“I don’t feel I deserve to be in this role”…
“I’m scared that people are going to find out I’m not good enough to be in this job’…
“I live with this feeling of dread in my stomach that I’ll be found out’…
Imposter Syndrome
Imposter Syndrome is being linked more and more to mental health problems as highly professional men and women across the globe are living in fear that they are going to be ‘found out’ as a fraud.
What is imposter syndrome?
Imposter syndrome means that you don’t feel that your success is justified. Instead you believe that you fool people into seeing you as more competent than you really are. Your sense of success is fragile and you are in fear that you will be exposed as fraudulent.
Imposter syndrome isn’t rationale and being told ‘you are amazing and doing a great job’ is no more effective than throwing jelly against a wall hoping it will stick.
Many Senior Directors and Executives have spoken of how they have climbed the career ladder through hard work, often working longer and harder than peers in a bid to protect themselves from being ‘found out’.
Yet even when they reach the giddy heights of Board level, have a salary of over £150,000 and manage international teams, they still believe they are not successful and are waiting for someone to tap them on their shoulder and say ‘we’ve caught you red handed, now clear your desk!‘.
How do you develop imposter syndrome?
At it’s very core, imposter syndrome comes from a belief that you are not good enough. Beliefs about yourself and your sense of worth are created way before you enter the world of work.
Core beliefs about being good enough are actually created by the time you reach the age of 6 and continue to be compounded as you go through school. Meaning that by the time you enter the workforce, your brain is conditioned to think, feel and behave in line with the beliefs you created as a child.
Imposter syndrome can be influenced by a number of reasons such as;
- you had a parent who was very critical of your performance in school
- Both of your parents were very successful, and you came to believe that you could never live up to their standards
- You were not as good as other children at school and felt inferior
- You have brothers or sisters to whom you were often compared unfavourably
- Your parents or family were poorer or less educated than your school mates and you felt inferior, believing that you would never measure up
- Teachers behaved in a way that made you feel stupid at school
- You experience an event, or series of events at school where you weren’t ‘picked’ for the team or something similar
Becoming your own success story
True growth starts from the inside, and that involves re writing the story from one of not being good enough, to one of BEING ENOUGH.
You ARE enough just as you are, it is only past experiences that have created the filters from which you view your potential and your success.
Create an identify from which you speak, think, see, feel, act and behave from a place of being enough by doing the following…
- Be your own best friend – Every day give yourself some positive feedback, praise and encouragement.
- Be compassionate to yourself when things don’t go to plan – when things don’t go exactly as you would have liked or hoped, recognise that this doesn’t mean you are a failure. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water! Instead put the event into perspective and acknowledge what did go well.
- Keep a journal of your achievements and accomplishments – no matter what they are or how big or small they are, they are still achievements, so write down and read weekly.
- Grow your mind – you can only think what you have always thought. If you want to develop a new mindset check out all the amazing books that can challenge the way you view yourself and help you to grow a new identity. Use your commuting time to read or listen to audio books. We love ‘Breaking the habit of being you’ by Dr. Joe Dispenza.
- Get a brain surgeon – In the world of rewiring the brain, people call us brain surgeons! Use the videos and techniques with The Digital Wellbeing Portal to change the way you view yourself.
Discover what The Digital Wellbeing Portal can do to transform the health and happiness of your workforce.