When Impostor Syndrome Keeps Returning
I have experienced impostor syndrome in every major change in my life.
I have heard hundreds of stories and experiences of impostor syndrome from a diverse group of professionals. A common theme among them all: impostor syndrome never really goes away. Justin Hales, a Solutions Architect at Coda, has had a similar experience with impostor syndrome.
“Honestly, I have experienced imposter syndrome in every major change in my life. It could be within a good job or living in a new place; if you haven't experienced imposter syndrome at least to some degree, you probably haven't had many changes in your life. I think it's typically at the beginning of these changes, during the trend, right after the transition. Right after you start a job. Right after you move to new place.”
From my own personal experiences, I agree with Justin. Each time my impostor syndrome has been at its most extreme, a change in my environment had previously occurred. Transitioning to a new company; transitioning to a new role within the same company; getting a promotion; moving to a new city; joining a new extra-curricular team or group - each of these events exposed me to a new environment, new people, with new expectations. What if I were to fail before I could show others my true skills and abilities? It is a daunting thought.
Justin experienced these feelings as a new associate of a tax consulting firm.
“I felt like everybody else sort of knew way more than me. I had just graduated with a Master's in Accounting and I thought, "‘Wait a second! I didn't learn any of this in any of my classes!’”
But Justin quickly realized a few tricks to help him manage his impostor syndrome. He identified 2 key actions to help him find the confidence and courage he needed to persevere.
He found an ally. Having an ally - someone that you feel trust and safety with - can be extremely helpful. Sometimes these allies are in the form of mentors, sometimes in the form of managers, and sometimes in the form of friends or colleagues. The point is to have someone that you can bounce your questions, concerns and ideas off of, without fear of judgement or embarrassment.
Justin’s ally was able to help him understand that he was just as capable and deserving as anyone else within the organization. Justin realized the reason he lacked confidence.
“I didn't understand the culture of the company, how the team operated or the team rituals. This made me feel like everybody else around me was way smarter than me. In reality, they're all smart people, but a lot of the impostor syndrome and doubt stemmed from them being more familiar with the culture than I; not that they were smarter than me, or more capable than me.”
Justin’s ally helped him to learn the culture. Additionally, his ally helped him understand the “Spotlight Effect”. This mindset is the belief that there is a spotlight shining on you. Everyone is watching you and judging your every move. In reality, the opposite is true. Everyone is too focused on themselves. They are hardly giving any attention to you. Realizing this brought Justin comfort.
He found a niche. Recognizing that there is some place within your environment that you can add value will increase your confidence in yourself. Feeling needed and valued is a great and sustainable way to manage impostor syndrome.
In Justin’s case, his ally ended up being someone with whom he was able to niche skillsets. The two of them identified a process that took hours of manual copying and pasting to complete. They knew it was ineffective and error-prone. They endeavored to write some code that automated this specific task. Soon, the entire company was using their code to save hundreds of hours of work. When the company was later acquired, a large part of the reason they were targeted for acquisition was because of this simple code base that they had developed to solve this specific problem.
Justin’s niche example ended up to be pretty extreme. I promise you that you don’t have to write code that saves your company hundreds of hours to overcome impostor syndrome. Your niche could be that you understand a certain tax law better than anyone else in your firm. It could be that you are the most equipped to build a pivot table in excel. Maybe you are great at prompting ChatGPT to help you with your tasks, and others want to learn how they can do it too. Each of these examples can build on the strengths and interests that you already possess, allowing you to more naturally provide value to your team.
You can see from Justin’s example that it doesn’t take much to overcome impostor syndrome. When you experience it - and you will - simply seek out an ally and find a where you can give value. The impostor syndrome will fade, tucked away until the next time your environment changes. However, you will have the knowledge and experience you need at that time to push it out of the way once again.
Excuse us while we pay our bills…
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