You may read the phrase โimposter syndromeโ and be surprised that thereโs a term for something you feel without realising itโs a common thing. Have you ever felt like youโre not good enough for the career you have? Do you doubt yourself and feel like an imposter in the workplace? Do you have a nagging feeling that youโre winging it? Youโre not alone.
A huge 77 per cent of the UK experiences imposter syndrome.
Signs of imposter syndrome include:
- Doubting yourself
- Being unable to accurately assess your competence and skills
- Attributing your success to external factors
- Criticising your job performance
- Being afraid of disappointing
Has the pandemic made imposter syndrome worse?
Interestingly, research has found that working from home can mitigate these feelings. According to the University of Nottingham, there was a 75 per cent decrease in feelings of imposter syndrome in 2020 compared to the year before, when we were in the physical office.
Associate Professor Dr. Terri Simpkin, from the University of Nottingham, commented: โImposter Phenomenon is related to context. If the context changes, so can experiences of Imposterism. Itโs socially constructed, so change the social circumstances and the experience may change too.โ
This may not be the case for everyone, however, and some workers may have experienced intensified feelings of self-doubt combined with feeling deflated and isolated when working from home. Working remotely for significant periods of time can impact company culture, social integration, and being in the general swing of it all. You might feel out of the funk and start to doubt your skills when youโre out of the swing of things.
Overcoming imposter syndrome
If your feelings of imposter syndrome have subsided, you might be worried about them flaring up again upon return to the office following Boris Johnsonโs roadmap to normality. Weโve got some tips to help you overcome imposter syndrome when you get back to the office while donning your smartest work suits!
Facts over feelings
We can be prone to letting emotions override logic. Focusing on facts over feelings can apply well to many different areas of our lives, but particularly imposter syndrome. When you perform well, are given praise, or are generally getting things done, congratulate yourself for your achievements that youโve worked hard for. Due to your competence, youโve succeeded, not because of luck or a fluke. Occasionally, thereโll be times where things donโt go to plan for everyone, and that can be disappointing. But when you perform well, donโt gloss over the moments or downplay it.
Try not to make assumptions about how other people feel about you, for example assuming your boss thinks youโre rubbish at your job. You are projecting your own misconceptions about yourself onto others.
Weโve all got to start somewhere
If youโre doing something new at work or are given a new responsibility, donโt put pressure on yourself to master it first time. Everyone has to start somewhere and learn.
Whenever we start a new job or try something new, we want to master it on the first try. Needing additional guidance can make us feel like weโre weak, especially if there was an audience. Clearly, itโs unfair to put that kind of pressure on ourselves, which is why itโs important for us to flip the script.
Instead of feeling as though we need to prove our worth, we need to remember that we all have to start somewhere. We all try and fail before we succeed. Thereโs nothing worse or more flawed about ourselves than there is about anyone else. Keep that in mind the next time you feel like youโre not learning fast enough.
Talk to your colleagues
If you have friends you feel comfortable opening up to at work, confide in a colleague. If not, speak to your friends outside of work. Chances are, saying your thoughts out loud may help you realise how wrong you are when thereโs no evidence of you underperforming at work. Plus, others may be going through the same thing โ being honest and open about your feelings to those close to you can have tremendous benefits on your wellbeing and theirs.
Take a break from social media
Returning to the office? Cue an influx of LinkedIn posts as workers race to post optimistic and motivational posts about getting an ounce of normality back. Like all social media, LinkedIn can be tough on us if weโre feeling down. People only posts their best and highest achievements rather than the times theyโve failed on a huge project or are struggling to keep up with their workload.
Avoid putting pressure on yourself and take a break from social media, including LinkedIn โ unless your job relies on it. Ease yourself back into it when youโve settled back into office life and you feel ready to see what other people are posting about.
Look at what you’ve accomplished so far in your career and be grateful for all you’ve achieved. Overcome feelings of fear and anxiety and recognise your successes. Sometimes, this might be difficult. But with 77 per cent of the UK experiencing imposter syndrome, you can take comfort in the fact that the majority of people around you also experience this totally normal feeling. You are not alone, and you are not an imposter.
