Imposter Syndrome:The Hidden Enemy

I’ve been in the IT industry for nearly 10 years and have worked as an independent author for nearly six. I wish I could say my confidence has soared as my resume has grown, but in reality, every new opportunity brings a whirlwind of anxiety and self-doubt. Looking at my history, I am someone who seems like a risk taker from the outside. Yet, I live with this constant fear, that someone will realize that I’ve just been REALLY good at “faking it until you make it.”

This battle with self-doubt is a huge problem, especially for women, and it has a name.  Imposter Syndrome. According to Medical News Today, a person with impostor syndrome has:

·       A sense of being a fraud

·       Fear of being discovered

·       Difficulty internalizing their success

An October 2020 article in Forbes magazine shares that 75% of women identify with having experienced imposter syndrome at various points during their careers. Though this is certainly not just a “female” problem, it’s believed that women are just more comfortable admitting they struggle with imposter syndrome. However, everyone likely in various points of their lives have experienced feelings of self-doubt, fear of not living up to the expectations of others, or the success they personally dream to achieve.

Photo by Martino Pietropoli on Unsplash

It’s been an ongoing battle for me, but I do a few things to try to mentally encourage myself and strengthen my belief in my abilities:

Continuing to improve my knowledge of my industry You don’t know what you don’t know. As an author I started connecting with some other amazing published and independent authors on Instagram. I use this as a platform to gain from their experiences, share mine and improve the way I do things. This can be a double edged sword. Sometimes it can get discouraging if it feels like other people just have it together and I’m struggling in an area, but for the most part I’ve had the privilege of learning from other people’s successes AND failures. It also makes me more comfortable to share my successes and failures. When I’m not up to connecting with people, I focus away from networking and more on reading blogs or relevant articles. The internet has a vast amount of resources (go figure!) that can help build skills and confidence in what you’re passionate about.

Trying Something New Sometimes just starting on a new project where you feel like everyone is on “ground zero” can help overcome imposter syndrome. I do this often at work. Every few years I try to move around to a new solution set. Giving myself the freedom of a “learning curve” in a new position, or just having the feeling that everyone is learning together at step one, can be comforting. Often solo projects can be great tools to battle self-doubt. It helps my confidence to own something and see it come to life from initial concept to go live. It’s tangible proof against those whispers of doubts in my head on whether I can accomplish something.

Asking myself Am I happy? Often a common reason for imposter syndrome is when you’re just burnt out in what you’re doing or you’ve lost your passion for a specific line of work. Burnout can keep you from working at your best level which in turn has the potential to make you feel like a failure. When you are passionate about something, you tend to work harder at it, consume all relevant information around it and as a result you get knowledgeable about it (and maybe even become the expert on the topic!) 

Remembering that you ARE NOT ALONE My company sponsored a virtual seminar with an external speaker from Peptalkher focused on battling imposter syndrome. I was surprised to see over 200 participants in my company attended this session live (on a Wednesday!) and it was a mix of both men and women in a variety of roles. Realizing that I was not alone in my battle with self-doubt was actually a huge confidence booster. It made me think about how many people I admire and look up to who likely face the same fears and doubts I do every day.

One of the best advice I received in my career is “You may NEVER be the smartest person in the room, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion or a viewpoint to share.” I try to remember that anytime my imposter syndrome flares up. It’s a constant battle, especially when I face changes and new challenges in my life, but I am overcoming it little by little every day.

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