Not feeling worthy of your achievements, or you are not sure whether you deserve the appreciation or not and are thinking of yourself as a fraud? If this is what you are going through we are here to help you out.
Many times, we don’t know our worth and end up overthinking and self-doubt, which can lead us to failure in our lives. In this article, we will be looking at what is imposter syndrome. Many people suffer from this phenomenon, and once you get tapped into this cycle, it becomes nearly impossible to get out of it. To avoid this, we will be here talking about it and looking at what causes imposter syndrome, and along with it, we will tell you how to deal with imposter syndrome.
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
Let’s first understand what is imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is also referred to as impostorism and imposter phenomenon, where you have the constant feeling that your achievements and success are underserved, and soon this will come to light, and you will be termed as fraud or phony. No matter whether you work hard or have evidence like certificates, degrees, and other things to prove that you are capable, you will still feel that you are not deserving. Before we move on to what causes imposter syndrome, let’s first look at the types of imposter syndrome as it may differ from person to person.
There are mainly five categories of impostorism:
1. Being a Perfectionist—As the name suggests, people with this syndrome mainly focus on perfection in the task, focusing on details rather than the result, and setting very high standards for themselves. This can lead them to doubt the quality of their work.
2. Being an Expert—People with this category of imposter phenomenon work to know everything about the work or topic. They openly try to achieve different excellences and face issues when they are asked to use or show only limited knowledge.
3. To Be A Natural Genius – Here what happens is that the person feels that they can do any task easily and quickly because they are naturally talented in that area and often freeze and get frustrated when faced with challenges.
4. One Who Is Soloist – The person who believes in working solo. People under this category believe and want to work alone and feel that if they receive any kind of help from others they might lose the credit for the work they are doing.
5. Wanting To Be Superhuman – They have the belief that they are some kind of superhuman and need to do more work than others, which often leads them to overwork or multi-tasking, leading to overexerting themselves too much.
Causes Of Imposter Syndrome
Let’s now focus on what causes imposter syndrome. While people may not be able to recognize the causes of imposter syndrome some silent factors always contribute to its development. However, the causes change according to the individual and not be the same for everyone. Here, are some of the major causes:
1. Upbringing And Family Environment
One of the most common causes of imposter syndrome can be your upbringing and family environment. In an environment or family upbringing where the emphasis or stress is laid on success, achievement, or perfectionism and often the efforts are neglected there, the person acquiring imposter syndrome is quite common. Further, people or children having siblings who are considered the geniuses in the family or cousins and are praised can also lead to imposter syndrome as it can lead them to have the idea that they are not worthy of being called genius as they are not deserving according to the efforts made by them or other external factors.
2. Personality May Be A Reason
Even your personality can be one of the reasons which leads to imposter syndrome. Many times our personality can lead us to doubt ourselves and make us question our capabilities. People with anxious natures, excessive self-doubt, low self-esteem, low confidence, or are neurotic are at greater risk or have a higher potential to get imposter phenomenon as they are not confident about themselves and often end up doubting their capabilities. You can try out ways to improve your personality, but it may require your patience and time as gradually you can shape and polish your personality and get yourself out of the imposter syndrome.
3. Influence From Social Media
Among the various factors that may contribute to impostorism, one of the most common factors is the influence of social media. In this digital world where we are just a click or a scroll away from having a look at other’s lives, it is not difficult to get affected and compare our abilities. The trending question has to be: is social media bad for your mental health? It is necessary to understand how much you get influenced by the reels where people share their successes and achievements. What happens is that you might see your friends or other’s success and achievements and think of yourself as the one who is undeserving or unworthy of that success or achievement.
4. Your Academic Or Work Environment
Your academic or work environment can also be one of the causes of imposter syndrome as it can make you develop self-doubt, lower your confidence, or challenge your perfectionism. In academic or work settings either you be the perfectionist who does everything perfectly and even more than what is required and when you don’t get praised for your work you blame things on external factors or you feel unworthy in regards to people or students around you having the feeling that they are much better than you and if you are appreciated by other then you often end up thinking that your efforts are not true to the praise you are receiving and you are deceiving others.
