Imposter syndrome is incredibly pervasive and persistent. It drags at our minds, nipping away the strands of our self-confidence and self-esteem. If it keeps doing this unchallenged, our perception of our worth in professional and even personal lives is in danger of severe damage.
Why is Imposter Syndrome So Hard to Fight?
Imposter syndrome is an internal thing, held within us. Closely connected with how we feel about and perceive ourselves, it can be very hard to tackle. Every person’s experience of imposter syndrome is unique to them. Each person has their own particular combination of negative thoughts and history that have come together to shape their imposter experience.
The good news is that there are things we can do to help disprove these negative thoughts. Techniques we can use to reduce the impact and influence those thoughts may have on us, personally and professionally. Even if we can’t entirely get rid of our imposter syndrome, we can at least reduce the effects it has on our careers.
What Can We Do to Combat Imposter Thinking?
There are a number of things we can use to break the hold the negative thoughts of imposter syndrome have on us.
Keep a Journal
Create a record of the good things that happen. Whenever something goes well. A class goes off perfectly. That 1-2-1 with someone really struggling to understand their dog’s behaviour where it all comes together. A client gives great feedback about how you’ve helped their relationship with their dog and everything has improved for them and their family. When any of these things happen, make a record of them.
You can make a file on your computer or phone, or write them in a physical journal kept specifically for that purpose. Creating a repository of the good things gives a concrete piece of evidence you can return to on a day you’re struggling, and prove to the negative imposter thoughts that they are the fakes.
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| A journal can help separate the truth from the stories |
Source Support
Imposter syndrome is something that tries very hard to isolate us. It makes us feel as if we’re not deserving of praise or respect. That we should keep ourselves away from the ‘worthy’, the others we view as competent and talented. It tries to make us ashamed of the fact we have imposter syndrome at all. The truth is that imposter syndrome is a common experience. Most of us will have these thoughts and feelings to some extent.
One of the best ways to counter that feeling of isolation and shame is to find a safe place where we can talk to others and share our experiences of imposter syndrome. The number of people who suffer from the imposter thoughts and feelings means that there are many who understand. In sharing how imposter syndrome affects us and makes us feel, we start to feel less alone. Sharing experiences allows us to support each other and see the truth of how talented and accomplished we really are.
Find a Mentor
Similar to seeking out sources of support, we can also find a mentor. Someone we can trust to talk through our feelings and difficulties that imposter syndrome brings to our lives and careers. Someone that we know we can trust to talk about the good and bad of what’s happened since the last time we talked and understands our struggles with self-confidence and self-esteem. Someone who can help us to pick out the objective truth to show that the negative thinking is inaccurate and unhelpful.
Finding a trusted mentor who can give us a sense of perspective about the truth of our worth and value in our profession, not one twisted by the negative influence of imposter syndrome, is an incredibly valuable technique in combatting imposter emotions and feelings.
Visualisations
One thing that imposter syndrome often makes us do is imagine the worst-case scenario. We may picture the aftermath of something going wrong, agonise over what clients may say if what we’re saying to them isn’t get the results they want quickly enough, or even imagine ourselves freezing or a situation ending in (comparative) disaster.
We humans tend to have fantastic imaginative abilities, as evidenced by just how good we are at imagining catastrophe. We can also turn that wonderful imagination to our advantage.
What happens if, instead of picturing it all going wrong, we picture success?
- That happy class of puppies and their guardians, building a bond that will last a lifetime.
- The little dog who was so scared of the world starting to look around and interact instead of shrinking down and trying to disappear due to the extent of their fear.
- That moment when the guardians realise that what you have told them is true and turn away from the outdated advice and aversive tools a previous canine professional told them to use.
One of the greatest tools we have to combat imposter syndrome is positive thinking and a positive mindset. If we can build a habit of positive thinking around the things we do, that positivity becomes easier to believe and to absorb. It may be hard to contemplate in the early stages of combatting imposter syndrome, but by following the other tips listed here, we can start to find that more positive mindset and disrupt the hold that imposter thoughts have over us.
Feeling the Fear and Doing It Anyway!
One more thing that we can do, although it can be very difficult, is to lean into the fear and push through it, doing the thing that scares us despite our trepidations. Setting ourselves to complete a task despite being so worried about it is another way of proving the imposter syndrome thoughts wrong. If we can succeed despite the worry and negative thinking that came before it, we can channel that success into the next task. The imposter thoughts were wrong this time, we could do it, so why can't they be wrong again?
The more we can push through to complete tasks and achieve what we set out to do, the more it builds into that positive mindset and lets us see that we are more capable, more talented, and have so much more ability than our imposter syndrome wants us to believe!
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If you're looking for that safe space mentioned above to find help and support in tackling your imposter syndrome, I can help. Come and join the Conquering Confidence: Imposter Syndrome Support Facebook group. We have a wonderful community of largely dog people there, who all understand the impact imposter syndrome can have and are coming together to help build each other up.
Don't forget that live workshops are available - see the 'Workshops' page on the blog or join the Facebook group for details. There is now also an option to join a monthly mentorship programme, and more details are on the 'Mentoring' page of this blog.
I now have a Redbubble shop where there are a number of designs in the shop currently, with more to come.
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