Impostor syndrome anxiety
Have you ever felt fearful about making a mistake or anxious about being seen as incompetent in your next presentation? If you are constantly feeling this way, and you are not able to enjoy your wins, you may be experiencing impostor syndrome.
Unfortunately, Clance and Gail Matthews found that about 70 percent of people experienced impostor syndrome for at least some part of their careers or even early on as students. And particularly now that remote work is more common, employees tend to feel the impostor syndrome even more often as they lack their manager’s feedback or the visibility required to validate their performance.
People with impostor syndrome (also found as imposter syndrome) experience continuous frustration and anxiety being concerned that they are not good enough, that they will be exposed as incompetent and that everyone else knows what they are doing. As a result, they engage in self-sabotage, overworking and depression.
In psychological terms, impostor syndrome is a cognitive distortion that prevents a person from internalizing any sense of accomplishment. According to Psychology Today, people with impostor syndrome feel like frauds despite abundant evidence of their success. They are often well accomplished; they may have numerous academic degrees and certifications to validate their knowledge. However, they are not able to value or enjoy their successes.
The following are some of the signs that show you may feel like an impostor:
1. Work too hard: you overwork to cover up your feelings of inadequacy and end up not managing your time effectively.
2. Downplay your knowledge, abilities, or skills. Therefore, try to get as many certifications and diplomas as possible to showcase your value to others, as you feel you are not enough.
3. Seen as a perfectionist: look over every single detail, and check your emails, papers and exams thousand times to ensure they are perfect. Of course, you never feel they actually are perfect. You feel the pressure to perform at your best in every circumstance, and when you don’t, you feel incompetent and anxious.
4. Seek mentors and constant feedback that is external validation of your performance to find ways to improve and feel enough.
5. Compare to others: why others got a promotion, more money or better qualification than you. You want to be the best. Always.
6. Lack confidence when showing your accomplishments, speaking up or contributing, afraid of being seen as silly or ignorant.
7. Struggle with pressure and tend to underperform in extreme circumstances.
8. See the world in terms of extremes: You are the best or the worst. You did everything right on an exam or everything wrong; there are no gray areas.
9. Tend to be a people pleaser, focusing more on doing what others want and expect to get validation.
Fortunately, impostor syndrome is not a genetic trait that can’t be changed. It seems that our experiences in your life, family dynamics or specific situations or roles you had to play make you more likely to feel like an impostor. Still, your past doesn't need to define you. By being more aware of your overreactions and triggers, you can react in a different way, focus on what you can control and start enjoying your accomplishments.
Follow the next articles to learn more about who is more prone to impostor syndrome and ways to overcome it.
