I heard a statistic today that 70% of people in America suffer from Imposter Syndrome. If you haven’t heard of this before let me explain it. Imposter Syndrome is that feeling you get when you are doing a job putting on a front that you know exactly what you are doing but inside you feel like a complete fraud. You are just waiting for the day when someone catches on that you don’t really know what you are doing. Chances are you have probably experienced this feeling even if you didn’t know what to call it. So, how do you overcome it?
Think about the good side of it
The good news is when you experience Impostor Syndrome it’s a sign that you are stretching yourself. Think about it, if you only did things that you were comfortable doing and familiar with, you would never feel like a fraud. You would legitimately know your stuff and feel confident in your ability to do the work. While this might seem like a good thing it means you aren’t growing. You have to take risks and continue stretching yourself in order to grow.
That means your first action step is to change your thinking. If you feel like an impostor it means you are working to achieve something, you are growing and stretching yourself and you should be proud of that.
Stop being afraid to fail
If you are like most of society you are afraid to fail. There is this stigma out there that if we fail at something we are a failure. No one wants to be a failure, so instead of admitting that we don’t know how to do something or that we messed up, we hide it. We keep putting on a smile and pretending that we have it all together. Then, we just go day by day waiting for the moment that others notice that we are failing.
In order to overcome this, you need to change your mindset about failing. It’s ok to fail. In fact, the most successful people in the world have failed a lot, but they don’t let it stop them. Instead of looking at failure as an end all situation you need to start looking at it as a learning opportunity. Every time you fail you have learned one strategy that didn’t work. When that happens instead of getting down on yourself or hiding from it, you can simply take a moment to think about what you can learn from that experience. What went well? Where did it go wrong? What changes can you make so it goes better next time?
Start planning
Many times when I feel like an impostor it’s because I’m “flying by the seat of my pants”. That means I have no plan in place. I’m not sure exactly what step is coming next. I’m trying to live by the “fake it ’til you make it” motto, but the only thing with that is I never end up making it. I just continue to live in the space of being a step behind while trying to pretend that I’m not. Let’s be honest, sometimes we feel like an imposter because we aren’t prepared for what we are trying to accomplish. We need help.
Creating a solid plan helps you to overcome this in a few different ways. First of all, it forces you to think through the details of what you are doing. Secondly, it allows you to spot areas where you made need additional training to know what you are doing. Thirdly, it helps you set goals and track your progress. As you see yourself making progress towards your goal you will start to feel more confident in the work that you are doing.
The SPEARity™ app is an easy way to break your projects and goals into smaller steps that are easier to achieve. It allows you to easily see where you stand on each goal from anywhere you have access to the internet, and it gives you a place to track your successes and learn from your failures. Schedule a live demo today to find out exactly how the app can help you rise to a new level in your business and life.
