How to overcome feeling like an imposter

Attribute success to internal factors, recruit positive people, use self-doubt constructively, and worry less about what other colleagues and associates are thinking.

Do you spend most of your working day worrying about what colleagues think of you? If so, you might be suffering from what psychologists call Impostor Syndrome.

The term was coined by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes about 40 years ago, who, despite being hugely successful in their field, still had feelings of self-doubt and nerves.

The duo interviewed more than 150 successful women, who had university degrees and significant career success, and found that many of them did not believe that they were successful and talented.

Has much changed since then? Perhaps not; a study by Science magazine found that girls aged six are less likely to describe themselves as talented, compared to boys of the same age.

It's mirrored in the workplace. In a poll by Girlguiding of 1,627 girls and young women, only 35pc of those aged 17-21 said that they have the same chance as boys of succeeding in a chosen job (down from 90pc of those aged nine to 10). This can lead to fewer women applying for a given job, despite them being more than qualified to do it.

The good news is that you’re not alone. Actress and UN ambassador, Emma Watson, Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin have all spoken about feeling like a fraud or impostor.

This is a common occurrence in business and leadership, due to the so-called Peter Principle, which states that people are promoted to positions of leadership based on previous performances in unrelated roles, instead of their appropriateness for the current one.

This often leads to doubt, worry and nerves about not being good and strong enough to lead. 

So how can business leaders overcome feeling like an imposter?

Consciously overcome the negativity bias

The negativity bias describes how we’re more likely to notice and pay attention to negative rather than positive things. For example, if someone gives you a compliment and someone else insults you, you’re more likely to remember the latter.

You can overcome this conscious bias (which is a tendency to think in certain ways) by becoming more aware of your thoughts and
shifting your focus towards more positive actions.

Take Ms Sandberg’s advice. A few years back, she remarked: “I force myself to sit at the table, even when I’m not sure I belong there –
and yes, this still happens to me.”

Another way to overcome your negativity bias is to start internalising success, which can be done by reminding yourself of how you helped manage your team, how you helped each of your staff members flourish, and how your leadership positively affected a particular outcome. The key to this is having a consistent debrief with your team (or mentor) after each project.

Regardless of the project's outcome, spend time balancing what you would have done differently, and what you did that worked well. This will help you balance things out and ensure that you start to internalise parts of your success.

Surround yourself with good people

Author Jim Rohn once remarked that a person is the average of the five people with whom they spend the most time.

Recent research also found that the old adage – that “attitude is contagious” – is true, and that the presence of another person can influence task performance.

We pick up other people’s habits and attitudes. If you want to start feeling more confident and positive at work, actively seek the people who make you feel like that and spend more time with them.

Self-doubt isn’t always a bad thing

Actress Helen Mirren once noted that it would be wrong to think that you’re always right, correct, perfect and brilliant. Self-doubt is the thing that drives you to try to improve yourself”.

Research suggests that over-confidence can be dangerous, because it may make you think that less effort is required for the task, resulting in poorer performance.

When it comes to self-doubt, less is not always better. It’s more akin to the so-called Goldilocks principle: too little results in apathy, but too much can lead to Impostor syndrome. You need it to be just right.

Worry less about what others are thinking

Worried about what your colleagues think of your presentation? Chances are you shouldn’t be. Psychologists use the term the spotlight effect to describe how people believe that they’re being noticed
more than they actually are. This thought process stops many business leaders focusing on what’s important at the present time.

You can overcome this by understanding that most people are more worried about their own performance to judge you on yours. Other tips include asking yourself questions such as: what do I need to do next? And, what is the objective of this meeting?

These sorts of question help refocus people on what’s important and what they must do in order to achieve them.

Bradley Busch is a psychologist, author and director of 
InnerDrive