What is impostor syndrome?

Have you ever had the feeling of not belonging? A feeling that suggests your friends and colleagues are going to discover you as a fraud and that you don’t deserve your job and achievements. This is commonly known as impostor syndrome. An estimated 70% of people experience these impostor feelings at some point in their lives, according to an article published in the International Journal of Behavioural Science.

We have put together some tips and tools which you may want to engage when these feelings start to appear. This is by no means an exhaustive list and of course, you may have developed some top strategies of your own too.

Reframing and positive action::

As you feel that negative voice creeping in, observe your thoughts (don’t be consumed by them) – check in with yourself to see if the negative thoughts are serving you well. If not, well what can you do with them?

As Design Thinkers, we would actively encourage you to face those thoughts, name that negative voice and then reframe it. You may be taking steps back towards your previous  career and starting to question your skills and abilities. You may be wondering about how you can manage the demands of family and career. Framing your thoughts in a more action-oriented way will help you to understand how you can work with them.

Questioning your skills? Name the skills you have and name the ones you want to develop. Worried about the demands of family and career – be clear about where the challenges are likely to occur and what changes may need to come into the family eco-system. Pay attention and encourage a more proactive ‘how might I?’ approach as opposed to I can’t and I don’t know how..

Trace your success:

Keep a file on your phone or computer, that you can easily access, which helps you to trace and own your success. Write up a short paragraph on when you really were at your best in life – describe the situation e.g. what did you do? Who was there? What happened? What worked for you? Keep that easily accessible. Ask trusted colleagues, friends and family about when they observed you in your flow – keep their observations on file. This is a simple and effective way for you to reconnect with yourself, your skills and abilities.

Let go of your inner perfectionist:

Of course, it’s important to strive to do good work but there is a world of difference between doing your best and the ‘it’s never good enough’ approach’. With the latter, we are set up for failure even before we start. Work with the concept of being good enough and I’ve done my best – own that feeling and let that be your guiding principle in your work and life.

Practice reflective thinking to build up your sense of self:

Take time to reflect back on your work, maybe on a weekly basis. You could do this just with some quiet time or by journaling. Use the time to connect with what has gone well, noting where have you succeeded and what issues you’d like to consider/think more about going forward. Jot down your thoughts on how you can do more of what is serving you well and less of what is not delivering for you. We encourage clients to have an issues to consider box – not what went wrong but what you want to work on. Reflecting in this way will also help you to connect with your sense of place and value.

Don’t let doubt control your action:

We know that 7 out of 10 of us are experiencing these feelings. Understand that you will have those moments and then engage your tools to work with it. Lean into impostor moments and work with them differently but don’t live an impostor life – where it rules you.