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SHIFT HAPPENS Are You Experiencing Imposter Syndrome? ANDREA WAGEMAKER
FIRST OF ALL,
what is Imposter Syndrome? Impostor
questions. To move past these feelings, you need to be-
syndrome is a deep seeded belief that refers to an inter-
come comfortable confronting some of those deeply in-
nal experience of the feelings that you are not as compe-
grained beliefs you hold about yourself. This exercise can
tent as others perceive you to be.
be hard because you might not even realize that you hold them, but ask yourself:
Simply put it is the experience of feeling like phony or
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What core beliefs do I hold about myself?
fake, you feel as though at any moment you are going to
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What do I see when I look in the mirror?
be found out as a fraud like you don't belong where you
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Am I worthy of love and happiness in my life?
are, and you only got there through dumb luck or a fluke.
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Do I need to feel perfect for others to approve of me?
It can affect anyone no matter their social status, work background, skill level, or degree of expertise.
Characteristics of Imposter Syndrome Some of the common signs or feelings of imposter syn-
Impostor syndrome and social anxiety can overlap. A
drome include:
person with social anxiety disorder (SAD) may feel as
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though they don't belong in social or high achievement situations To get past impostor syndrome, you need to start working inside and start asking yourself some honest 2 2 | C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E | I s s u e 4 0
An inability to realistically assess your competence and skills
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Attributing your success to external factors
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Fear that you won't live up to expectations
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Overachieving to make up for your belief of being a fraud W W W. C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E . C A
