, they keep striving for more. It is a never-ending pursuit of perfection or some idea of perfection that is not real and its exhausting. They may be never satisfied with what they have and can’t pause, rest & enjoy their success because that voice inside says it’s not enough and is constantly critical & dissatisfied. This may also lead to you not trusting your own self. Low self-worth results from doubting yourself constantly.

Fear: Often, underneath Imposter Syndrome lies Fear. Fear of exposure, of being exposed as a fraud, of being called out and not being able to prove your worth. This fear results in fear of visibility and hence growth. Of not wanting to be seen and heard because what if you don’t measure up? This may prevent them from taking risk, moving out of a comfort zone towards something greater. Even if they move towards something new, they may feel like they are having to work way harder than most, may be afraid of making mistakes and fear of failing is high. This can sabotage the conscious intention or desire to grow.

Inauthenticity: Another downside of Imposter Syndrome is that they may risk expressing through a facade because of the fear of letting people get to know the real you. It may be terrifying to have people know who you really are inside, and this may not allow your unique gifts to come through, which may worsen imposter syndrome. We need to be expressing our unique authentic self otherwise we are expressing through a lens of falseness which amplifies this feeling of being fake.

How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?

We may not feel happy for other’s success. We may also doubt how legitimate it is because we are doubting our own success. This may lead to judgment about others.

We may feel like we are in a constant comparison and competitive mode, trying to outdo others; but your own success is not enough, so the cycle of dissatisfaction continues.

We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?

One way imposter syndrome showed up for me was that I felt like I had to have the right answer for everything, and if I could not answer the question, then it would mean I did not have a right to be there. That I was not qualified and would be seen as incompetent. And then feeling disappointed with myself when I didn’t have the answer or if I gave the wrong answer!

It also showed up as a fear of visibility, of being asked to speak and share my view.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?

Oh yes, it has taken inner work to transform this but over time I have been able to dissolve the fear, allow my unique ideas to come through and be expressed.

The first step was to transform the voice of the inner critic, which for me was not a directly critical voice, but a subtle influence of putting internal pressure to be so perfect that no one could find fault with me. I was able to transform this into a loving & kind voice that helped me see what was authentic to me.

The 2nd step was to create safety for me to explore and then express my authentic skills.

We often feel like a fake when we are doing the things that are inauthentic to us. For example, you may be really good in a particular career, may have had training and years of experience. We can be good at many things without it fully filling our heart. When we don’t do the things that is ours to do, over time, that may start to show up as imposter syndrome because it starts to feel like we are lying. We are sidetracking what we are meant to do and instead doing the things we are used to.

It does take effort and resources of time and energy to figure out your unique skills.

So that is what I did, I made this a priority in my life. This allowed me to transform my career into coaching, where I no longer feel like I am an imposter because my natural unique skills are being expressed from my heart, not just from my intellect and mind. I feel whole when I am in coaching mode and the unknown doesn’t scare me.

In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward despite feeling like an “Impostor”?

1. Get familiar with your inner voice. Listen to your thoughts. The feeling of imposter syndrome is first triggered by thoughts, so getting familiar with your inner voice can give you clues to transform it. Recognize the voice of the inner critic, how does it sound, what words does it use and when does it show up most?
2. Honestly evaluate, what makes this voice be critical? We often pick up this way of thinking because in our early years we may have had to live up to unrealistic expectations. In my coaching work I’ve found that the outer expression is determined by our inner voice. And blocks in the inner voice can absolutely prevent our higher expression from coming through. There are 3 types of blocks. Once you’ve become familiar with how the inner voice sounds, dive deeper — does this sound like an inner critic, the voice of judgement? Or it is getting triggered by fear? Or is it pain from a past incident where you might have been judged? Maybe someone criticized you when you were young, and you may still be carrying the pain and shame from that incident. If unresolved, all these patterns stick around, and we end up trying to cope with it by turning on ourselves.
3. Transform this voice. When the inner voice is distorted, it will impact how we express outwardly. Every time you hear the critic, stop it in its tracks. Remember why you are skilled in this area; remember the mastery you have and transform the critical words of doubt into an acknowledgement of your skills. Developing a kind, strong & supportive voice that responds to your inner critic each time its triggered helps to change the default thought pattern that sounds critical and makes you feel like you are a fraud.
4. Embody your skills and success. Start by writing down a list of the skills and gifts you have. Everything that you have accumulated over your lifetime. Not just the education & training but also the skills picked up from your life experiences. Several times during the year, review this list and add more to it. We are constantly learning and picking up new things. When we don’t acknowledge our skills regularly, we may often miss the hidden skills that emerge or are developed over a lifetime of experiences. Feel your skills in your body & allow yourself to feel the mastery of these skills. And celebrate every success in a tangible way, really take it in. Often, the success we feel is at a mental & intellectual level. We tend to tick it off on a checklist. But success needs to be embodied otherwise it will be far too easy to doubt it.
5. Heal fragmentation by exploring your authentic skills. When we experience imposter syndrome, we are experiencing fragmentation. A part of us knows we are skilled, but the other part is doubting it. That part of us is not getting expressed or has been shut down or criticized in the past. This inner conflict is what makes us feel inauthentic and prevents our real voice from coming through. Create safety to express your authenticity. When you are being authentic, there is nothing to fear, nothing to worry about that you will be exposed. Explore, what is authentic to you? Embodiment of your identity, not someone else’s, helps to dissolve imposter syndrome.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

One aspect of personal transformation I am passionate about is to help people transform the inner and outer voice to not express from the wound (which is pain from past experiences, fear, judgement or the inner critic), but rather express from their higher qualities and wisdom. Our inner voice shapes our outer expression. One realization that helped me to heal my own expression was that the inner critic is a part of you that has not gotten authentic expression. It is not someone outside of you, it is not separate from you, it doesn’t need to be ‘silenced’ or ‘slayed’, because it is a part of you that has been suppressed and over time it has gotten hurt and maybe even angry to be pushed down. When we transform the hurting voice of the inner critic into a fierce discerning voice of truth, your authentic truth and allow that to come through, your higher expression can come through. All my services address these in some way or other.

We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them :-)

Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross. I am fascinated by their book “Your Brain on Art”. As a person who was creative as child and have reclaimed my creativity in adulthood, I knew intuitively how powerful creativity is in facilitating transformation. My Intentional Creativity Teacher training and experience also showed me how instrumental creativity is in helping to transform the inner critic into the Muse and enable authentic self-expression. Their book shares what happens in the brain when you are exposed to art and creativity. I find it incredibly fascinating how this resonates with my experience and would love to meet them! I very much appreciate the work that they have done to promote the understanding of the effect of arts on the brain.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can sign up for a free 45-page e-book called “The 12 Paths to Impeccable Personal Power” on my website https://activateyourtruthandpower.com/

On the website you will find lots of content to support the expression of your authentic voice. I have several complimentary offerings that include weekly articles, videos on my YouTube channel and a discovery session called Awaken Your Authentic Voice.

Other services I offer are astrology chart readings and creative workshops to transform the inner critic into your Muse and uncover the playful brilliance within you.

My courses Authentic Voice, and Power of Balance, connect you to your unique superpowers, awakening aliveness & joy that spills into your life & career!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Thank You!