How to stop doubting yourself and overcome impostor syndrome

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Imagine being told that you are misleading everyone and not doing your job very well. Now imagine that you yourself are constantly reminding yourself of this. This is called impostor syndrome.

First described in 1985, this syndrome causes people to believe that their accomplishments are undeserved, and anxiety that they will be exposed as fraudulent. It seems to them that any success in their life can be explained by luck or manipulation of other people's opinions.

This happens to even the most successful people. It's hard to believe in this, because they have achieved a lot. But the impostor syndrome is not based on the real state of affairs, but on a person's distorted view of reality. Here are four things you can do to combat this thinking.

Report your progress

Ask a friend or colleague to help you track your goals and communicate honestly what is good at your job and what can be fixed or improved. This will help you recognize your strengths and weaknesses and feel more confident. You can agree to help each other.

For example, you both set goals for the year in several areas of your life. Now, once a quarter, check your progress to see if you have lost your way, if you need to speed up. And once every few weeks, discuss what steps you've taken to achieve those goals.

Save compliments and gratitude

“I can get a hundred compliments, but when I hear from one person 'You don't deserve it,' I will believe him,” said Tobias van Schneider, former art director of Spotify.

If you, too, are used to brushing off compliments and praise, start keeping what others say about you. You can create a personal Trello board for this, write everything down to a regular document, or save screenshots with kind words in a separate folder.

This may sound like self-admiration, but it is actually a real reminder that you and your work are valued and respected, that they are ready to turn to you for help.

Share your experiences with others

We often take our knowledge for granted, especially if we have worked in one field for a long time. In doing so, we forget that there are always people who can benefit from our experience. Try to share with others:

• Look for meetings of interest that touch on topics that are important to you.
• Look for organizations in your area of interest that need volunteers.
• Host a dinner table workshop in your office and share your knowledge.
• Contact the university where you studied and see if it is possible to give a lecture on a particular topic.

When you see how your experience and knowledge really helps people, you will no longer feel like you have nothing worthwhile to offer.

Understand that failure is inevitable on the road to success

The fear of failure or the feeling that you are not worthy of success not only gets in the way of the present. They can damage the future as well. We begin to create obstacles and difficulties ourselves, so that later we have something to explain our failures.

If you are afraid to fly an airplane, you will be advised to fly more often in order to get used to the process and perceive it as something ordinary. It's the same with the fear of failure. To get rid of it, you need to constantly force yourself to act and accept the fact that failure is a natural part of the path.

Then you will begin to see the positive side of failure - the opportunity to try something new, the way out of your comfort zone. And this will help to grow and develop.