Worried that people will realize that you’re not as good as they thought you were… and expose you?

You may be struggling with what psychologists call Impostor Syndrome.

Impostor Syndrome describes people who are unable to embrace their successes and feel a constant fear of being exposed as a fraud. 

Maybe you’re a successful woman in a male-dominated field.

Or a misunderstood creative in a company full of conventional, straight-line traditionalists.

If you stand out at work for any reason, you are likely familiar with Impostor Syndrome.

Ironically, Impostor Syndrome doesn’t affect actual impostors. They affect people who are actually highly competent or successful at what they do.

Even despite being highly accomplished, people with this syndrome regularly underestimate their own ability, deflect compliments and downplay their own success.

Other symptoms include excessive perfectionism, crippling self-doubt and harsh self-criticism.

Sounds familiar?

Trust me, I know that feeling. I personally have struggled with Impostor Syndrome… since I started working!

As a seemingly “young” professional in an industry full of trainers, speakers and coaches who are in the mid to late stage of their careers, I frequently get remarks that I’m young (maybe too young) to be doing what I do.

Who am I to give ‘life advice’ to others who have way more life experience than me?

I also get self-conscious from not having as much ‘industry experience’, qualifications or accreditations compared to other coaches.

What’s worse was that I kept attributing my success to luck and downplaying my own hard work.

Fortunately over time, I’ve succeeded in avoiding the pitfalls of Impostor Syndrome and prevented it from derailing my career as a peak performance coach.

If you’re a peak performer yourself – then I’m absolutely sure that you’ve faced this issue at least once or twice before.

Impostor Syndrome is not a psychological illness or a personality defect.

If you’re facing it on a regular basis, here are some perspectives that may help you overcome it.

3 Perspectives To Overcome Impostor Syndrome

Perspective #1: Impostor Syndrome Comes From An Unrealistic View Of Others

According to philosopher Alain de Botton, we suffer from Impostor Syndrome not because we’re uniquely flawed… but because we don’t realize how deeply flawed everyone else is as well!

And in the age of social media, Impostor Syndrome is very common!

We’re so exposed to the polished and seemingly perfect lives portrayed by others that it doesn’t occur to us that they are also suffering from the same struggles we face on a daily basis.

For me personally, I just need to spend 5 minutes on my LinkedIn feed for my Impostor Syndrome to kick in!

Seeing my counterparts humblebrag as they post their successes and I already feel my inferiority complex bubble beneath the surface.

But once the emotions simmer down, we all know the truth: people will only show you the good stuff.

When it comes to ourselves, we are painfully aware of what’s happening on the inside: our fears, our failures, our doubts and our troubles. We are aware of who we are fully – 100%.

On the other hand, we know others only based on what we perceive about them: which is limited to what they show or tell us… at best only 5% of who they REALLY are.

5%!

And even then it’s a heavily filtered and edited view of who they are.

So when you compare yourself to others, it’s like comparing 100% of yourself to only 5% of them.

How is that even fair?

Perspective #2: Actual Impostors Don’t Feel Impostor Syndrome

If you have Impostor Syndrome, congratulations: you’re probably NOT an impostor.

According to behavioural investigator Vanessa Van Edwards, people who are actual con artists or frauds tend to demonstrate unusually high levels of narcissism.

If you’re a narcissist, you are likely to believe that you deserve all the success you’ve received, regardless of how and where it came from.

Which makes you think: would you rather have unreasonably high levels of confidence from being a narcissist… or occasionally feel Impostor Syndrome from being a stable, functioning human being?

Also, if you have Impostor Syndrome – it probably means you’re NOT a psychopath or sociopath.

Psychopaths and sociopaths tend to always have a justification for their actions, so it’s very unlikely that they will doubt their worthiness.

Perspective #3: Everyone Is Going Through Their Own Struggles

If you’re feeling disturbed, remember that everyone else is probably just as disturbed as you are.

Maybe they’re secretly bogged down by regret, tormented by guilt or deeply ashamed of themselves?

Maybe they’re anxious, depressed, heartbroken or suffering from their own mental struggles?

Maybe they are masking deep Impostor Syndromes themselves?

Realize that you’re not alone in this.

The near-perfect paragons whom you admire, idolize and put on a pedestal – they too are just as human as you are.

The very idea that you admire them is already a sign that you probably don’t know them too well.

When you think about them, what comes to mind is a skewed perspective – a small cluster of positive qualities – which only scratches the surface of their deeply complex nature.

At the end of the day, remember that all incompetence is subjective.

Stop putting people on a pedestal. 

Humanize the people around you and understand that their internal struggles may just be as difficult as yours.

Once you know this, you’ll realize that your success is just as within reach as the others who have come before you.

Keep a journal of all your successes and recognize that everyone has their own mixed bag of wins and losses.

As you seek to overcome this, learn to identify thoughts that arise from your Impostor Syndrome and speak to a coach or someone you trust about it.

Sometimes, all it takes is one person to snap you out of it and remind you that you’re not alone.