5. Being Different From Others Around You
There can be various causes of imposter syndrome, but one of the causes of the same is that you are different from others around you and you feel unable to adjust or believe in your capabilities because of the differences. This difference may arise due to ethnicity, race, financial situation, position, gender, age, and others. For example, if you are a woman surrounded by men you may feel different because of your gender and hold it responsible instead of believing in your hard work whenever you achieve your goal and are praised for your work. Similarly, feeling different from others can lead to an imposter phenomenon which affects your work and even relationships.
Signs Of Imposter Syndrome
Just like there are numerous causes of impostorism, similarly, there are many imposter syndrome symptoms. However, it is not identical for everyone. So, it is important to look at what signs you are experiencing. Here we list the most common symptoms of imposter syndrome.
1. Involved With The Imposter Cycle
While you know about what is imposter syndrome, you may find it difficult to recognize but certain symptoms indicate the presence of the syndrome you often get involved in the imposter cycle which never seems to come to an end. When you get a task, either you prepare, which leads you to think that the acknowledgment is because you worked a lot, not because you are good, or you procrastinate, leading to eleventh-hour work, leading to thinking that you are appreciated because of your luck. This pattern repeats in the next task, and this is one of the signs of imposter syndrome, which leads you to never consider yourself worthy.
2. Aiming To Be Perfectionists
One of the signs of imposter syndrome is that you always aim to be a perfectionist. What happens here is that you always concentrate on the ‘HOW’ of the task rather than focusing on working on the things and getting the results. You aim to make each step perfect. You also have the desire to be the best among your peers and excel among all others in your academic setting, workplace, or somewhere else, and in this problem, if you fail, you feel humiliation and shame. Also, one of the imposter syndrome symptoms is that when you are surrounded by intelligent people, you dismiss your abilities and lower your self-confidence.
3. Having The Fear Of Failure
Having the fear of failure is also one of the imposter syndrome symptoms. You often get terrified and get discouraged by the thought of failure. This is one of the mistakes you should never make for your self-growth. People with imposter syndrome often make a narrative that they are an imposter, a fraud, and they don’t deserve the appreciation or reward, and soon they will fail. Moreover, their whole lie of being a capable person will come to light, and therefore, these people always fear failure and don’t want to lose at anything. It comes with the fear of getting exposed if you fail and hence you often prepare excessively.
4. Always Denying Your Abilities
While the signs of imposter syndrome vary from individual to individual, some individuals may have the habit of always denying their ability. People with imposter phenomena often have the habit of denying their ability and getting discouraged. You have lower self-confidence and doubt yourself, your work, your achievements, and your hard work and push the success to external factors like luck or someone else’s help. Further, you ignore and reject the compliments you get but this is not because you are modest but because you don’t trust yourself. Learning from the guide to enhance confidence and working on believing in yourself can help.
5. Experiencing The Fear Of Success
Among the various imposter syndrome symptoms, one of the signs that you have imposter syndrome or impostorism is that you may have the fear of success. This fear stems from the fact that you feel that the success you will be getting or the compliments you get are not because you deserve it but because it might be sheer luck or other external factors. You also have this year that if you get successful, then people will demand more of you, and you might not be able to stand up to their expectations, which will result in the exposure of you being a fraud. This is the reason you may feel that success is not something you should get.
How To Deal With Imposter Syndrome?
We can already see how serious the imposter phenomenon can be, and hence it is necessary to have treatment for imposter syndrome before it starts making your life difficult and leading to problems in your professional and personal life. Here are some of the treatments for imposter phenomenon or syndrome.
