The Business Bulletin
Do you ever feel like you don’t belong? Ever felt like you don’t belong? Like you don’t really deserve to be where you are? Maybe you feel like people overestimate your abilities or as though you only got where you are due to chance and you could be exposed at any moment? Whether you feel that way most of
environment where some people may
the time or just now and again in
not be concerned as much by how
moments of doubt following a bad
people view them as other situations.
day, the good news is…You are not
The key thing is, no matter what study
alone. This is commonly described as
you look at it is extremely common.
imposter syndrome and it’s entirely normal to feel that way and entirely possible to overcome those feelings.
The first step to beating it is understanding it
It is natural to have doubts about our own abilities. Imposter syndrome has been shown to affect all varieties of industry including those getting onto exclusive courses at respected universities and call centre employees.
Overcoming imposter syndrome is easier when you understanding it. Imposter syndrome may not be the best name for it as calling it a syndrome implies that it’s far rarer than it actually is. Impostor
Where does it come from? A subconscious desire for survival encourages us to hold ourselves back and keep within our comfort zone where we feel safe and secure. Historically, keeping in line with our role within a tribe is much safer than trying to break free and achieve bigger and better things. So we are programmed for our survival to desire to stay consistent even when that consistency is holding us back from greatness. The problem with staying within our comfort zone means that we are not growing and if we’re not growing much like water that doesn’t flow we stagnate.
syndrome is a very common
Imposter syndrome is partly
experience. Different studies
influenced by that desire to hold
vary on the number of people
ourselves back and tendency to
affected. One study showed
avoid inconsistency.
that it impacts two thirds of women in the UK, but that was just focused on the working
12 | Issue 16 – Strategy and Personal Development
