Impostor Syndrome x Overcoming Self-Doubt
- Everything Jasmine
- Jan 3, 2021
- 3 min read
Impostor syndrome, also referred to as impostor phenomenon, impostor experience, or fraud syndrome, was coined by psychologist Pauline Clance and colleague Suzanne Imes. At first this term was given to high-performing but inwardly anxious women who were professionals attending Clance's group-therapy sessions. The women were described as highly educated who performed well professionally, but who did not experience an internal sense of accomplishment. In 1993 Clance realized that the original theory that women alone were affected by imposter syndrome was incorrect and it was recognized that this complex internal pattern happens in nearly 70% of people.
Impostor syndrome is a psychological pattern that reflects a belief of inadequacy and incompetence despite evidence that indicates that you are skilled and successful. Impostor syndrome can sound like doubting your skills, talents, or accomplishments and having a persistent fear of being exposed as a "fraud". It can also be characterized by feeling that your success is attributed to mere luck rather than your own skills or qualifications.
Career counselor Valarie Young points out that impostor syndrome stems from a struggle to accurately assess one's abilities. Being able to accurately assess your skills and performance can make the difference between learning from a failure or avoiding future challenges entirely.
There are also many behaviors that come from impostor experiences:
- Comparing yourself to others
- Acting alone without assistance
- Not accepting compliments or praise
- Engaging in negative self-talk and self-doubt
- Attributing success to external factors
- Overachieving
- Setting challenging goals and feeling disappointed when you fall short
Imposter syndrome not only feels uncomfortable for those who experience it, but it has an affect on the way one approaches their work. It can lead to unhealthy perfectionism, unrealistic expectations, fear of failure or criticism, worry about disappointing others, and/or unhealthy work habits. It can also lead to procrastination because one may spend too much time working on something that is already good enough while other work piles up.
Imposter syndrome can appear in 5 different ways:
- Perfectionist: Never satisfied and feels that their work could be better and can be fixated on flaws and mistakes rather than their strengths.
- Superhero: Feel inadequate and compelled to push themselves to work as hard as possible.
- Expert: Always trying to learn more and are never satisfied with their level of understanding, even though they are highly skilled and underrate their own expertise.
- Natural Genius: Set lofty goals and feel disappointed when they do not succeed.
- Soloist: Individualistic and prefer to work alone. Self-worth stems from their productivity and tend to see asking for help as a sign of weakness or incompetence.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
Although it is not easy, there are several practices that could be used to overcome imposter syndrome.
Recognize unhealthy perfectionism. Perfectionism can feel like a hamster wheel of excessive preoccupation with past mistakes, fears about making new mistakes, and self-doubt.
Recognize progress and small achievements. This can look like accepting compliments and praise from others who have seen your hard work. Also it is important to track your own accomplishments and set aside time to recognize them on your own as well. This can look like developing rewards for meeting reasonable goals.
Challenge Negative Thoughts. When you hear yourself saying things such as "I must get everything done on my list to feel accomplished" it is important to correct that with saying something like "I have accomplished a lot today. It is okay to leave tasks for tomorrow". Or things like "I am going to screw this up" with something more realistic like "I am assuming the worst before even trying. What if I succeed?". Practicing cognitive restructuring of unhelpful thoughts and distortions is a very effective exercise for this phenomenon.
Learn to realistically assess yourself. This could look like writing down things you are truly good at and areas you need improvement in. This can help you recognize reasonable areas of both success and improvement. This will give you the opportunity to assess if your internal bar is exceedingly high or unrealistic.
Support System. It is important to find a support system that can provide grounding and alternate point of views. This will allow you to work on trusting positive feedback and have support when you receive negative feedback. This could also look like finding a therapist who can assist you through cognitive-behavioral therapy or other approaches.
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