You are in great company. Listening to an old edition of the Radio 4 Desert Island Discs, I was initially surprised to hear the Head of the Church of England, Justin Welby talk of Imposter Syndrome …” being his Constant companion.”
So what is Imposter Syndrome, and can we do anything about it?
One definition is “The internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you” or, put another way, you feel that you are in some way a phony or a fraud!
Typical characteristics include:
- Attributing your success to external factors instead of yourself
- Being overly critical of yourself
- Unable to accept constructive criticism no matter how well-meaning
- Demonstrating self-sabotaging behaviours just when life is starting to look up
- Self-doubt
- You cannot realistically assess your skills and competence
Initially, self-doubt can act as a motivator. Still, when taken to extremes, it can fuel self-destructive behaviours and beliefs, leading to constant feelings of anxiety and a lack of self-worth.
There may well be an overwhelming weight of evidence that you are talented, competent, and worthy. Still, your beliefs and behaviour Patterns of old are embedded. So you can’t acknowledge what may be evident to others.
How to spot it:
- You avoid challenges because of self-doubt
- Your successes were a fluke and just luck
- You hate making mistakes
- Do you feel overly vulnerable if you have not prepared well
- Even well-meant and constructive criticism is unbearable
- Everybody else is better than you
As I mentioned before, you are not alone. It is believed that 70% of senior leaders have suffered from Imposter syndrome at some time in their careers. The good news is that it is perfectly possible to interrupt these patterns of behaviour and move towards a more realistic assessment of your Skills, competencies, and strengths and enjoy your successes.
Three strategies to start that process of change:
- List your strengths, qualities, and success. List strengths and qualities and past achievements in chronological order inside and outside your career. It is then compelling to ask someone to read them out loud to you. You can use this when you need a confidence boost.
- Ask for feedback from 5 people – Ask people whose opinions you trust and respect and who will be honest in their feedback. Then take on the positive comments to boost your confidence and overcome weaknesses.
- Retrain your inner voice by replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts. We have thousands of thoughts every day, and the majority of them repeat day in and day out. You are looking to catch the negative thoughts and replace them with ones that will serve you better daily.
Three simple ways to catch negative thoughts and gradually replace them with thinking will give you a much more realistic view of who you are and allow you to fulfil your full potential.
