What is the Imposter Syndrome? Well, by definition, it is the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills. This syndrome can manifest in nearly every facet of your life, personally, professionally, academically, romantically etc. Although the Imposter Syndrome is something many of us have experienced, its not something we have to fall victim to.
One of the biggest challenges I experienced learning Spanish was wondering if I belonged in the classrooms. The further I got in my degree, the less and less I saw people like myself. It made me question, do I really belong here? How did I get here? What happens if I fail?
Since then, I’ve learned when you’re the only one like you trying to accomplish something, you have two choices: You can let the imposter syndrome take over and make you doubt yourself, or you can recognize that not only do you belong and own your space, you are trailblazing for others like you one day. So with that said, I’m going to give you guys 7 tips for battling the Imposter Syndrome:
Recognize the feeling. Understand what you're experiencing so you can address it. Acknowledging that you're experiencing self doubt and fear, but remember neither of those feelings are going to help you grow or excel. Its important to push through these feelings of insecurity.
Separate feelings from fact. Often times we can feel "stupid" or unqualified in certain situations because we may be ignorant to facts, but this doesn’t mean you are. Your desire to learn more and the knowledge you've already applied negates that.
Understand when to feel fraudulent. Just because you’re the only minority in the room, doesn’t mean you don’t belong there. At one point, we have all had to create our own spaces and that leaves room for more people like you.
Create a new response to failure. Gain value and lessons from your failures. Without them growth is impossible, so acknowledge them, own them and grow from them.
Focus on the positive. You may not know everything about this topic but you know enough to be a valuable asset, which is why you're there :)
Visualize your success. Spend time focusing on yourself doing a great job, like giving an amazing presentation or really excelling at what it is you want to do. This goes hand in hand with manifesting what you wanton a regular basis.
Teach. Teaching or explaining something to someone else is a great way to boost your confidence about a particular subject or task. While educating someone else, you're gaining confidence and knowledge about you're topic.
There is no concrete way to ensure you'll never have feelings of self doubt, fear and insecurity, but you can arm yourself with the tools you need to successfully reach your goals.
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