Imposter feelings represent a conflict between your self-perception and how others perceive you. You may fear or believe that you don’t deserve to be in a current position. The following strategies can help you resolve imposter feelings productively:
Acknowledge your feelings
Identifying imposter feelings can accomplish several goals:
• Provide outside context: Talking with a trusted friend or mentor about your distress can provide objective information about your situation.
• Reduce the fear of feeling overwhelmed: Defining and sharing imposter feelings can help them feel less overpowering.
• Support yourself and others: Opening up to peers about how you feel can encourage them to do the same, helping you realize you aren’t the only one who may feel like an imposter.
Build connections
Avoid giving in to the urge to do everything yourself. Turn to coworkers to create a mutual support network. You can’t achieve everything alone. Your network can:
• offer guidance and support
• validate your strengths
• encourage your efforts to grow
Sharing imposter feelings can help others in the same position feel less alone. It creates the opportunity to share strategies for overcoming these feelings and related challenges you might encounter.
Challenge your doubts
When imposter feelings surface, ask yourself whether any facts support these beliefs. Then look for evidence to counter them. Say you’re considering applying for a promotion, but you don’t believe you have what it takes. Maybe a small mistake you made on a project a few months ago still haunts you. Or perhaps you think the coworkers who praise your work mostly feel sorry for you. Fooling all your coworkers would be difficult, and underperforming likely wouldn’t go unnoticed. If you consistently receive encouragement and recognition, that’s a good sign you’re doing plenty right — and deserve a chance for promotion.
Avoid comparing yourself to others
Comparing yourself to others is not beneficial. Everyone has unique abilities. Focusing on what makes you unique and exploring ways to further develop those abilities may stimulate healthy self-growth. You may not excel in every task you attempt, but you don’t have to. Even when it appears someone has everything under control, they may be facing difficulties you’re unaware of.
Imposter syndrome might feel like you’re somewhere you don’t belong. But success doesn’t require perfection. True perfection is practically impossible, so failing to achieve it doesn’t make you a fraud or imposter. Kindly and compassionately providing yourself with a more realistic perspective can counteract judgment and self-doubt and help encourage and support you in pursuing healthy self-growth.