Have you ever been pinched by such thoughts? such questions? If yes! Then you are not alone in this. A huge proportion of population, specifically entrepreneurs, suffer from this syndrome which is recognized as ‘Imposter Syndrome’. Imposter Syndrome is a psychological phenomenon which tricks your mind to believe that you aren’t worthy of your success, you actually don’t deserve whatever accomplishments you have achieved and you are a fraud who’ll be exposed soon. So many of the well-known personalities as entrepreneurs have suffered from this Syndrome. It’s unstructured, highly stressful and ultimately isolating.
History & Evidence Of ‘Imposter Syndrome’ :
In the 1970s, psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes coined the term "imposter syndrome”. Rose Clance was working at a women's college at the time and noticed that a lot of the students she interacted with seemed to have an irrational worry of being found out as frauds, despite external evidence proving their competence. She did a lot of study on behavior and thoughts of these under-confident people. She came to know that these students were experiencing feelings of inadequacy, feeling like a fraud, attributing success to luck rather than skill and effort, and worrying about being found out as an imposter despite their great results in work. All of it lead to a single conclusion that they were under the impression of a phenomenon known as ‘Imposter Syndrome’.
The crucial evidence of existence of imposter feelings and the imposter syndrome is that you would notice a lot of people specifically entrepreneurs who would be experiencing lack of self-assurance to such a level that they would feel like they aren’t worthy of anything and they are just frauds even though they have a huge wall of success, appraisal and awards. Why is that so? The answer to this is ‘Imposter Syndrome’. In fact, 30-50% of population have continual imposter feelings that will affect what they think, feel and do.
It can be defined as the type of situation where self-doubt and insecurities take over the control. But, it really doesn’t have to be this way. Down here, we are going to discuss some of the bulletproof ways that would help you to get comfortable in your own skin, make you believe that you actually deserve all of your success and would ultimately eliminate Imposter Syndrome.
Step# 1 ‘Recognize the signs of Imposter Syndrome’
In order to overcome this Imposter Syndrome, you must be able to recognize it first. Here are few questions for you; Have you ever found yourself:
- Feeling unsure while accepting any praise or compliments.
- Thinking that you are under-skilled than the rest of your colleagues.
- Assuming that your achievements are merely because of the luck, not skills.
- Believing that people over-value your success and you aren’t worth it.
- Having hard time to accept new responsibilities due to fear of failure.
If so! Then there’s a clear chance that you might be suffering from this syndrome.
Step# 2 ‘Accept it as anything but Not a Defect of your personality’
What’s important here to understand is that Imposter Syndrome isn’t a personality defect or a personality trait. It’s more like reaction to situation where your mind tricks you that for one reason or another, you don’t belong here and you aren’t worthy of your accomplished position. It isn’t a defect of your personality, it is tricking you to believe it. The only way you are going to overcome Imposter Syndrome is by realizing that it isn’t a defect of your personality. That would help you to address it and control it.
Step# 3 ‘Name it in order to tame it’
Well, the good news is that just by recognizing your thoughts which are letting you down, you can control and overcome them. That’s the remedy. So, you need to get yourself indulged into the habit of hearing your self-doubts. If you hear your mind screaming ‘I don’t deserve this success’ or ‘ it was merely because of the luck’ , just take out a moment to note it down. That’s how you’ll know you are under trap of Imposter Syndrome and you’ll begin to calm yourself and reassure yourself that you deserved this achievement more than anyone else.
Step# 4 ‘Keep bookmarks of your accomplishments’
Sometimes, we forget about what we have achieved, how perfectly skilled and deserving we are. That’s exactly when the thoughts of Imposter Syndrome start to prevail in. If you have even a slightest clue of Imposter Syndrome tendencies, start gathering bookmarks of your success and use them as your reminders of motivation. It may include certificates, medals or pictures reminding you of how much worthy you are of your accomplishments. Other than that, emails or letters from family or colleagues mentioning your success and praising you also count in. All of these bookmarks will keep reminding you that aren’t a fraud, you are worthy of what you’ve accomplished and much more.
Step# 5 ‘Appreciate yourself: Keep a gratitude journal’
Nothing else has been proven to be more effective for Imposter Syndrome other than writing therapy. Whenever you feel low or feel pursued by bitter self-doubts, just take out a diary or a journal and start writing. Begin with writing down the five things you are thankful for, or you could also write about any proudest or happiest moment of your life. That would motivate and uplift you. Besides that take out few minutes of your routine to appreciate yourself and to remind yourself that you deserve your achievements more than anyone else
Being an entrepreneur, you have to walk on jarring path of struggle and new challenges with courage and self-confidence. The path could be rough and tough. But, in that course, do remember to recognize your value and never lose the sight of your inner worth.