Do You Experience Impostor Syndrome?

You may have heard that impostor syndrome is something many successful women experience, however studies have shown that almost equal numbers of men experience this phenomenon too. It seems men are less willing to talk about it because of the pressures and expectations society and their peers place upon them.

What is impostor syndrome?

Simply defined, it’s a feeling that despite your successes and achievements, you don’t really deserve the recognition you receive from others and if they only knew the truth, they’d realise you’re a fraud. You can find yourself living in a constant state of fear believing that at any moment you’ll be found out. You’re unable to enjoy your successes because they always feel precarious.

Studies have shown that at some point in our lives over 70% of us experience these types of feelings, even if we don’t express them outwardly.

The phenomenon was first identified in the 1970’s by two psychologists. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes, working at a college counselling centre at Georgia State University. Their paper was entitled the “impostor phenomenon”, outlining the characteristics, the factors contributing to this phenomenon and what can be done to address this.

Clance & Imes defined a typical impostor cycle:

After you receive praise and recognition, you immediately start to worry about whether you deserve this, then you work extra hard to cover up your own perceived deficiencies, you get rewarded with good results, get more praise and then immediately start to worry again about whether it’s truly deserved, start working extra hard again and the cycle repeats itself.

Think you might have experienced impostor syndrome in the past, or are experiencing it now? Read on to find out.

If any of these things are true for you, you may be experiencing impostor syndrome:

• You’re a high achiever, and yet you struggle to internalise and acknowledge your success.
• You attribute your success to luck, other people being generous, kind, or simply because they like you.
• You believe your success in life is the result of some kind of error.
• After achieving success, you doubt your ability to continue to succeed
• Your internal standard are so high that you often experience anxiety, lack of self-esteem and frustration.
• You’re afraid that the people important to you may find out you’re not as capable as they think you are.
• You pride yourself on being hard-working and are always striving for perfection
• You constantly compare yourself with others and believe they are much more intelligent than you
• You have a desire to be recognised as “special” or “the best”
• You don’t feel intelligent, despite evidence to the contrary
• You fear failure and being discovered as a fraud
• If you receive a lot of praise for some accomplishment, you doubt the importance of what you’ve done

Can you imagine the impact these beliefs can have on your happiness and satisfaction with life?

We’ll explore this more in future blog posts and I’ll share the effects and causes of impostor syndrome, and some of the things you can do to help manage your impostor syndrome. Awareness is the first step in making positive change.

Want some personalized 1-on-1 support with your impostor syndrome? Book a 20 min call with me to share your experiences with me.