How to stop doubting yourself and overcome the impostor syndrome
A Life / / December 19, 2019
Imagine that you are told that you are all misleading and not so do your job well. Now imagine that you are constantly reminding yourself of that. This is called the impostor syndrome.
First described in 1985, the syndrome causes people confidence that they achieve undeserved, and worry that they will show up as a scamThe Impostor Phenomenon.. They think that any success in their life can be explained by luck or manipulation of others' opinions.
This means that even the most successful people. It's hard to believe, because they have achieved a lot. But the impostor syndrome is not based on the real situation, and on a distorted representation of the human reality. Here are four techniques that will help to eliminate such thinking.
Report on its progress
Ask a friend or colleague to help you track targets and honestly report that your work is good, but that can be corrected or improved. So you know your strengths and weaknesses and feel more confident. You can agree to help each other.
For example, both of you set yourself
goals for the year in several areas of life. Now a quarterly check your progress to see if you have gone astray, if you need to accelerate. And every few weeks, discuss what steps you have taken to achieve these goals.Keep the compliments and gratitude
"I can get a hundred compliments, but when he heard from one person," You do not deserve it, "believing it to him," - I told Tobias van Schneider, a former art director of Spotify.
If you are too accustomed to shrug off compliments and praise, start to keep all the good things about you other people say. You can make to this privacy board in Trello, record everything in a simple document or save screenshots with kind words to a separate folder.
This may seem self-admiration, but in fact it is a real reminder that you and your work is valued and respected, that you are willing to ask for help.
Share your experiences with others
We often take their knowledge for granted, especially if a long time worked in the same field of activity. At the same time we forget that there are always people that our experience can benefit. Try to share with others:
- Look for meetings of interest, affecting your important topics.
- Look for organizations in the area of interest to you, who need volunteers.
- Arrange in his office a seminar at the dinner table and share their knowledge.
- Please contact the university where you studied, and find out whether it is possible to give a lecture on a topic.
When you see how your experience and knowledge really help people, you will not be all the time to feel that you can not offer anything worthwhile.
Understand that failure is inevitable on the path to success
Fear of failure, or feeling that you are not worthy of success, not only interfere in this. They can damage the future. We are beginning to create their own obstacles and difficulties, so you have something to explain their failure.
If you are afraid to fly by plane, you will be advised to fly more often to get used to the process and see it as something ordinary. Same thing with the fear of failure. To get rid of it, you need to constantly push yourself to act and to accept the fact that failure - a natural part of the way.
Then you begin to see the positive side of failure - the opportunity to try something new, out of the comfort zone. And it will help to grow and develop.