Imposter syndrome: Everything you need to know

Many people live their lives without realizing they’ve been carrying the burden of feeling like an imposter. Imposter syndrome can be described as a deep feeling of unworthiness regardless of how much work you’ve put into achieving your goals.

With imposter syndrome, you will always have that deep feeling inside that you don’t qualify to be celebrated in any way and that anything you have achieved is purely luck.

The reason why it’s so hard to identify it is, it camouflages itself as humility. But the difference is that with humility your confidence is intact while with imposter syndrome, your hard work and achievements are muted with low self-confidence.

The nature of imposter syndrome also has a dark side too. People who struggle with this have a hard time taking constructive criticism whether it’s coming from themselves or others.

The good news is that you don’t have to live with this struggle forever. You’re not alone and you can break free with these few tips.

Embrace the mistakes

Imposter syndrome always has a thirst for perfection. Even the smallest mistakes like a typo in your presentation instantly makes you feel like you don’t qualify to get a promotion or that you should step down from your position as manager.

You can counter that by slowly learning to accept the fact that mistakes happen. You can’t avoid them and that’s just part of life.

Be open to learning from others

For some people, imposter syndrome can be very isolating. It will try and convince you that you must be in control of everything or risk being exposed as a fake.

It robs you of the joy of learning from others and collaborating with other people which are elements that make everyday life fulfilling.

Don’t force yourself to come up with all the answers. Instead work with others and enjoy the process of sharing new ideas.

Acknowledge your efforts

Everyone has that inner child that wants to be loved and celebrated. If you keep ignoring the hard work you’ve done to be where you are, you’re basically rejecting yourself which is a miserable way to live.

As you heal, it will sometimes feel like every positive thing someone says about you is a lie. But you have to fight through those feelings to truly get rid of those habits that have been following you around for so long.

Set frim boundaries with yourself

Living with imposter syndrome is all work, no play. You imagine that you must always overwork yourself to prove that you belong and that is not true.

Yes, there are times when you need to go the extra mile but you should differentiate that from the urge to do more meaningless work that won’t make any impact.

Allow yourself to breathe and tell yourself that it’s fine to enjoy other things.

Start with small steps

The best way to start recovering is taking small steps. Otherwise, you will find yourself treating your healing journey like another big achievement you should obsess about.

It takes a while to undo the habits you’re used to so, take it easy on yourself.