You Are Worthy: Getting Past Imposter Syndrome

Have you ever gotten a job, promotion, or been a role you didn’t feel qualified for? Not because you didn’t earn it or deserve it, but you simply felt unworthy, unqualified, or had some lingering doubts or worry that you are inadequate. This is a common sign of imposter syndrome. People who suffer from imposter syndrome often feel like they are frauds regardless of their skills, knowledge, education, or any other factors that contribute to their success. They can often be hyper-critical of themselves and have a hard time accepting praise because they are constantly revolving around the feeling that they just aren’t good enough.

If you have ever experienced these types of sentiments, don’t feel bad, you aren’t a unicorn, in fact researchers show about 70% of people experience imposter syndrome. Despite it being a fairly common occurrence in people, it can be debilitating to your career and stifling towards a person’s confidence. Nobody wants to constantly feel like they aren’t good enough or that they are going to get “found out” by their bosses as fraud. Learning to cope with the feelings that accompany imposter syndrome is pivotal to helping to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Here to give you five tips to help you overcome and combat imposter syndrome.

Recognizing The Signs

Here are a few signs of imposter syndrome:

• You feel like you are never enough

• Find it difficult to accept praise

• Holding yourself to impossible standards

• Think that your success is a result of luck versus your hard work

Understand You Aren’t Alone

There have been hugely successful people over the years that have suffered from imposter syndrome. Forbes featured a few quotes from the following celebrities:

 "What are you doing here? What do you think you’re doing? You’re going to be found out." Academy Award winning actress Kate Winslet confided: "I'd wake up in the morning before going off to a shoot, and think, I can’t do this; I’m a fraud." 

“Fellow actor Don Cheadle shared a similar sentiment: "All I can see is everything I'm doing wrong that is a sham and a fraud."

Identify Humility and Fear

Humility comes from taking pride in your hard work and accomplishments vs. feeling fear because of them. Author Seth Godin describes it as the following

"When you feel unworthy, any kind response, positive feedback or reward feels like a trick, a scam, the luck of the draw."

Relinquish The Concept of PerfectionNobody is perfect. Even the brightest minds make mistakes in some form or the other. Being a perfectionist can only feed into your imposter syndrome because it makes you hold yourself to impossible high standards.

Discuss it With Your Mentor or Manager

Sharing your sentiments with your mentor and manager can be a great way to not only connect with them, but receive tools on how to overcome your fears.