1. Taking Help From Support Or Help Groups
One of the steps in imposter syndrome treatment is that you can get help from other support groups that have people dealing with similar problems. It will help you understand what is imposter syndrome and when you hear others’ stories you will learn you acknowledge yourself and that you are worthy of the success and compliments you are getting from others.
2. Seeking Professional Help Or Therapy
Seeking professional help or therapy is also one of the treatment for imposter syndrome. It will help you gradually overcome your anxiety and self-doubt. You can go for self-improvement counseling as it will help you to overcome the feeling of being a fraud and improve yourself. It will help you gain confidence and eradicate any sense of being unworthy and undeserving.
3. Practicing Mindfulness And Meditation
Practicing mindfulness and meditation is also one of the imposter syndrome treatment. It will help you calm yourself down and reduce your anxiety and stress levels as it will make you either procrastinate or over-prepare things and doubt yourself. You can also try out anxiety counseling as it will help you reduce stress. Try out meditation and mindfulness to stay aware of your surroundings and self.
4. Identify Negative Thoughts And Replace Them
Identifying the negative thoughts and replacing them is one of the self treatment for imposter syndrome. What you must do is write down every negative thought you have about yourself, like being unworthy and undeserving, and try to do a self-analysis about what you have done till now and go for a comparative check. Also, learn about how to boost your mind to avoid negativity.
5. Set Realistic Goals And Celebrate Small Victories
Another imposter syndrome treatment is that you should not set very high expectations for yourself and set very small, realistic goals that will be easy to accomplish. Further, if you achieve realistic goals, then you must celebrate this achievement and praise yourself. It is also one of the good habits of successful people as it allows them to acknowledge their work.
6. Cut On The Time Spend On Social Media
When it comes to how to deal with imposter syndrome, one of the ways is to reduce the time you spend on social media or cut off from social media. If you get influenced by social media and people’s achievements over there, it is very important that you stop using social media, and it helps you see your work. This is also one of the treatment for imposter syndrome.
Conclusion
We now conclude the article on what is imposter syndrome, which refers to the syndrome where the person has self-doubt and feels that their achievements are undeserved and soon it will be disclosed that they are fraud. Usually, there are five categories, and their imposter phenomenon is perfectionist, natural genius, expert, soloist and superhuman. Usually, what causes imposter syndrome is your family upbringing, academic or work environment, personality and even social media. It is important to know how to deal with imposter syndrome to get all the success you deserve without feeling guilty and fraud.
FAQ’S
1. How Does Imposter Syndrome Impact Your Life?
Imposter syndrome has an impact on your life as in your academics. It is the effect on performance and in your work life it may lead you to reject some important opportunities or promotions. Further, in your relationship, it can make you the one who is not deserving of the partner, and you may always seek reassurance from them.
2. What Do Do If I Feel I Am A Perfectionist?
If you feel that you are a perfectionist and want to reform yourself, then one thing you should do is not try to look at how things are done but focus on the result. Try to leave certain things as they are, like not organizing your desk, trying to put extra effort into your PPT, leaving space for imperfections, and developing habits for some faults.
3. What Is The Difference Between Imposter Syndrome And Self-doubt?
When it comes to what is imposter syndrome, is the feeling that the success and compliments you get, you are not worthy of and it will soon come out that you are a fraud whereas self-doubt is doubting your work and abilities and that the work is not good enough but you don’t reject your achievements or compliments like imposter syndrome.
4. Can Imposter Syndrome Be Extremely Serious?
Yes, imposter syndrome can get serious if you don’t control or stop yourself from doubting your success and feeling like a fraud. It can make you reject the incoming opportunities or promotions because you think that you are not worthy of that position. It can also cause issues in a relationship as you may have conflicts with your partner.
5. How To Help Someone Who Has Imposter Syndrome?
If you have someone who is suffering from imposter syndrome, then you can try out the imposter syndrome treatment by encouraging them to see their efforts, showing them their hard work, complimenting them, and making them understand that they are deserving of the praise. Further, you can suggest therapy sessions.
