Imposter syndrome is the belief that you are a fraud, or imposter, in your job and it’s just a matter of time before you are found out. This is despite a mountain of evidence that you are good enough at what you do - brilliant even!.
Your achievements have stacked up, but to you they are due to pure luck.
Each achievement is a relief but also increases the pressure to maintain the façade.
No matter how hard you work, how much praise is received, how many promotions you achieve, your belief that you are a fraudulent imposter that hasn’t been found out yet sticks to you like superglue.
Although named a “syndrome” it isn’t a diagnosis; you aren’t sick, even if at times you feel sick!
Sadly you are not alone in this experience!
How do you know if imposter syndrome is gnawing away at you and potentially holding you back from making your mark on the world?
Here are 10 signs that you may be under the thumb of imposter syndrome:
1: You think of yourself as a fraud
You believe you have inadvertently given the impression that you are far more competent than you really are.
You’re just waiting to be found out!
2: You mark up any achievement or success to luck, or some other external influence
When you do well, achieve, succeed - you believe you were “just lucky” that day.
Or it was because of other people.
Or your stars were aligned that day.
Anything other than because you are awesome!
3: You work hard, really really REALLY hard
You put all your time and energy into your work. Not just for a big presentation but with everything you do.
It isn’t through love of the work or pleasure in what you do. It is based on fear and anxiety, driving you to work way past the point where it would be reasonable to stop and have a life.
4: Praise is desired but painful
On the one hand praise gives short term relief, seen as a sign that you’ve got away with it...again.
But you don’t believe you deserve the praise, leading to feelings of anxiety and a sense of continued pressure.
5: You must be the best
You are driven to always be the best at everything you do. You always aim to overachieve.
You do this to keep the tiger of imposter syndrome from catching you. You fear that not being the best dulls your shine, a chink in your armour that people will see.
6: You don’t feel confident and you absolutely never portray confidence
“This is probably wrong but….”, “This might sound stupid but…”, “Am I making sense?”
Your chosen words show your anxiety and lack of confidence.
7: You dread achievement
You must always be the best...but you dread achievement.
You don’t feel you are worthy of it, it makes you feel guilty AND now you believe people will have higher expectations of you!
8: All the things you haven't done
Yep - this is what you’ll focus on. All the things you didn’t do or should have done.
No matter how well you did, you’ll still have a laser-sharp focus on what you didn’t do well.
You might meet every goal you set - that will still never be good enough, you’ll still focus on what you haven’t done.
9: People are just being nice
If people compliment you or offer praise you think they are just being nice and don’t really mean it.
Because you don’t believe that it’s true, you assume people are just being sweet to you and don’t want to give negative feedback.
10: You’re simply not good enough
Ultimately you just don’t feel good enough.
No matter how hard you work, how much you achieve, how many compliments you receive...you still don’t feel good enough.
Sadly Imposter Syndrome is a common experience.
Taking a very bright torch and shining that on these beliefs by talking to others and taking yourself on a non-judgmental journey of your mind can be your first steps to freeing yourself and embracing your success.
As a qualified and accredited CBT therapist I can help you to break free of imposter syndrome. Book in for a free consultation to see how we can work together.
