How to Crush Imposter Syndrome

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It starts off great. You have a new business idea, and you’re excited to begin. You get started, and it’s going really well. But something feels off. You feel like any minute now something is going to go wrong, and everyone will find out that you’re a big fraud.

You’re suffering from imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is when a person believes that they’re a fraud and have duped others around them into thinking that they’re successful or excellent at what they do. The “imposter” is unable to see their own success. They live in fear of being exposed as a fraud.

It can be caused by lots of different factors. Maybe you feel this way because you’ve previously made a mistake in your work, maybe your friends and family haven’t always been supportive of you, or maybe you’ve always been a perfectionist.

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If you think you suffer from imposter syndrome, fear not. You’re not alone! I’m prone to it too. When I first started copyediting, I was very nervous about my abilities even though I had completed a training course. After sending files back to one of my first copyediting clients, I received an email from the client and thought that they were disappointed with my work. I was devastated! All my fears had come true. I wrote back and apologized. Then they wrote back and said that they were very happy with my work. I had misread their first email! I had projected my fear onto them and almost made it come true.

Recently, I was reading You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero and came across a quote that expresses exactly the situation I was in: “Our ‘realities’ are make believe—whatever we make ourselves believe, we experience.”

Don’t worry though. There are a few things you can do to ease these negative feelings. Keep reading for my tips on how to crush imposter syndrome.

You’re not the only one

First of all, take some comfort in the fact that you’re not the only one who feels like this. I’d be willing to bet that most people have felt like they’re not good enough at some point in time even when there’s no evidence to support that feeling.

Even celebrities aren’t exempt. Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, and even Sheryl Sandberg reportedly feel like frauds even though they’re extremely successful women.

Nobody’s perfect

I know. When you’re working on a project for a client or selling your own products, you want everything to go perfectly. But let’s face it. Mistakes will happen. They happen to everyone. What’s important is that you learn from your mistakes and move on.

Maybe you’re a perfectionist. Take a minute a consider if your expectations are too high. Would you ever realistically be able to meet those expectations? Measuring your expectations against more realistic standards will help reduce the feelings of self-doubt.

Be honest

Make sure that you’re upfront in all your dealings with clients. Don’t exaggerate your skills or experience. If you exaggerate, then you actually are an imposter!

Stop comparing yourself to others

Did you ever hear the popular saying “Comparison is the thief of joy”? I think there’s a lot of truth in that saying. Comparing yourself to your competitors or even your friends is probably not a good idea. Since we’re all our own worst critics, we’ll most likely conclude that our competitors or friends are better than us, so why even bother trying to compete.

Stay in your own lane and focus on what you’re doing. Not what everyone else is doing.

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Build your confidence

Having confidence in myself has always been an issue for me. In the past, I’ve let it hold me back. But I don’t want to do that anymore.

Do you lack confidence as well? Think about it this way—why are you letting your own worries stop you from making the most of opportunities that come your way? There are enough naysayers in the world without adding yourself to that list. And people wouldn’t give you the opportunities if they hadn’t thought about it and decided that you can do a good job. They have their own reputations to protect as well and wouldn’t back someone who they thought would let them down.

To help build up your confidence, write a list of your accomplishments/successes to date. Refer to this list every time you start doubting your abilities. Did these successes come about from pure luck? Maybe some of them did, but most of them were probably the product of hard work, study, or connections with other people who believe in you.

You’ve been successful in the past. There’s no reason why you can’t be successful again.

Are you suffering from imposter syndrome? How do you deal with the fear of being “found out?”