Follow-up from our Imposter Syndrome event on February 18th 2019 with speaker Simone Ingram.
‘Imposter Syndrome – Know your worth and stop feeling like a fraud’
What do Sheryl Sandberg, Sonia Sotomayor and Maya Angelou all have in common? They all admit to suffering from Imposter Syndrome. Even the most capable and talented people, especially women, struggle with having feelings of never being good enough and feeling like a fraud.
Do you think other people are more qualified than you to do your job? That you’ve just got there by luck or timing? Believe ‘If I can do it, anybody can’? Agonise over the smallest flaws in your work? When you succeed, do you secretly feel like you fooled everyone again? Do you fear that it’s only a matter of time before you are ‘found out’?
In Simone’s coaching experience, Imposter Syndrome is really common despite all the external indicators of success; internally individuals can feel it’s a fluke and that one day they’ll be found out.
So if this is a familiar struggle that you identify with, take comfort in the fact you are not alone and here are some tips to help you.
- Choose to think positive thoughts and challenge negative beliefs
- Recognise, anticipate and name your imposter feelings – what are your potential triggers?
- Use your logical brain to reduce feelings of fear and or anxiety
- Use the power of breathing and adopting a more relaxed and open physical posture, ‘power poses’. The TED Talk by Amy Cuddy shows how the adoption of physical stances can have a positive impact psychologically on you
- Focus on the elements that you know and believe you are GOOD at
These are just some ways you can manage and reduce your imposter feelings. What will work for someone may not for another but you CAN change and manage your self-limiting beliefs and body so as to reduce your imposter feelings. BUT it will take a conscious effort on your part to expand out of your comfort zones to develop new habits and ways of thinking and in turn feelings. You will need to be patient, persistent and importantly you will need to show yourself some compassion!
Simone Ingram, an Executive Coach from 3E Coaching, with over 20 years international corporate and leadership development experience, coaches leaders and high potential individuals helping them understand and work through challenges they are facing or key decisions they are contemplating, dealing with Imposter Syndrome, a lack of self-confidence and or emotional intelligence; enthusing and empowering them to recognise their full range of talents and capabilities leading to increased confidence, resilience, creativity and adoption of new leadership behaviours.
If you have any further questions, do please feel free to reach out to Simone.
simone@3ecoaching.co.uk
