Imposter Shadow
SQI- Security Quantum Investing
SQI Security Entrepreneur Series 10
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INTRODUCTION
Imposter syndrome is a big deal for a lot of people. Imposter syndrome is something that can cause someone to feel like they do not belong somewhere and that others are going to start to notice that they do not belong there at all.
This can cause a lot of stress and anxiety for the person who suffers from it and can make it hard for them to work on goals, accept praise, or do well in many aspects of their lives. In this guidebook, we are going to take a look at some of the steps that you can take to help get over imposter syndrome.
This is a really hard thing to work with because it affects the mindset of the person who has to deal with it. When we feel like an imposter, there is often something from our pasts that have made that a reality, and it is hard to get over it. With some of the steps that we will walk through in this guidebook, we will be able to learn how to deal with imposter syndrome to provide a better life for ourselves.
Through recognizing what triggers imposter syndrome in ourselves, working on our self-confidence and speaking out when we need to be heard, there are methods that we can use to put imposter syndrome to rest. Even facing failures at work and learning how to deal with them properly will make it easier to handle.
Fighting off imposter syndrome and finding a way to fit in is not going to be easy. This will not be solved overnight. Instead, you will need to work on it for a long time, learning how to improve your self-esteem and getting a lot of the negative thoughts in order to make it go away and to help yourself feel like you fit in better than before. This guidebook is the tool that you need to work against imposter syndrome and to make sure you can live a life that you love. Take a look inside to see more about what imposter syndrome is all about, how it can affect your life, and some of the steps you can take to make sure it does not take over your life any longer.
Identifying what it is:
People who struggle with something known as imposter syndrome often believe that they do not deserve their achievements or the high esteem that many others may have of them. They may feel that people see them in the wrong light, or that they are given more praise and accolades than they deserve.
This can cause anxiety because they often worry others will catch on and see them as an imposter, which is where the name comes from. Someone with this disorder may feel that they are not as intelligent or competent as others may think they are.
And they worry that soon enough, those around them will start to discover the truth. This is often unfounded. The person with the syndrome is usually bright and funny and does well with other people.
They are not purposely trying to trick people. But when they get special recognition for something they worked hard on or did well, then they feel like they are deceiving others. Due to this, it is common to find those who have imposter syndrome as someone who is well accomplished.
Many of these individuals will have numerous academic degrees or hold a high office of some kind, often because they worked hard and deserved it, though this syndrome makes them think otherwise.
That brings up the question, why do people with this syndrome feel like they are frauds when there is a ton of evidence around them that point to their success.
Instead of acknowledging their capabilities and the effort they put in, they will choose to attribute all their good accomplishments to external causes. For example, they may say that it was good timing or good luck that got them where they are.
It is often due to personality traits that someone will have imposter syndrome. Those who experience it will struggle with a few other problems, including neuroticism, perfectionism, and self-efficacy. Competitive environments are thought to lay some of the groundwork for this. You may find that those who deal with this syndrome have to deal with a lot of pressure about their grades and doing well in school from their parents.
The numbers of those with imposter syndrome is high for those who are high achievers. It is estimated that 25 to 30 percent of high achievers suffer from this. And to make it worse, studies have found that close to 70 percent of adults will experience impostorism at least once in their lifetime.
Each person will come to this in a different way. Often the biggest trigger is when the successes of the person with it are brought up to attention. This could happen in many situations including when the person gets an award, when they pass an exam, or they get that big promotion they deserve.
When they are given attention for their hard work, they will feel like they are an imposter. Failure after having a string of successes can also cause someone to critique and question how smart or skilled they are.
While imposter syndrome is not an official thing that you can be diagnosed, it is something that you are able to overcome. You will need to work on changing some of your own personal mindset about your achievements and some of your own abilities, it is common for the person to feel like they do not belong much so being able to acknowledge that you do belong and to look at your own accomplishments and expertise will help you to remember that you earned a place in that environment.
Comparing yourself to another person can make this imposter syndrome worse. When you see that others are working hard and achieving great things and then you hear that you did something great, you may compare it to the others and feel like you are a fraud for being recognized. When we stop the comparison and focus on what it is that we work on so hard, it will make a difference.
