man with impostor syndrome holding his head

How to Deal with Impostor Syndrome

2022-07-29T08:00:35+00:00

By Publisher

Impostor syndrome is that feeling deep within you that makes you believe that you’re inadequate. It usually comes along after you’ve spent so much time and effort trying to achieve something. When you eventually get there, you’ll hear a voice telling you that you merely got lucky and you’re not worthy of what you got.By all means, impostor syndrome is a bad thing as it tends to make light of your efforts, thus, discouraging you from making more efforts. As such, it is important that you deal with it if you don’t want it to affect your success. In this article, we’ll be sharing a few tips to help you do just that.1. Understand the signsYou can’t handle the problem when you don’t know the signs that indicate that it’s there. So, first try to understand the signs of Impostor syndrome. It could come in any number of ways, including:

Feeling lucky instead of genuinely happy about the effort you put in.
Being unable to accept praise even though you deserve it.
Being unable to confidently state what you can do because you’re afraid you’re lying.
Constantly apologizing even when you haven’t done anything wrong.
Underselling yourself at every turn.

Knowing these signs will definitely help you to cure the larger problem.2. Distinguish between your humility and fearWhen you tell people that you’re not to be praised for what happened, are you being modest? Or are you just afraid that they’ll find out you’re a fraud, even if you aren’t? Decide which one it is. If it’s the latter, you need to make a conscious effort to stop doing that to yourself.

ALSO READ 4 Ways Men Self-Sabotage Their Own Success

3. Accept praise even if you don’t feel like itThis is something along the lines of the law of replacement. If you continue telling yourself that you’re not good enough for what you’re getting and you keep rejecting praise as a result, you’ll continue feeling that way. However, if you can tell yourself that you’re worth what you’re given and you do this constantly by accepting your praise, eventually, your mind will start to adjust.4. Be kinder to yourselfFinally, the chances are that you think you’re an impostor because you borrowed your ideas from someone else, and you feel like they’re better than you. Well, dear friend, no idea is really original anymore. Even in the world of physics, it’s almost impossible to discover anything new. So, be kinder to yourself and let yourself know that you’re doing as much as you can and you’re worthy of the emulation you’re getting in relation to the effort you’re putting in.