I’ve been living with impostor syndrome since I was a teenager. It flares up every time I step outside my comfort zone. My mother spotted this issue in my early teens, as many young women struggle with acceptance and perfection.
Impostor syndrome was first coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes referring to high-achieving individuals marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a “fraud.”
As I developed professionally, I was challenged with roles in which I didn’t have educational experience per se. These roles were excellent for my professional development, but each time at the very beginning I felt like I wasn’t good enough or someone else would do a better job. How come I have this role? Why do they think I’m good enough? Don’t they know the real me?
Now I am once again stepping into a role in which I am inexperienced and unprepared. I have that little voice telling me I can’t do it, this is a big mistake and on and on. I’ve learned that when my impostor syndrome flares up really that’s a time when I’m building a new skill so I am learning how to push that voice out.
Here are my three proven practices when I feel my impostor syndrome coming on:
1: Surround Yourself with Truth Speakers
These are not “Yes” people in your life, but members of your tribe that speak truth into your life, good and bad. These are your cheerleaders and coaches at the same time. These are the friends that tell you when you have broccoli in your teeth. These Truth Speakers validate your qualifications, but pull you back down if your ego gets too big.
2: Tell Yourself “What’s the worst that could happen?”
By telling myself this it liberates my thinking and really what’s the worst that could happen? I could fail, someone could say no, I could lose money, etc. All those things are replaceable and recoverable, yeah it might not be pretty, but you could make do, you could rise again.
3: Understand that this feeling is part of growing and learning
I embrace the challenge. I let the voice talk me down a bit and then I get fire in my belly. As my husband tells me, “The best way to get you to do something is to tell you that you can’t do it.” Is he enabling my impostor syndrome? I don’t know, but I do know that when I get this mindset I want to punch that feeling out and prove the world wrong.
I challenge you to liberate yourself from Impostor Syndrome. You can do this; someone thinks more of you that you are thinking of yourself right now so prove them right.