What Imposter Syndrome Feels Like
These feelings of being an imposter will represent a big conflict between the way you perceive yourself and the way others perceive you as well. Even as others take the time to praise your talents, you will write them off, saying things just worked out because of good timing or good luck.
Basically, you do not believe that it was your own merits that earned you the praise and you worry that others are going to realize this as well. As a consequence of this, you will pressure yourself to work harder to avoid detection and to avoid getting in trouble.
Some of the things that will cause you to work harder include:
● You want to keep others from seeing your failures and shortcomings
● You want to become more worthy of the roles that you currently have but do not believe you deserve.
● You want to make up for your lack of intelligence
● You want to ease up some of the feelings that you have over “tricking” people. You put in all this extra work, which gets you more praise, and the cycle will just continue.
These further accomplishments are not going to reassure you. You will just see them as the product of all your efforts to maintain the illusion of your success.
When you get recognition, you assume that it is pity or sympathy. You will link all of the accomplishments that you have to chance, but you end up taking all the blame for mistakes that you make, even small ones. Over time, this will lead you to feel guilt, depression, and anxiety.
The Five Types
There are actually five types of imposter syndrome that you may notice. These will often reflect the internal beliefs around what competency will mean to the individual. The five main types that you will encounter include:
● The perfectionist: They need everything to be perfect or they feel like a failure. No matter how hard they work, they feel like they need it to be perfect.
● The natural genius: Because you have spent a lot of time picking up skills with very little effort, you assume that all competent people can do the same thing so there is nothing special about you. When something doesn’t come easy to you, you will feel ashamed.
● The soloist: You believe that you can handle everything by yourself. When this proves to be false, you feel that you are not worth or a failure.
● The expert: Before you have a chance to consider your work a success, you need to learn absolutely everything about the topic. If you do not have all the answers, you feel like a fraud.
● The superhero: You link competence in how well you can succeed in all the roles you hold. Failing to navigate the demands of all these challenging roles can leave you feeling like a failure. Often the thoughts and ideas that come with this are not realistic.
You need to take a step away from all of this and really explore why you feel this way and whether you need to adjust that thinking. When we learn how to take a step back and explore how you can change these negative mindsets.
Dig Deep Into Your Inner Self:
In order to help yourself feel better with imposter syndrome, you need to be able to get to the root of the problem. This means you need to figure out the main reasons why you feel like an imposter in the first place. There is often something in our mindset or even in our pasts that make us feel like imposters. Recognizing this and doing something about it can help us recognize that we are amazing people and that we are not an imposter at all.
Why do I feel like an imposter? There are different reasons why we may feel like an imposter. If we were under a lot of pressure as a child to perform well, we may have never measured up to the high standards that our parents had of us.
When we do succeed as adults, we may still hold onto those feelings of inadequacy that we had as children. Others may congratulate us for doing well, but we feel like an imposter because we don’t think that we deserve it.
Another reason that we feel like an imposter is that you see all the other talented people around you. As you work your way up the ladder in whatever career you choose, you may be amazed by all the hard work that others can do and feel that they are not working as hard as others, so they do not feel they deserve the credit when they receive it.
While the person themselves is often highly qualified and does deserve all the attention and praise they get, they often feel like a fraud and that it is just a matter of time before someone notices. If the person starts to feel like an imposter after a promotion or a big step up in their career, this could be due to the fact that they still feel like the same person they were before that promotion happened. While they did learn new things and gained more experience, this all happened slowly, while the shift into the new role can happen overnight. This is sometimes jarring to someone who may not understand how they got the position or feels like they are not the best choice for the job.
The good news is all of this is that when you feel like an imposter, it is often because you are stretching, growing, and doing good things that may be new to you. You didn’t get caught up in what was comfortable and instead decided to try new things. It may be a bit disconcerting to deal with, but it is a good thing when you learn how to handle it.
Getting to the Root of the Problem
With this in mind, it is important to figure out how to get to the root of why you feel the way you do. Is it because you feel that you are not talented enough to have the position?
Were you under a lot of stress for perfection and constantly failing as a kid? Do you not feel like you belong? And why are those feelings there? It is impossible to deal with the issues of being an imposter if you are not willing to look at what is causing you to feel this way in the first place.
It is hard to do this. The answers do not always come as quickly as we would like. But taking a deep look at why you feel this way when you get legitimate praise and attention for your hard work so you will no longer feel like an imposter.
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