Imposter syndrome affects around 65% of today’s professionals all around the globe. This means that people feel like a “frauds” in their professional life, regardless of their industry.

But, where does it come from? What makes people have a hard time with it? Today, you will learn more about imposter syndrome, and we will bring you some tips for overcoming imposter syndrome.

Imposter Syndrome Definition

According to Harvard Business Review, imposter syndrome can be defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. Namely, It is totally fine for professionals to doubt their qualities from time to time since this empowers learning new skills and keeping in touch with the market trends.

But, here, we talk about something else. Instead of feeling proud when celebrating accomplishments, “imposters” worry that they tricked people into thinking they’re good.

 

What Are The Other Signs?

Impostor syndrome can be demonstrated in a wide variety of forms, including:

• Fearing that you’re failing your team
• Lack of self-confidence at work without a reason to feel like that
• Constantly pushing yourself to the extent of burnout
• Fear of not living up to expectations
• “I feel like a fraud”-like thoughts
• Inability to take compliments
• Feelings of being stuck

and etc.

Valerie Young’s 5 Types Of Impostors

Dr. Vavlerie Young, Ed.D is an internationally known expert on this subject, and she did an amazing job in categorizing the types of the imposter syndrome. According to her, those 5 types consist of:

1. “The Perfectionist” – the primary focus of this person is set on how something is done and what’s the outcome in the end. They constantly think that they can do better, despite receiving praise for the work.
2. “The Expert” – the primary focus here is on “how much”, and “what” the person knows or can do. Even the slightest lack of knowledge makes these people feel ashamed.
3. “The Natural Genius” – these people measure competence based on speed and ease. For instance, if they struggle to learn a new skill quickly and become experts, this evokes shame and a feeling of failure.
4. “The Soloist” – as the name suggests, “soloists” focus on “who” completes the assigned task. Given the fact that this kind of people think that everything should be done individually. However, once there’s a sign of tutoring or help, such things evoke shame.
5. “The Superhuman” – this person measures competencies based on the number of roles he/she can excel at the same time. By default, falling short in any role make them feel down/ashamed.

Do you find yourself in any of the aforementioned categories?

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Let’s assume that you work in the customer service industry. Be sure of one thing – there’s no such thing as perfection. Yes, you’ve read that correctly.

No matter how hard you try to match a 100% close rate, things won’t go according to plan. That’s perfectly normal though. The only thing you should do is to let go of your inner perfectionist. Instead, stop focusing on other people, and get inspired by them.

Or, you can implement the following tips such as:

• Share how you’re feeling –  don’t hide your insecurities, and share them with another person. This is not only a good step for overcoming imposter syndrome, but it will also help you stop feeling alone.
• Keep a list of realistic goals – being ambitious is one thing, but being realistic is what you need to do right now. Just write down the goals that you can reach, and once you succeed, celebrate!
• Embrace failure – embracing failure is vital to overcoming imposter syndrome.  Think of failure as a lecture that gave you experience, so that the next time you may know what you have to do better.
• Be kind to yourself – everyone makes mistakes occasionally, or multiple times per day if it is one of those days…Either way, reward yourself for small things and forgive yourself once you do mistakes.
• Accept your doubts –  it’s always easier to acknowledge your doubts and accept them, instead of fighting them. Once you accomplish to achieve this, you will have a better picture of what is holding you back.

Conclusion

Remember that you’re not the only one feeling like an impostor. The good news is the fact that people who have some degree of success in their life tend to feel like this.

Never forget to praise the small things, and take a look at the things you’ve accomplished in your life from time to time. Such things are great for informing you whether you’re on the right path or not.

After all, we think that you already know how to detect this “phenomenon” along with the ways how to manage these feelings.

Follow us in the future as well, because our blog is the ideal place to learn numerous things from the business and customer service industries.