Home » Feeling confident at work: How to overcome impostor syndrome

Feeling confident at work: How to overcome impostor syndrome

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Are you jeopardising your own career? It’s normal to feel worried from time to time, but constant anxiety and feelings of self-doubt at work might start to take a toll on your attitude towards your workplace and colleagues, in turn affecting your productivity.

In this guide, we’ll bust the myths about impostor syndrome and cover the best ways to tackle it, so you can identify how to overcome your own experiences with the much-misunderstood phenomenon.

Spotting self-sabotage

No one deserves to feel like a fraud. As the Harvard Business Review puts it, impostor syndrome is essentially “doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud at work,” and is seen more often in women than men.

Some might struggle to believe that their success is either deserved or has been achieved through genuine effort and skill, even if there is no clear reason for doubt.

The first signs might be hard to spot, but you or your colleague might be suffering from imposter syndrome if you struggle with:

  • Anxiety about underperforming
  • Perfectionism and overworking to complete tasks up to an impossibly high standard
  • Fear of failure that holds you back from taking on new ideas and opportunities
  • Criticism of your own work and inability to accept positive feedback
  • Procrastination to distract yourself

Even though impostor syndrome can feel crippling, it is fundamentally a series of irrational, illogical and often untrue thoughts – so there are strategies and resources available to tackle the issue.

Fighting impostor syndrome

Unhelpful attitudes, including believing that impostor syndrome could actually make you better at your job, often make it harder for sufferers to speak up and find support.

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However, impostor syndrome is, by definition, more prevalent amongst high achievers, as it relates to those who shouldn’t doubt their position but still struggle to accept their success.

instantprint, an online business card printing services expert, have investigated this caveat, interviewing six business professionals to find out their approaches to feelings of doubt and self-sabotage at work.

One interviewee, freelancer Francesca Baker, discussed for instantprint’s study the fraudulent feelings she gets from working from home, adding that:

“I think that running your own business from home can make you feel like you don’t have a real job, because you’re being paid on your sofa. But there’s lots of expertise, experience and knowledge that comes into it.”

Top tips to fight these feelings include:

  • Addressing the issue, not ignoring it
  • Asking more questions to challenge your mindset
  • Focusing on your strengths

Reflect on what’s going well

Overall, the most significant takeaway for overcoming impostor syndrome is to pay more attention to your strengths and success to foster a genuine, lasting sense of self-belief. With a bit of support and self-awareness, you’ll be on the right track.

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