Imposter Syndrome

I agree with what others have so eloquently said. What has helped me deal with imposter syndrome is to acknowledge it, embrace it, and "feel comfortable feeling uncomfortable". It will never go away, nor should it. But we can learn to live with it and take away its power over us.

@Mira (Lindsey Miranda) gave good advice -- challenge your inner voice that creates these cognitive distortions. But don't despair that the voice comes back. Give your distortion monster a hug and learn to live with him. Meditation has helped me with this.

Finally, a sporting aphorism: "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take". So, don't let your inner critic stop you from taking your shot.

Imposter Syndrome shows up for me all the time when applying for jobs--and plenty of times just during my Peppercorn adventures too!

Everything everyone's said already has also been helpful for me.

An additional idea I'll share is that I've been working to update one of my internal tools to work with my own Imposter Syndrome, which used to only entail me flooding the insecure thoughts with supportive ones.

That being said, I know my brain's in the habit of feeling Super Insecure About Everything, Often (TM) and flooding it with positive thinking isn't always enough to get my Anxiety Spiral to shut up for long. To try to help with this, I've been working on finding my own examples of past success to literally remind me of what I've already done and talking myself through it--out loud.

Sounds a little familiar, like the Success Briefs exercise, yeah? This is one of the many reasons I'm really digging my Peppercorn experience--the skills are truly cross-functional; completing Phase 1 exercises directly helped me improve something important to me in my personal and professional life.

It does take more time and emotional energy to remember to stop myself and think of specific examples to combat the insecure thought. And, it's also been more effective in helping me decrease the amount of Imposter Syndrome that pops up than the tool I was using prior.

Ex: Insecure thought: "I don't know who I'm kidding to think I could do this job; it's way too much, I don't have the experience."

Former coping skill: "I've done a lot of things, my experience might look different from other people, but it helps set me apart." This is fine, and I've realized lately it hasn't been helping as much. I decided to try altering it a bit.

New coping skill I'm practicing: "I've done a lot of things that give me relevant experience. Remember that time I did x, y, or z relevant thing? I felt similarly then and I found ways to work through it then, so I believe I'll be able to work through this new situation, too." I think adding something like describing the type of skill set(s) I utilized would probably be the next step for me, once this becomes more palatable to my brain.

Anyways, I hope any of this either rings true or helps. I think it's safe to say we all live with Imposter Syndrome issues all the time, and we aren't as alone as our brains might like to imply :)

Always! Whenever I saw a point on the job description that doesn't match my profile, I used to feel that I wouldn't be a great fit for this position. Once I decided to take a leap of faith and see where it takes me. I ended up with an amazing job. This has been my motto ever since: You don't have anything to lose by trying but can miss out wonderful opportunities if you don't try at all.

Constantly! I always remind myself that every job posting is looking for a mythical unicorn. The years of experience coupled with skillsets they must be looking for someone 100+. I also revisit some colleagues I’ve worked with in the past, and remember how many of them really knew nothing about the industry, but got the job bc of their personality, values, and drive to put themselves out there. If you wouldn’t say it to your friend, don’t say it to yourself.

Yes yes! I try to combat this in a variety of ways - I talk to myself the way I would talk to a friend, which is to be supportive and appreciative. I also look back at all the praise and appreciation I've received from my colleagues over the years (not to mention promotions and salary increases), and remind myself there are good reasons they have valued me. I also think about all that I've learned in my current and previous roles - I have taken on new challenges and been forced to figure things out, so even if I don't feel like I'm 100% qualified for a position, I know that I can learn. And lastly, I think we spoke about this in our cohort, but I think it's good to think like most men do - a lack of qualifications or experience doesn't tend to stop most men.