22 March 2011
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Do you sometimes feel like a fraud? Afraid others will find out you’re not really as smart or talented as they think you are?
You may be experiencing the Impostor Phenomenon - the feeling that your successes are unearned and at any moment the charade could end.
Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to these questions:
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1.
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I can give the impression that I’m more competent than I really am.
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2.
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I sometimes think I obtained my present position or gained my present success because I happened to be in the right place at the right time or knew the right people.
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3.
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I’m afraid people important to me may find out that I am not as capable as they think I am.
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4.
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I often compare my ability to those around me and think they may be more intelligent than I am.
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5.
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At times, I feel my success has been due to some kind of luck.
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6.
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I avoid evaluations if possible and have a dread of others evaluating me.
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7.
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When people praise me for something I’ve accomplished, I’m afraid I won’t be able to live up to their expectations of me in the future.
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If you answered ‘yes’ to at least three of these questions then you may be feeling (mistakenly) like an Impostor. But don’t worry, some very successful people suffer from the feeling that they are frauds and that their successes are not a result of their own abilities.
There are three elements to the Impostor Phenomenon:
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You often feel like a fake. As though you’ve pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes, and you’re not really as smart, talented or hard-working as you’ve convinced everyone you are.
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Even after working hard and achieving a goal you tend to ignore the fact of your success and continue to focus on your weaknesses.
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You attribute your success to chance or some other external factor rather than taking credit for it.
The healthy response is to attribute positive events to internal, stable, and global factors (“I’m just smart”), and negative occurrences to unstable and specific factors (“bad luck this time!”).
Impostors get it the other way around. They make themselves responsible for their failures but attribute their successes to luck.
The Impostor Phenomenon is often associated with feelings of shame, fearfulness, and low self-esteem. Yet this doesn’t mean you’re depressed. In fact the phenomenon is more prevalent at certain times in life, such as the end of High School or early in your career. And it generally affects those who have always performed at a high level.
There are two classic strategies used by Impostors who fail to believe in their own abilities:
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Overdoing it: Disproportionate efforts such as going over and over a presentation or assignment to get it “right”. This reinforces the impression that achievement doesn’t spring from their intrinsic abilities, but rather from effort. But it’s a vicious circle.
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Underdoing it: Leaving preparation to the last minute or procrastinating (“self-handicapping”) so they don’t have to really test their abilities. Then success can be attributed to luck. It was just a fluke.
Here are five tips to help you break out of the Impostor Phenomenon:
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Learn to ascribe successes to your own abilities, to the extent justifiable.
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Acknowledge the intelligence or skill that contributed to your success.
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Reflect on your strengths, your positive relationships with other people, and competence.
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Increase your feelings of self-esteem.
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When things go wrong, pay attention to the factors that can be changed.
Personal coaching can help you break out of self-doubt and see yourself and your abilities in perspective, find out more here
, you are also invited to participate in a study about how we process information to make decisions by completing a 70-item online survey called the DPS (Decision Processing Survey), which should take about 10-15 minutes.
Due to popular demand this survey will close within the next 2 weeks. If you would like to receive personal feedback on your results following completion of the study please provide your name and email address in the spaces provided. However, your individual information will be held confidential. Please click the link here to do the survey
And explore my “Wisdom Circle” blog for musings, research, and applications of wisdom here
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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