Kelly’s thoughts on imposter syndrome.
Are you a perfectionist and procrastinate over work? Do you have a lack of self-confidence and self-doubt which then in turn leads you to distrust in your own intuition and capabilities? According to recent studies you may suffer from something called Imposter Syndrome.
So, what is this Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome is the condition of feeling anxious and not experiencing success internally, despite being high performing in your work which in turn can lead you to feel like a fraud and doubting your abilities.
But don’t we all feel like this from time to time? Is this “syndrome” a social media hype with a fancy title or just humans’ natural response when we feel overwhelmed with work or maybe been asked to do something new or slightly out of your comfort zone?
During the pandemic there was a marked rise in Imposter Syndrome and according to research 47% of knowledge workers reported feelings of increased imposter syndrome through working at home and feeling isolated from their team.
Regardless of your thoughts on this or whatever you want to call it, Imposter Syndrome clearly does exist, and it is important to be mindful that it effects people in different ways.
From researching this topic, I know I feel the effects of Imposter Syndrome so I am going to embrace it and try and follow these steps to overcome these fears.
- Celebrate successes (the big and small)
- Let go of perfectionism
- Cultivate self-compassion
- Share failures
- Accept something is challenging
- Trust and believe in yourself
- Feel the fear and have a go anyway!
A great quote recently that really resonated with me: ‘We compare our innermost criticised version of ourselves with everyone else’s outwardly portrayed version of themselves.’”