Updated May 2024
As we explore the road to success as an entrepreneur, or any type of success in life for that matter, it’s easy to doubt our own abilities, no matter our actual talent.
As pressure and the stresses of life weigh us down, these questions may pop into your mind:
- Am I good enough?
- (If employed) Did they choose the right person?
- Am I doomed to fail?
- What the $&@#* do I know?
This is simply known as Imposter Syndrome. It essentially means that you don’t believe in your own abilities, even when you are more than capable of handling the task at hand.
With that said, I want to talk about this common issue, tips to overcome it, and my journey with the problem. This is How To Overcome Imposter Syndrome.
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What Is Imposter Syndrome?
According to Oxford, Impostor Syndrome is defined as:
“the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills.”
In the current social media climate, it’s easy to observe other’s successes and judge them against your own. This can make Imposter Syndrome even worse, because we may feel like we’re never going to be as good as the “influencers” and celebrities that we see online.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You can overcome imposter syndrome.
This article will help us understand Imposter Syndrome better, and hopefully allows us to not only cope with it, but also use tools to help us change our state of mind from self-doubt to self-confidence.
Techniques To Help Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Meditation
Now before you start thinking wind chimes and New Age music, hear me out. Meditation is an effective technique to help reduce anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions. I’ve been using it for years with great results.
But don’t just take my word for it. According to Humanatis University, multiple studies on meditation show an improvement in anxiety, depression, and overall emotional health.
The great part about meditation is that it is complexly free to do. There are countless videos on YouTube to help but the best way for me is to listen to ocean waves.
The main benefit of meditation is to quiet your mind. When you’re focusing on ocean waves, your own breath, or a mantra typically found in Yoga, you’re not focusing on negative thoughts associated with imposter syndrome.
It can be challenging at first because your mind wants to return to negative thought patterns, but it can improve with practice.
Journaling
Another way to help improve imposter syndrome is through journaling. This can happen in several ways, but I like to start writing in the morning things I am thankful for.
It can be as simple as:
- I am thankful I have enough food to eat
- I am thankful that my blood pumped through my body while I was sleeping
- I am thankful for my cats
It doesn’t matter what it is but try to really feel positive emotion when you’re writing. The mind and body cannot feel a negative and a positive emotion at the same time, so when you’re writing about what you appreciate, the imposter syndrome goes away in that moment. Like meditation, this also takes practice.
In fact, training your mind in new ways is similar to exercising. If you haven’t worked out in a while, the first few workouts really can beat up your body. However, like building a muscle or improving your cardio, it will improve with practice.
As Arnold Schwarzenegger says “You’ve got to get the reps in”.
Check out Arnold’s new book at Walmart, Be Useful : Seven Tools for Life
Speaking To A Therapist
Another great way to help improve imposter syndrome is to get help from a therapist. While doing your own research is great, sometimes having one on one sessions with a licensed professional can make or break your success.
If you feel you’d like to speak to someone about imposter Syndrome or any time of issues, Online-Therapy.com is a great resource.
There’s no shame in asking for help. Life can be hard but I believe there are many solutions to your problem. However, it is ultimately up to you. Therapists can open the door but you’ve got to walk through it.
My Personal Journey With Imposter Syndrome
I think most of us can agree that we have experienced some type of self doubt in our lives. That said, when times get tough, especially during my career, I sometimes freeze with fear. I am so afraid that I am going to mess something up that I receive the so called “Paralysis by Analysis”.
I’ve had a few different careers in the past 20 years ranging from Nutritionist, Massage Therapist, Manager, Business Owner, and Automotive Editor/Journalist.
With my experience, it’s easy to wonder why I would be affected by Imposter Syndrome, but my Manager, Business Owner, and Editor positions can paint a picture.
I first became a Manager in 2011 at the age of 28. It was for an Internet Reputation Management company that focused on helping businesses with their reviews. Looking back, I know that the company was not managed very well.
At the time though, I always felt like I was going to make a mistake. I felt like I always had to walk on eggshells in fear of being fired. Eventually, I was let go.
In this case, I know that I was unhappy with Management and HR, so my work quality suffered. On a side note, this business had multiple sexual harassment lawsuits against them, so take what you want from that…
I then moved to another Management position in 2015 at a wonderful travel company. I felt a lot more confident there and was appreciated by them more.
However, after 6 years, the company had to do a massive number of layoffs during the pandemic in 2020. While I don’t hold this against them, it certainly didn’t help my self-confidence.
I also began building websites around that time. I produced hundreds of articles but never made more than $200 per month. I eventually sold those websites and started this one last year.
I then became a writer and editor for HotCars.com. The challenge I had here with Imposter Syndrome is that I’ve never worked as an editor professionally (other than my own websites).
The position was also 100% remote so I generally would only get communications when I do something wrong.
My point is, there’s never going to be a perfect job or situation. There’s always going to be something we don’t like. The key to my overcoming Imposter Syndrome was more of a change in perspective.
How I Overcame Imposter Syndrome
Key Details On My Imposter Syndrome Journey
- Look back at challenges or setbacks and find the positive in them
- Meditation and self pep talks changed my perspective on Imposter Syndrome
- Having an amazing support system through my wife
Each time I had a setback in my career or life, it opened up a new door for me. It can sometimes be hard to see it at the time, and it is helpful to have some time to reflect.
When I lost my 1st manager job at the reputation management company in 2014, it opened up the door for my disabled mother to come live with me. This allowed me to continue paying my rent and eventually get a part-time caregiving income for my wife.
When I lost my travel job in 2020, I was able to receive 2 years of unemployment. It wasn’t ideal, but I was still able to focus on my websites and find my path into the Automotive world.
My mother moved out in 2022, so we lost the caregiving income. 2 weeks before she moved, I received an offer to become a part-time editor at HotCars.
I had only been writing for them for 4 months, but apparently, they saw my potential. This part time income was also almost exactly the amount we lost from our caregiving income.
I was promoted twice and eventually became Lead Editor for all Short Term Content (News and Features).
While I won’t get into specific due to a current legal dispute with the company, we parted ways in April 2024.
While the loss of income is serious, we are fine financially. The light at the end of the tunnel in this situation is that I now get to focus working full time to build our 2 websites.
I can now take everything I’ve learned about running a successful website from HotCars and apply it to Success Instead of Stress and my wife’s website, I Travel to Museums.
My point is, there’s going to be setbacks in the life. It’s all about how you can learn from those experiences and move forward. If you dwell on not being good enough, you’ll always be stuck. A change in your attitude and how you feel is worth its weight in gold.
Final Thoughts About Imposter Syndrome
I still have days where Imposter Syndrome creeps in. However, because of these prior set backs and things eventually working out, it doesn’t affect me as much.
I don’t want to get too much into spirituality, God, or the universe, but I do believe that there are things happening that we cannot see, and when I trust that things are going to work out, they often do.
With my loving wife at my side, this also has helped tremendously. She sometimes knows exactly the right thing to say to put things into perspective and it almost always helps me get out of my own head regarding Imposter Syndrome.
Having someone that you can trust and talk to is something has really helped me on my journey from self doubt to self confidence.
With that in mind, if you do need to talk to someone about Imposter Syndrome and you don’t have a support system in place, I recommend looking into Online Therapy.
They have a team of licensed health care professionals that can help you on your path to overcoming not only Imposter Syndrome, but other mental health issues you may be experiencing.
As someone who has dealt with depression and anxiety throughout my life, having the tools to overcome these issues in essential.
Thanks for reading,
Nick Hazleton