The impostor syndrome is not a rare phenomenon: You make an effort, prepare yourself well, are successful – and still feel like a fraud. We’ll explain what’s behind the term and how you can overcome the impostor syndrome.
What is impostor syndrome?
Impostor are people who pretend more success, wealth or a higher social rank than they actually have. They pretend to be something they are not in order to be successful – and usually on purpose. And then there are people who keep coming back feel like impostors. People who believe that their own success is just coincidence or luck – and who live in constant fear that at some point everyone else around them will find out too.
This kind of Self-doubt has a scientific name: Das Impostor Syndrome or imposter phenomenon. This is not a mental illness with an exact diagnosis, rather it is about that personal experience. You may be able to tell this in yourself by simply asking yourself: How do you feel when you are successful? If you feel happy then, success gives you Self-confidence – or does the opposite happen? Namely that you feel pressured even more, that you are afraid that someone might find out that you were “just lucky”? The latter suggests that you too have to struggle with impostor syndrome in your life.
What are the consequences of impostor syndrome?
With the impostor syndrome one goes too afraid of the future which stems from the thought: “I will definitely not be so lucky next time.” Those affected perceive their own weaknesses too clearly and overestimate the strengths and abilities of the people around them considerably.
The Self-doubtassociated with the imposter phenomenon are many. For example, they express themselves in these and similar thought patterns:
- “What I can do, everyone else can anyway.”
- “It was just a coincidence or someone made a mistake, that’s the only reason I’m successful.”
- “Hopefully the others don’t notice that I can’t do anything and that I’m just fooling everything.”
- “I pretend all the time.”
- “I did not deserve that.”
People with impostor syndrome often feel unable to cope with new tasks. According to an article in the MinD magazine This is precisely why they get into a vicious circle: Those who experience themselves as impostors are always looking for new ones Confirmation from outside and therefore tries to rise to be more successful. But when those affected succeed, they feel like impostors again and blame success on chance, good relationships or the like. So they keep looking for new confirmation, maybe succeed again and so it goes on.
How people with imposter phenomena react to a situation can be seen in two categories split such an article into Brain and mind: Overdoing and Underdoing. Overdoing means that the person concerned prepares themselves to perfection, working their way down to the smallest detail. Underdoing, on the other hand, means postponing upcoming exams or the like to the last, dealing with other things and preparing little or no preparation. If they fail, underdoers can justify themselves to themselves with the excuse that they couldn’t have done it better – after all, they were not well enough prepared.
In the worst case, the imposter syndrome means that a person concerned never manages to reach their potential: They lose a lot of their creativity and they leave their abilities unused out of fear of failure. The imposter syndrome can also be physically demanding: it leads to stress and possibly even to Burnout.
Who does imposter syndrome affect?
According to MinD the imposter phenomenon can often be observed in women because they struggle with thoughts such as: “They only hired me because of the women’s quota” or “A man would have had much higher demands” perceived pressureTo have to represent one’s own group in a dignified manner: As a woman, the person concerned feels that she is representative of all women in the spotlight – and if a career woman fails, it falls back on all other women, so the thought behind it. However, this also applies to other groups in society: There is no clear study on whether women actually fight more often with the impostor syndrome. The proportion of women with impostor syndrome may also seem higher because women are more daring to talk about it.
Scientists also believe there is a link between discrimination and impostor syndrome, according to an article by time: If you already have little confidence in your own abilities, when you are successful you quickly get the feeling that it was all just luck. This is more often the case with social minorities.
Overall, however, many personality factors play a role in the impostor syndrome. For example are introverted People are more likely to be affected, as well as people with a poorly supportive family or many conflicts in the family environment. Even people who are very scared are or moving quickly be ashamed, tend to feel like impostors. The same applies to those who have only been successful for a long time – for example at school – and then suddenly face greater challenges.
The imposter syndrome often only occurs in a certain situation that you do not feel equal to: Up to seventy percent of people report the imposter phenomenon in certain situations.
The impostor syndrome in private life
The imposter syndrome can also occur in contact with friends: that is, when you have the feeling that you are playing a role and that you are not yourself when dealing with other people. Maybe you react differently than you would like – or the people around you describe you very differently than you perceive yourself.
And with that, self-doubts arise again: You think that the others don’t really know you and that they probably wouldn’t like the person you think you are yourself. A person with impostor syndrome often suffers from the feeling that they cannot be themselves and that they always have to pretend.
How can you overcome impostor syndrome?
The good news right at the beginning: The first step in overcoming impostor syndrome is to realize that it exists. Then you have to learn not to ascribe your success to a happy coincidence, but to yourself and your achievements.
Also on your own Self-esteem Working can help you overcome impostor syndrome. Sabine Magnet is the author of the book “And what if everyone realizes that I can’t do anything? About the fear of not being good enough. The impostor phenomenon. ”She suggests in an interview with the mirror Here are three tried and tested exercises that can help overcome impostor syndrome:
- You can a Success diary to lead. Every day, write down the minor or major successes you have achieved today. This increases your awareness that you have achieved these things using your own abilities.
- His too Self love Strengthening, according to Sabine Magnet, is a good strategy to get rid of the imposter phenomenon.
- And lastly, she recommends one Gratitude ritual. For example, you can practice gratitude by regularly writing down several things that you are grateful for. Overall, grateful people have a more positive view of the world.
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