From break rooms to industry forums, you’ve probably noticed there’s a lot of talk about imposter syndrome lately.
Commonly defined as “I want to be seen as somebody amazing, but I’m not good enough to get there,” this condition isn’t new. But it seems to be taking our industry by storm right now, so we wanted to dive deeper.
What exactly is imposter syndrome (and what isn’t)? What are some steps you can take if you have it? Let’s dig in!
What is imposter syndrome?
There’s this myth out there that imposter syndrome is when you’ve been working at something but don’t see significant, consistent growth.
While that’s definitely frustrating, it isn’t true imposter syndrome.
According to Merriam Webster, imposter syndrome is
“a psychological condition that is characterized by persistent doubt concerning one’s abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one’s ongoing success.”
In other words, if you already are massively successful and feel like you don’t deserve it, you might have imposter syndrome.
But here’s the deal: success is never about luck.
Circumstances can help, sure, but there’s plenty of people who had great circumstances and didn’t do anything with them. Your success is yours.
What imposter syndrome ISN’T
Remember that common definition of imposter syndrome we mentioned earlier? “I want to be seen as somebody amazing, but I’m not good enough to get there.” We hate to say it, but this isn’t imposter syndrome.
It’s actually a lack of education, research, and planning.
We know, it can be hard to hear, but the good news is that these are all things that you can easily overcome. Here’s a few Thriving Stylist Podcast episodes to help you get started:
Education
Research
Planning
What to do if you have imposter syndrome
If you have imposter syndrome, take a deep breath. We’ve got you covered with a few next steps to help you move through it.
Step 1: Reflect on everything you did to get here.
Think back to you five years ago. Would that version of you be proud of what you’ve accomplished today?
Now think forward to ten years from now. Would ten-years-in-the-future you be proud of what you accomplished today?
Here’s the thing: if you’ve done it once, you can do it twice. And if you’ve done it twice, you can certainly do it three times. Lean into that feeling of confidence.
Step 2: Find peers at your level of success (or higher) that you can be transparent with.
The key here is finding people you can be truly transparent with. Not kinda transparent. Not a little transparent. Not where you just share your highlight reel, but where you can bring your highs AND lows, and find help when you need it.
Step 3: Find out what makes you feel worthy.
This might be one of the hardest ones to figure out, but once you do, it’s worth its weight in gold. Maybe it’s keeping a folder on your phone of positive testimonials or maybe it’s making that connection with a client. Try different things until you find something that makes you feel worthy.
Step 4: Consider putting yourself out there in exchange for nothing.
If you feel like your success is fragile or you don’t deserve the success you’ve found, do something without any financial expectations. Send a card to your clients to say you’re thinking about them. Don’t mention your latest promotion or your newsletter. Just to say hi. Or maybe post an educational video on your social media, a solution to something that you know your clients struggle with.
Imposter syndrome can be difficult, but know your success is deserved and you are worthy. If you want to dig deeper, check out podcast episode 296!
