“After several years of experience within his company, James was promoted to the position of technical engineer. During our conversation, he shared with me that he feels a strong sense of illegitimacy, largely due to his lack of a university degree.
Despite the expertise and successes he has accumulated throughout his career, he fears being judged for not having the theoretical academic training that some of his colleagues possess.
This doubt leads him to downplay his achievements, attributing them more to luck than to his own competencies.
He frequently compares himself to his degree-holding colleagues, which prevents him from taking initiatives or asserting himself, ultimately affecting his self-confidence.”
Do you recognize yourself in James’ story?
In this article, I provide you with key insights to identify impostor syndrome, which may be holding you back in your career, and I invite you to develop effective strategies to shift your perspective and finally free yourself to fully thrive!
How to Recognize Impostor Syndrome?
In a professional setting, impostor syndrome is primarily characterized by a striking lack of self-confidence, preventing us from fully appreciating our accomplishments and successes.
It makes us doubt our skills, achievements, and the position we have rightfully earned making us feel as though we don’t deserve it or that luck, rather than our expertise, played a role.
Even though this belief is clearly false, it acts as blinders, distorting our perception of reality and reinforcing negative self-suggestions.
If you constantly doubt your abilities (even when everything is going well at work!), believe that sooner or later your colleagues or managers will uncover your so-called incompetence, or suffer from anxiety, fear, or stress in certain situations (such as an important meeting where you fear being exposed), impostor syndrome might be affecting you!
What Factors Contribute to the Development of Impostor Syndrome?
Impostor syndrome thrives on our past failures whether academic, professional, or personal and the social pressure to always be the best and constantly compare ourselves to others (such as in highly competitive schools or demanding family environments).
It is also fueled by our frustrations and what we feel we lack (for James, it’s the degree he never earned; for others, it may be specific qualifications), as well as personal insecurities (such as social class background for those navigating unfamiliar professional environments).
Fear of failure, unrealistic expectations, perfectionism, and lack of recognition all of these create a fertile ground for impostor syndrome to take hold.
Everything we’ve failed at, everything that scares us, and everything that wounds our self-esteem feeds the “monster” that slowly erodes our confidence.
The Long-Term Consequences of Impostor Syndrome
When experiencing impostor syndrome, we often develop avoidance or self-sabotaging behaviors sometimes without even realizing it.
We might pass up on opportunities, believing we don’t have enough experience or don’t deserve them. We may decline promotions, fearing that they will expose our perceived incompetence. We might even take full responsibility for a project’s failure, devaluing ourselves, even when it was a collective effort.
This phenomenon leads us to minimize our talents, the value of our work, and our unique perspective. In some cases, it can even trigger a “fear of success” where success brings too much attention, potentially exposing what we wrongly perceive as our inadequacy.
Since these situations feel like threats beyond our control, we instinctively avoid them.
Even when success is undeniable, we struggle to fully enjoy it, attributing it to luck, favoritism, or connections rather than recognizing our own skills and efforts.
These external attributions reinforce the feeling of imposture, preventing us from truly valuing our accomplishments. As a result, we may sabotage our projects before they even take off.
Effective Strategies to Overcome Impostor Syndrome
The first step to overcoming impostor syndrome is awareness. Recognizing it allows us to build confidence and change how we perceive ourselves.
We must challenge limiting and false beliefs that we have internalized, rationalizing past experiences and failures to turn them into opportunities for growth.
This is a core part of coaching, but you can already start implementing some techniques:
- Talk to someone you trust (a positive and supportive person) to gain perspective on your behaviors and real skills.
- List your strengths and weaknesses to develop a more balanced self-view.
- Celebrate small wins keeping a journal can be a great way to reinforce positive actions!
- Accept compliments as they come, so you become more comfortable acknowledging your successes.
- Practice self-compassion!
“Share your experience with impostor syndrome in the comments! How do you overcome it?”
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