TweetShareShare We recently sat down with our friends at Flatiron School to have a discussion around Imposter Syndrome, and flipping your perspective in order to “overcome” this menacing feeling that likely sneaks up on all of us at some point or another.
Imposter Syndrome is something you can jump in and out of depending on the day, but it’s the general feeling that you aren’t equipped to address the task at hand, and that you got to where you are by mistake. In the words of Astrophysicist Hannalore Gerling-Dunsmore in the documentary Behind the Curve, “The more you know about a topic the more you feel like you’re not actually an expert. You feel like you can’t possibly be an authority on this.
Ask people what they think you’re strong at. This can feel a little uncomfortable, but almost everyone is willing to pitch in and contribute to your journey. What you’ll get back is a list of traits from each person that people think you’re great at. This can help ground you. When you’re looking at a few of the ways that you may be weaker at, you have a list of items that you’ve been told by others you excel at. This can help give you the energy you need to dive into what you need to do.
Ask anyone else whether they’ve ever felt like an imposter. When you do this, nine out of ten times you’ll get a yes, and the tenth person is lying! Essentially every person has felt this before. And the best thing that can happen is that you get great feedback around your capabilities. There isn’t really a downside to asking someone you trust about your capabilities.
We’re trained to read a list of bullets – your resume – and allow them to be our story. But the process should be the reverse: You tell your story, and then build your resume around it. If you aren’t thinking about this tactic in the context of a resume, you can apply it to your thought process about your own capabilities .