Imposter Syndrome: What is it and How to Overcome it?
Exploring imposter syndrome and the different ways to overcome it
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Introduction
Have you ever been given a great opportunity, for instance, been offered the job that you wanted or been promoted at work, and for some reason, you don’t feel like you deserved the opportunity? — If this is something that you’ve felt then you may have experienced imposter syndrome.
What is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome is a psychological condition where an individual second-guesses their talents and accomplishments. Imposter syndrome is usually experienced within a work setting and people who have experienced this may receive positive feedback on their contributions at work but may reject the positive feedback and attribute their success to luck. They also have a fear of being exposed as a fraud.
What causes imposter Syndrome?
Anyone can experience imposter syndrome if they are unable to internalise their success. However, factors such as upbringing and an individual’s social standpoint can have an impact on the likelihood of them experiencing this.
For instance, being raised in a family where the grades you got at school were never good enough, could result in someone experiencing imposter syndrome because they were made to feel inadequate even when they did well.
Imposter syndrome can be caused by an individual’s social standpoint. This means how you are treated in society because of your social identity. For example your racial background. People from an ethnic minority background experience racial discrimination which can make them feel unvalued in society. Feeling unvalued can make it more difficult to recognise your own success because you were made to feel unworthy.
The different types of Imposter Syndrome
Dr. Valerie Young, who is an imposter-syndrome expert and author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, explored imposter syndrome further in her research and found that there are different ways of experiencing imposter syndrome. She categorised them as the following:
The Perfectionist: The perfectionist set very high standards and expectations on themselves. When they are unable to live up to the standards they’ve set they are overcome with self-doubt. Success for this type of imposter syndrome is not satisfying because they feel like they could have always done better.
The Expert: The expert feels like they need to know everything about a subject. They are always trying to improve themselves and feel like if they don’t know enough about something, they would be seen as inexperienced or not knowledgeable enough.
The Superwoman/Superman: The ‘Superwoman/superman’ push themselves to work harder. They do this to prove to themselves and those around them that they are not imposters. However, when they are unable to achieve something, it reinforces feelings of not being good enough.
The Natural Genius: The natural genius believes something is wrong if they struggle to get something right on the first try, or if they have to put in work to achieve something. Putting in the work tells them that they are not good enough, because they measure their competency on how easily they can master something.
The Soloist: The soloist feels like they have to achieve things on their own, and they feel that asking for help would mean that they are a failure.
How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome?
Recognise how you feel
It’s important to recognise when you are feeling imposter syndrome. By recognising this, you can reflect on where the imposter syndrome is coming from. This can be helpful because once you have figured out where the imposter syndrome stems from, you can take steps to address the root cause of it.
Recognise that negative perceptions are never about you
Imposter syndrome could stem from other people’s negative perceptions of you. It’s easy to internalise people’s negative perceptions of you and allow it to influence how you feel about yourself.
However, it’s important to separate yourself from people’s perceptions because it does not say anything about you. Instead, it says more about them.
People often project their own biases and stereotypes onto other people or treat people badly because they are unhappy with themselves. If you have or are on the receiving end of this, recognise that it isn’t you that’s the problem here. Recognising this could help you not take people’s behaviour personally.
Focus on the facts
Focusing on the facts of the situation is a helpful exercise. You can start by writing down your achievements and qualifications, and outline what’s led you to be rewarded with the opportunity. This helps you to realise your talents and accomplishments and It also reminds you of all the great things about yourself.
Counter self-limiting beliefs
Imposter syndrome can sometimes be a little voice in your head telling you how bad you. A helpful exercise that I learned from Viv Groskop’s book, How to Own the Room, is to write down all the self-limiting beliefs that you have about yourself and counter them.
For example, if you tell yourself ‘I’m terrible and always get things wrong’ you can write down next to it ‘I’m not perfect, but I always do my best to learn.’ This helps you to spin the negative self-belief with something more positive, which can improve your self-confidence.
Don’t beat yourself up
Lastly, don’t beat yourself up, it’s okay to have some self-doubt or question yourself, you’re only human after all. It’s something we all go through from time to time. Be patient with yourself and give yourself space and time to get there eventually, but don’t be hard on yourself in the meantime.
Have a go at the imposter syndrome test
If you enjoyed this blog, subscribe to our newsletter to be notified on more content
