Are you familiar with the sense of feeling like a fraud, or as though you are not good enough in your place of work? Women tend to be more prone to impostor syndrome, but there are ways to conquer it.
Research shows women are more inclined to internalise failure, mistakes and criticism, whereas men tend to look outwardly.
Anxiety and self doubt
Common feelings associated with impostor syndrome include anxiety, stress and self doubt. It often manifests in perfectionism, fear of failure, overworking and fear of simply not being good enough.
Typically, people that feel this way minimise their successes, feel they are faking it a lot of the time and believe their achievements are mainly down to luck.
So what can you do about it?
List your achievements
Remind yourself of your accomplishments, for example if you have studied or trained, and your achievements.
Challenge your thinking
Reframe your thoughts, for example, instead of receiving new work and saying to yourself: “Oh my God I have no idea what I’m doing” – the reframe could be: “Wow, I’m really going to learn a lot.”
Stop comparing yourself to others
It isn’t helpful to judge yourself in relation to others, and we really have no way of knowing the ins and outs of their worlds, so it makes more sense to focus on our own strengths.
Realise that everyone makes mistakes
Perfectionism doesn’t help anyone, and it isn’t realistic. You will make mistakes, and it is better to become more comfortable with these.
Talk to someone
Cognitive behavioural therapy is a great tool to learn, and one I use regularly with clients to help shift unhelpful thinking patterns.
