People often mention that they suffer from imposter syndrome and note how they feel held hostage by these feelings. They don’t think they can live up to their potential and are worried they “aren’t enough” in whatever space they work in. We often define imposter syndrome as a time when competence exceeds confidence or when an individual doubts if they have the competence they need in a given situation. When this happens, rooting out these feelings and getting to the bottom of the source makes sense. In this article, we’ll reflect on imposter syndrome and how to flip it to your advantage rather than framing it as a source of negativity.
When we think about imposter syndrome, it is helpful to break it into its essential parts. Those include confidence, competence, and realistic assessment. If we lack one of these, it can lead to inaccurate information regarding how we think we show up in roles such as speaking, leading, or coaching.
Women historically brought the idea of imposter syndrome into the light; however, now, we often think of it in conjunction with others who feel underrepresented or have significant doubts about themselves. Conversely, the Dunning-Kruger effect refers to those lacking competence but usually overflowing with confidence. This study helped us discover that those less knowledgeable about a topic often overestimate their knowledge, which leads to a decrease in successful choices and estimations. This overconfidence and advanced estimations make these individuals less willing to learn and discover things about their areas of ignorance. Sadly, we have all been in this situation at one time or another. I mention this effect because it opposes the classic imposter syndrome we are exploring today.
Accurate Confidence
When you see confidence as an accurate assessment of capabilities, you realize that not everyone knows everything. Still, we can know some things, even many things, and often more than others know about a given topic. We manage confidence distortions by recognizing that we can move from novice to amateur as our knowledge grows. In reality, we do not know what we do not know. This ignorance is a dangerous moment, one that leaves us disadvantaged. However, there are other moments when a situation stretches us to the point where we realize we don’t know what we need to know.
Conversely, these moments produce the fruit of true humility. This humility is the key to even greater success because it acknowledges that humans are flawed and fallible. That perspective gives us the edge to overcome imposter syndrome.
When you focus on everything you are not in any given situation, you can discover who you could be. I remember a time when I was asked to lead a project I felt utterly unprepared for. ‘I’m not knowledgeable enough, I am not interesting enough, I am not experienced enough,’ I thought. Yet, this very situation pushed me to stretch beyond my perceived limits. By searching deep inside, we find what we need to learn and find helpful ways to express what we already know. When our focus on our deficiencies becomes too great, we are left butting up against imposter syndrome rather than being motivated to take action and learn about those identified deficiencies.
This awareness isn’t a disadvantage but rather an urge to recognize our knowledge gaps and acquire information about our deficits. When we harness this urge, we begin overcoming our imposter syndrome.
The “I’m Not Enough” Loop
In other moments, we have enough knowledge to begin moving forward, yet we still find ourselves stuck. In these moments, we often see a particular deficiency, play this element of ourselves up, and fixate on our lack. There will always be more to know and learn about every situation and field, but once we have acquired enough critical mass of information, we can begin to take the risk of stepping forward. Our anxiety often tells us we are not enough or we do not know enough to move forward. In reality, we are just uncomfortable taking risks.
When our minds get stuck in these loops, it’s helpful for us to build a case against our beliefs. We must remind ourselves that we are scared about the next steps. Identify the fear and decide not to let it rule us. We can comfort ourselves with a more accurate assessment that we do have enough essential knowledge. We can also recognize and normalize the anxiety often associated with first-time or newer experiences.
Beating Imposter Syndrome
We can overcome imposter syndrome when we align the following two ideas. First, we must become comfortable with the reality that there is always more to learn and that all humans make mistakes. Second, we must recognize that all new things produce nervous energy. This energy and dreaded insecurity is the nature of risk, but it does not rule out proceeding. Remember, everything you are good at today, you once learned how to do and were probably nervous to learn. Our ignorance and anxiety serve us when we see them from the right vantage.
We must let all these findings motivate us to continue to learn, harness and appropriately label new and nervous energy, and humbly move forward to acquire new gains and opportunities. Freedom is at the intersection of these things, and once we discover it, we will know how to overcome imposter syndrome.
Written by: Jennifer Stuckert
jennifer@restorationcoachingatl.com
Jennifer has gone through expert training, experienced coaching herself, run businesses for over 13 years, developed her own team, and learned her own lessons. She is trained in cutting-edge neurobiological treatments, which, when applied to coaching, produce rapid growth and freedom. In addition, she has experienced the struggles of running a business that honors God and people. It is not easy to make changes alone. Jennifer is here to help you get the resources and support you need to have freedom, clarity, conviction, and certainty.