Apr 30, 2024 5 min read Self-Improvement

Unmasking Imposter Syndrome: Overcoming Self-Doubt and Embracing Succes

A man looking in the mirror who sees someone else, even though it is the same man. This is someone who does not see him self the right way. Just like people who suffer from the Imposter Syndrome, this man needs to learn how to look at ourselves the right way.

Have you ever felt like you were in a place where you felt like you did not belong? People with much more knowledge about everything related to the event. Feeling like we are not competent enough, like a fraud. This is named Imposter Syndrome. It is a psychological phenomenon where individuals doubt their abilities and accomplishments, feeling like frauds despite evidence of their competence. The fear of being exposed as a fraud can lead to self-doubt, inadequacy, and even anxiety. So, we need to overcome this syndrome.

Today, we’ll discuss the following topics:

Common Signs and Symptoms
Causes of the Syndrome
Impact of the Syndrome
Overcoming it
Key Takeaways

Common Signs and Symptoms

It is quite easy to understand if we suffer from this syndrome. We just need to think about moments where we feel like we were underqualified to be at the place where we were. Think about moments where we thought in ourselves that it was only luck that brought us here or moments where we discounted our achievements. These are two common signs of the imposter syndrome. At these moments, we are aware of everything we do because we don’t want to catch attention. We do not want that attention because we are afraid of being caught as a fraud.

So, imposter syndrome can be described as a syndrome where the individual feels like a fraud. He or she thinks like that because they are feeling like they are underqualified, had much luck, or discounted their own achievements.

Causes of the Syndrome

There are many causes of the syndrome. Think of perfectionism, where we see that our project is not perfect. Even though it is a good project, Or earlier experiences of failure. Another cause could be setting standards too high for us. Something we can compare with perfectionism. But probably the biggest and most impactful cause of imposter syndrome is comparing yourself to others.

Almost everyone is continuously comparing themselves to others. With the rise of social media, things only got worse. Many people spend hours every day looking at the perfect lives of others. Or they see only the ‘perfect’ moments in other lives. The same goes for a presentation of our project. If we first must watch other presentations with other perspectives than we have, we feel like our presentation is not good enough. Even though we also have a very good presentation with interesting perspectives, Comparing ourselves to others often leads to the feeling of imposter syndrome.

Impact of the Syndrome

The syndrome makes us feel like frauds. We do not belong here. It makes us doubt everything that got us to the point where we are now. This can result in a bad performance at the event. If we discount our presentation and are not enthusiastic about it anymore, the presentation can be boring and much worse. Sometimes the syndrome can even prevent us from going at all. We feel like we are going to fail; we are anxious to fail and be caught as someone who does not know anything about the topic.

This syndrome has negative influences on our confidence. We do know that hard work and good work brought us to an important event. We know that our presentation is good as always. But we keep downplaying ourselves and doubting ourselves. It does not help at all. Sometimes it even causes a bad performance. So, we need to overcome it.

Overcoming it

Overcoming it is, of course, not that easy. We must build confidence and good self-esteem. First, we must stop comparing ourselves to others. Do not look at others anymore; a better thing to do is to look at our progress. Look at our journey instead of others. We might just pass an exam while someone else sped through it and had a maximum score. We knew nothing about this topic beforehand and worked hard for it. We passed it, which is a good result. If we chose to compare our score to the other person who scored the highest, we would feel like an imposter. We would feel like we did not belong here. “The test wasn’t that hard, apparently, and I still nearly failed it” or “Everyone has high scores, but I don’t. I am not capable of this course.” These kinds of things will wander in our heads if we keep comparing ourselves. We must change that mindset and focus on our progress. Focus on our goals, on our improvements, and on our failures. Learn from it and improve. That is what self-improvement is all about.

Build a good foundation of knowledge, represented by the books, which will stimulate our growth. The growth needs a solid foundation, so start working now.

A good way to start tracking our progress is by journaling. In a previous post, this was discussed more in depth, so definitely read that post: Pages of Self-Discovery: The Magic of Journaling (maxwagenaar.net). It is all about reflecting on what went well and what did not go well. Improving on what did not go well by repeating what went well. And so on. In a few days, we will see progress, which will motivate us more and more. We will start to feel more and more confident, and we will feel less like we are an imposter.

It will not be easy to fully overcome this syndrome, but keep in mind that there will be failures along the way. Do not quit when these failures happen; learn from them. I must say, I feel a bit like an imposter writing this; however, by just doing and trying, it has improved much over the last few weeks. Act and improve. These are the main steps to overcome this syndrome.

Key Takeaways

The Imposter Syndrome is a phenomenon where we feel like we are at a place where we do not belong because we feel underqualified. We are afraid of being caught as imposters, and therefore we are anxious, self-doubted, and lack confidence. This is caused by many things, but the two main causes are comparing ourselves to others and discounting our work. To overcome this, we must start tracking our progress so that we can look at it instead of comparing it to others. It is not easy to overcome it, but the best way to do it is by acting and improving.