Combatting ‘Imposter Syndrome’…

Bright Thought:

At this point of the year many people, in many different industries, are starting new jobs, along with those going to universities and starting new school years – it’s a natural transition point. So this is a good time to talk about imposter syndrome and how we can combat it, as it is typical to start thinking ‘Any minute now they’re going to realise I shouldn’t have been appointed to this role…!’

These unfounded feelings of self-doubt, incompetence, or being underqualified often accompany a new start or role, however much experience we may have behind us, and regardless of our seniority in an organisation. Equally they can pop up months or several years into the job we’ve been doing for a while.

Who hasn’t had imposter syndrome at some point(s) in their life? Most of us do, although only a quarter of women will speak openly about it compared to 37% of men according to research commissioned by Galaxy confectionary as part of its video series launch How to Thrive with Young Women’s Trust to help give the tools to conquer imposter syndrome.

This study of 4,000 adults found 53 per cent of women have experienced this feeling of unfounded self-doubt, incompetence, and being underqualified. Women are most likely to experience it in the workplace (72 per cent), during education (29 per cent), and when out with friends (29 per cent). Comparatively the majority of men admit they only ever feel like an imposter in the workplace (63 per cent) and over half (54 per cent) say they have never felt it at all.

The founder of Positive Intelligence, Sharzad Charmaine, shows us that these feelings come from our ‘inner critic’ or ‘judge’. Our ‘judge’ has 10 ‘accomplice saboteurs’ which help sabotage our thinking in specific ways, unique to us. They can impact our confidence and you can find out which are your dominant saboteurs by taking the assessment here.

Using neuroscience as a basis, he has created a way of decreasing the power of the negative neural superhighways our brain tends towards, to boost our positive neural pathways to decrease the power of ‘judging ourselves to be wanting’. These techniques of ‘mental fitness’ ground ourselves in our physical sensations. They increase our control over our thinking and increase the space between an action and our reaction to it, so we can react in the most constructive way possible.

A typical positive intelligence programme involves building the techniques into our daily habits to develop our ‘mental fitness’. This supports us to more readily notice and intercept the saboteurs in action, develop our self-command, and also to boost our ‘sage perspective’. If you’re interested in finding out more, please contact me via email, nicky@brightlead.co.uk as I am trialling the use of the programme with clients and have a limited number of free spaces available for the programme which are worth $995.

Remember, most people have experienced imposter syndrome, but not everyone is prepared to talk about it in order to help themselves get comfortable with the discomfort it brings.

Reflections:

When have you been conscious of feelings of imposter syndrome – unfounded feelings of self-doubt, incompetence, or being underqualified?

What techniques have you developed to over come these feelings?

Would you be interested in finding out more about Positive Intelligence and developing your ‘mental fitness’, perhaps alongside some coaching?