Do you sometimes feel like you don’t deserve your success, that you are maybe an imposter and that people will soon find out that you are a fraud? If you’ve ever thought of these phrases, you may have a case of “Imposter Syndrome”. If you do, you aren’t alone. Studies have shown that nearly 70% of all people feel like an imposter at one time or another. However, when left unmanaged, Imposter Syndrome can lead to a drop in job performance and satisfaction, to increased anxiety and to increased depression.
At One Life Coaching, we are passionate about our clients learning how to live authentic, successful lives, lives in which they are not struggling with the idea of being an imposter.
So what is Imposter syndrome and what are the best ways to overcome it?
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
First described in the 1970s by researchers Suzanne Imes and Pauline Clance, the term has gained more recognition and understanding in recent years. Individuals with Imposter Syndrome feel an overwhelming sense of self-doubt in their careers or in their personal relationships. They feel an inner sense of being inadequate in their position, even if they are achieving great success. In fact, the more successful they become and the more they are praised, the more Imposter Syndrome increases because the greater the height they feel they might fall from.
We’ve met anyone and everyone from World renowned Surgeons to CEO’s to successful Politicians who fear being “found out” as not as amazing, competent or adequate as the world believes them to be.
Individuals struggling with Imposter Syndrome often attribute their success to factors outside their control or to luck whilst inwardly believing that they don’t merit or deserve this success. Despite often being very talented, skilled, and intelligent human beings, they will minimize their abilities and instead worry about being “exposed” as a fraud. This usually comes from a deep-seated feeling that they are undeserving which in turn leads to feelings of guilt of having achieved such success.
Finding out the root cause of these feelings, which are often buried in our unconscious childhood mind, is paramount in turning Imposter Syndrome off which will lead us to work smarter, not harder, give us healthier boundaries around work, as well as let us and the people around us, enjoy and be genuinely grateful for our successes in a healthy and authentic manner. At One Life Coaching, we are passionate about getting to the root causes of these fears so that we can change our perspectives on them and let them go.
Recognize Imposter Syndrome Can Happen to Anyone
Anyone can struggle with Imposter syndrome and in fact, it is far more common than most people believe. In days gone past people would be ashamed to admit to such a thing but luckily the taboos around it are breaking and far more people are actually talking about experiencing this. It can impact anyone, from professionals and students to highly accomplished people. Like we said above, usually the higher up you get in your profession and the more successful or famous you become, the more Imposter Syndrome will worsen, if left unchecked. Unsurprisingly celebrities such as Tom Hanks and Maya Angelou have admitted experiencing periods of Imposter Syndrome. Knowing that this feeling of maybe being “found out” and/or exposed as a “fraud” is a common feeling amongst many people is the first step to being able to address it.
Talk About How You Feel
Feelings of self-doubt, of being a fraud, of being found out are in and of themselves feelings that we want to never talk about. We often fear that if we do reveal our true feelings we will be “exposed” for being the fraud that we are and worse still even ridiculed and/or rejected or have these fears used against us as a weapon. Therefore these feelings are often kept secret. Our unconscious mind naturally wants to hide them as a means to protect us from our fears. However many of the protection mechanisms that our unconscious mind learnt to put into place to defend us from harm were put into place during our childhood. They may have served us then but no longer serve us now, as adults. And because our conscious mind is such a small percentage of our total brain capacity, we don’t even realize that these thought processes are happening in our heads, we just know not to talk. Unfortunately, internalizing these feelings does not help us to correct these negative thought patterns, on the contrary, it can amplify them precisely because we are not taking them out to understand the reality of what they are and where they come from. When left unmanaged, Imposter Syndrome can impact our mental health leading to procrastination, anxiety and depression; it can impact our physical health because of the stress we are putting ourselves under; and ultimately it can impact our job performance, our joy in relationships and our overall life satisfaction. Talking with friends, family, or colleagues is a good first step to normalizing how we are feeling but often these people are either personally invested in our lives or don’t have the professional tools to help us deal with the root cause. Talking with a professional who is not only objective but who has the training to get to the bottom of these feelings will help you process them and let them go.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
People struggling with Imposter Syndrome often feel a need to constantly prove themselves, As a result, they feel compelled to work harder than everyone else. They feel pressure to work longer hours, to be “seen” working hard and often find themselves being the first person in the office and the last person to leave. They often feel that “good enough” is not good enough and they spend endless hours on details that in reality do not matter. In other words, they struggle with the negative thought pattern of Perfectionism. This can negatively impact their work/life balance and their ability to set healthy boundaries for themselves. They often want to please others in order to prove that they are “good enough” and so end up allowing others to step over their boundaries and even take advantage of their time and good will. Ultimately this will lower your standards in performance as you begin to feel overwhelmed, maybe even procrastinate so that you are not achieving at all and worst still find yourself burnt out altogether.
In reality, you can remain productive and successful, and still maintain a normal work/life balance by learning what your own healthy boundaries are and by creating a plan to reach the highest levels of productivity within your boundaries as well as your normal working day.
Acknowledge the Wins, No Matter How Small
Individuals who feel they are Imposters are terrified of failing. This fear of failure not only diminishes our achievements but it also extinguishes the relief that comes from getting the job done. It’s important to recognize that we will make mistakes and that we will at times fail. After all, failure is just a stepstoning to our success, an opportunity for us to learn and progress. Be sure to embrace and learn from failures as well as to celebrate your successes and achievements, no matter how small they may seem. Make sure you attribute your achievements to your own hard work and not minimize them to luck or outside factors. These victories will in turn make you feel more confident about your own capabilities and the truth of how you are good enough to do the job in hand or enjoy the success you are achieving. It can also begin to change your mindset from a negative one to a positive one which in turn will begin to reduce your anxiety over being found out as a fraud. The more we acknowledge and believe our wins to be of our own doing the more we can begin to believe that actually, we are good enough to be doing this job or leading this life.
One Life Coaching
Self-doubt can be paralyzing. These negative thought patterns can be hard to break and overcome. However, you do not have to face this challenge alone. At One Life Coaching, we work with people to overcome their Imposter Syndrome for good.
We are here to help you with your specific needs and we have the experience to use tools that personalize the help to those needs rather than trying to put our clients in a generic model of work. We understand each person we work with has a unique past and unique goal for the future. If you are ready to take the next step toward achieving your personal or professional best self, we can help! We are passionate about helping our clients overcome the obstacles on their path to living a happy, successful and authentic life.
Contact us to learn more.