One question project: Ayesha Noelle
What is one hack you used yourself to deal with imposter syndrome?
There’s no quick hack to ‘deal’ with Imposter Syndrome. It’s the same as expecting to unlearn a language you’ve spoken all your life in 1 day. You’re used to that language, your friends probably speak it with you and every time you see certain objects you can only find the words to describe them in that language.
Imposter Syndrome is of course not a language, it’s a psychological pattern in which you doubt your skills, talents or accomplishments and have a persistent belief you are not good enough. Despite external evidence of your competence, such as a degree, experiences or validation of others.
If you have been consistently talking down on yourself and thinking you’re not good enough it becomes your default. Even normal. It feels weird to accept compliments and it’s even weirder to compliment yourself. Most people experience it for years. I felt like an imposter for 14 years, in which I wanted a quick fix to feel good enough and move on to become better. There might be no quick fix or hack for Imposter Syndrome, but there are tools.
One of the tools I used was a “braggers file”. It is a file where you save all the emails or messages with positive feedback and key milestones. Whenever you are in doubt if you belong somewhere, you read it. Whenever you procrastinate on doing something, because you want to avoid fucking it up, you read it. Whenever you start something for the first time, you read it. Why? Because with Imposter Syndrome you tend to only look at what can be better and forget what you’re already doing great. And you can use a constant reminder that you have never been a fraud, you are a learning human. Who has probably done awesome things that others or even younger you might have dreamed of.
About Ayesha:
She is an experienced Imposter Syndrome coach, speaker and Applied Psychologist. She uses exposure therapy and embodiment exercises as tools so women can double their confidence and break free from imposter syndrome.
You can find more information about her on her website here.