4 Ways to Dealing with Impostor Syndrome

I and many other freelancers constantly deal with it.

Illustration of a woman taking off a mask to illustration Imposter Syndrome

Do you feel like you get jobs and opportunities based on luck?

Do you feel unqualified despite your qualifications or relevant experience?

Do you feel like you’re a fraud and that sooner or later everyone’s going to find out?

Don’t worry. A LOT of people feel imposter syndrome in a work environment.

As an aspiring freelancer, I tend to feel this even more — and so do many others.

Read on to learn ways to deal with thoughts of feeling like you’re an imposter.

What is Imposter Syndrome?

A person who has imposter syndrome feels self-doubt, incompetence, and that their good fortunes are not based on their merits or qualifications, but rather on some kind of luck or timing — they ultimately fear that other people will eventually realize that too.

Imposter syndrome can affect anyone no matter their age, gender, social status, work background, skill level, or degree of expertise.

Over time, this overthinking can lead to guilt, depression, and anxiety.

5 Types of Imposter Syndrome

According to leading imposter syndrome researcher Dr. Valerie Young’s book, ‘The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It’, there are 5 types of imposter syndrome.

• The Perfectionist

Everything you do in life must be perfect. Instead of acknowledging your hard work, you criticize yourself for the smallest imperfection or mistake and see it as a failure.

• The Natural Genius

You keep picking up new skills and believe that with little effort you should know everything there is to know about it right away.

When you face difficulty understanding something new immediately or on your first try, you view yourself as a failure. This is because your perception of success is that you need little effort to be competent at anything.

• The Soloist

You won’t ask for help even when you need it. You believe that asking for help is a sign of weakness, inadequacy, and incompetency. You deem yourself unworthy if you cannot complete a task alone.

• The Expert

You believe that to be successful, you need to be an expert. To start anything, you feel you need to gather everything there is to know. Otherwise, you will fail.

Believing you should have all the answers, you would consider yourself a fraud should you be unable to answer a question.

• The Superhero

You feel that to be successful, you need to be fully competent in every role you play in life — employee, student, friends, family member, partner, etc.

You give your all to each role, yet you still feel like you’re not giving enough and that you need to give more.

While statics show that women of color mainly feel imposter syndrome, anyone can go through it.

4 Ways to Deal with Imposter Syndrome

Negative feelings, in general, are usually hard to get rid of completely and as such, they are something to make note of and find healthy ways to process them.

It will take time. But if you keep working on these feelings of feeling like an imposter, you will see and feel the difference.

1. Acknowledge your Feelings: Understand and identify how you’re feeling. Talking about feeling like an imposter with others can help you make you feel less overwhelmed and not so alone.
2. Network with Others: Building connections and asking for help even for small things is a starting point. Try not to do everything yourself. By doing this, your network can offer support, guidance and help you eliminate the feeling of feeling like an imposter.
3. Support your Beliefs with Facts: Challenging your doubts and feelings of imposter syndrome allows you to take a step back and contemplate why these feelings arise. Chances are if people around you are commending you and complimenting you on a job well done, it’s a good indication that you’re doing all the right things.
4. Your Abilities are Unique: Comparing yourself to others will only cause more doubts. Try playing on your strengths and build on what you know- you can’t be an expert at everything. Leverage on what others have to offer and, in turn, they will do the same with you.

Final Thoughts

Being perfect is an unrealistic and unattainable goal. You will continue to learn as you grow and so, therefore, be kind and compassionate to yourself.

You’re doing a great job and success does not mean perfection. Focus on honing in on your skills and talents to emerge a better and happier you.

If you still struggle with issues of imposter syndrome, a therapist may be able to support you with ways to:

• deal with feelings of unworthiness and fraudulence
• healthily process feelings of anxiety, depression, and emotional distress
• restructuring your frame of mind and get to the root of your imposter syndrome