Do you feel like a fraud?

I have lived with imposter syndrome for the majority of my professional career. It started when I was unceremoniously let go from a job that I was working at for 30 days. This experience messed with my confidence because I hadn't received any feedback about my performance. It was my second professional job, so I immediately attributed their cost-cutting measure to my poor performance. Even worse, I created stories in my mind as to why I was a fraud. As you could imagine, these stories constantly ruminating in my mind were not healthy and created a lot of stress in my life. On the one hand, I am a high achiever and always looking to do and achieve more; however, I am also in my head, reinforcing that I have to work harder; otherwise, I will be "found out." 

According to the Journal of Behavioral Science, 70% of the US population has experienced imposter syndrome. If you have excessive thoughts of criticizing yourself or are stressed out about your work performance, you may be experiencing imposter syndrome. 

Here are indicators that you are feeling like an imposter. 

You identify yourself as a perfectionist. 

Identifying yourself as a perfectionist gives the illusion that you have high standards for your work. In reality, being a perfectionist is a way to continue delaying showing your work to ensure a mistake isn't found, thus inevitably exposing you as a fraud. Some people mistakingly think that being detailed oriented is being a perfectionist. Perfectionists often use the excuse that they want the work to be perfect, yet they never finish their work. I remember the earlier years of my career. I had completed an assignment days earlier, but I held onto it to continue to review it and catch any mistakes to ensure the reviewer wouldn't find them. Imagine that I was doing two jobs. I never stopped to think that there is a difference between making minor mistakes and being careless with how I prepared my assignments before submitting them.  

You don't feel comfortable asking for help.

Asking for help is uncomfortable because you don't want to appear as if you don't know what you are doing. This thought process is due to the belief that you should know what you are doing. If you don't know, then there must be something wrong with you. The real question is, what's wrong with not knowing what you are doing? In the early years of my career, my supervisors always asked me to let them know if I needed help, but I refused. Instead, I would sit there for hours trying to figure something out to mitigate my supervisor from discovering that I didn't know what I was doing. It wasn't until I became more mature than I saw how unnecessary it was to be self-critical for not having specific experiences. I also learned that asking questions shows you care about what you are doing, not that you are incompetent. 

You believe your success is luck.

The belief that your success is attributed to luck is an indication of feeling like an imposter. People who believe that their success is luck aren't able to connect their accomplishments to their efforts. I've experienced this countless times in my life. When I receive compliments for my achievements, it has been hard to acknowledge because I've convinced myself that if I didn't have struggles and stress for my accomplishments, luck must have played a role in the achievement. 

To live with imposter syndrome, I have had to implement habits and behaviors, not criticize myself, accept praise, and find the courage to ask for help. An example of an action I've implemented is when I am creating something new. I monitor how long it's taking to complete. Additionally, I periodically check in with myself for signs of stress and negative self-talk. If I notice a lot of negative self-talk, I refer to my list of accomplishments that I've documented in my notes app to remind me that I am not a fraud. 

In my experience, feeling like an imposter never really goes away, I've found ways to cope with it and have continued to progress in my career. I have worked incredibly hard to improve my mindset and how I view myself to help manage these feelings. If you are looking for suggestions to improve your mindset, check out my title, The Resilient Mind: A Field Guide To a Healthier Way of Life, or visit my website at www.christmashutchinson.com and learn how you can work with me to advance in your career and improve your mindset.