Do You Suffer From “Imposter Syndrome”?
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The first time I heard about Imposter Syndrome was in coaching school. Some coaches in training were struggling with being a beginner, later in their career and life. Since then, I encountered many more clients, colleagues and friends reporting a feeling of “being a fraud” as they were starting something new.
This got me wondering about what that was about, and after asking them questions to understand better what was happening, I’d like to offer two scenarios that can lead you to feel like an “imposter” or a “fraud”:
1. You are actually not competent in what you are doing (yet):
In this case, your feelings are based on something real - you’re a bit over your head in what you are doing, you know it, and it probably shows. This does not make you an imposter or a fraud, unless you pretended that you were more experienced than you are to get the job or the responsibility.
Remedy:
Either you remove yourself from the situation, train yourself to become more competent, and go back at it when you are more skilled.
Or you candidly state the problem to your team or manager: “Look, I’m not skilled at this yet, what would the best course of action be?” Perhaps they will replace you, or let you continue. No matter what, you must take it upon yourself to get training and increase your skills quickly. Be proactive, get mentoring or coaching, be open to feedback, etc.
If you have pretended to be better than you actually are, an admission of your error and an apology are in order.
2. You are actually doing well, but perhaps you still have a lot to learn:
In this situation, the feeling of being an “imposter” is all in your head. Your Inner Critic might be giving you a hard time because it can’t accept that you’re not excellent yet. Or perhaps you’re already really good at what you’re doing but your Inner Critic can’t see it.
Remedy:
You will have to learn to accept where you are, and take it from there. Get a reality check from someone more competent than you who can give you honest feedback, and integrate it to grow in your competence.
Learn to be a beginner. A beginner is not a fraud.
You can easily heal your Imposter Syndrome by being honest with yourself and others, practice accepting being a beginner when it’s the situation you’re in, and devote yourself to improving a little bit every day.
Do you have problems with your Inner Critic? Coaching will help!
