According to psychologists, these are the six ways to counteract impostor syndrome

Feeling like a fraud despite career and personal success prevents millions of people from reaching their full potential.

The majority of people experience it at some point — more than 80 percent, according to one study.

Impostor Syndrome or Deception is the inner experience of feeling like a fake or that you don’t deserve the success you have achieved in life.

This can lead to constant doubts about your ability, fear of underachievement, overachievement and self-sabotage.

“People who feel cheated tend to downplay or doubt their achievements,” Kevin Cokley, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, told DailyMail.com.

A systematic review found that people who experience a cheating phenomenon often think they are “the only ones” who have these feelings. Researchers have also found links with anxiety and depression.

Although the effect is widespread, scams are most common among women and other minority groups.

But there are simple ways to combat those feelings, experts told DailyMail.com.

Psychologists (from left) Kevin Cokley, Carolyn Rubenstein and Tracey Marks told DailyMail.com that cheating is most common among women and minority groups.

The scammer phenomenon was coined by Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes in their 1978 study. Clance heard mostly female students confess about experiences that made them feel like cheats among their classmates.

The researchers spoke to 150 women who were generally considered “successful” over five years.

The women in the sample tended to have “an inner experience of intellectual inauthenticity.”

They feared that “an important person would discover that they are in fact intellectual crooks”.

“Now it’s taken on a life of its own and it’s something that a lot of people can feel,” Carolyn Rubenstein, a licensed psychologist in Florida, told DailyMail.com.

Racial and ethnic minorities are also more likely to experience these feelings. These groups often feel that they can only convey diversity and not their actual skills.

Cokley and colleagues conducted a study in the Journal of Counseling Psychology. The study found that discrimination among ethnic and racial minority college students led to feelings of impostor syndrome.

“For a majority person, it’s usually just about that person as an individual and that individual way of internalizing doubts about their own abilities.

But when a person is part of a minority group, a minority social group, their feeling of being betrayed is often linked to the fact that they belong to that group and the stereotypes associated with being a member of that group. be,” Cokley said.

Document your successes

Writing down small successes weekly or monthly can help you focus less on failures and self-doubt

A short list of small accomplishments can reinforce the idea that you qualify, but don’t focus on the big things, Rubenstein said.

“Not just the awards or other things outside of you, but what inner qualities or inner things helped you get where you are today.”

People tend to focus on failures rather than successes, so it becomes easier to internalize them and forget everything you’re doing right, Rubenstein said.

“People don’t pay attention to their accomplishments and achievements as they should, or sometimes they forget. So if you’re very conscious of recording them, it will remind you that you’re actually very worthwhile,” Cokley said. .

Cokley suggested keeping a journal or list and tracking small wins on a weekly or monthly basis.

This can range from completing a task ahead of schedule to making a presentation at a large meeting.

talk more

Speaking up in the workplace can be as simple as making a suggestion in a meeting or asking for clarification on a task

“When you feel like an impostor, you tend to stay pretty quiet and not trust your own opinion or beliefs. You don’t trust yourself enough to say anything,” Rubenstein said.

She suggested making a list each week of things you wouldn’t otherwise say, such as: B. in a meeting or with your boss. It could be a new idea for a project or a discussion about an assignment.

It commits you to speaking up more and gives you “tangible evidence that what you’re saying is useful — you’ll feel more like you belong, that your voice belongs, that you can trust your voice,” Rubenstein said.

Don’t focus on the negative

Rubenstein said it’s normal to pay more attention to criticism than praise. “We can slap anything negative on our tongues,” she said

Tricksters tend to magnify the negative in a situation, Rubenstein said.

“We tend to throw all these positive facts or evidence in the trash. But we can slap anything negative on our tongue. You probably won’t get rid of those negative feelings, but try to give the positive ones at least as much air time.’

“It’s like using a mental marker to mark it and make a list for yourself, even if it’s just a note to keep track of the positive,” Rubenstein said. Even the little things count.

Stop apologizing so much

When you hand in a paper, don’t immediately focus on what could be wrong. It “only reinforces the feeling of doing something wrong,” Rubenstein said

“When someone is in a situation where they feel like a fraud or don’t know enough, they tend to apologize nonstop,” Rubenstein said. “Apologizing only reinforces the feeling that you are doing something wrong to yourself and to others as well.”

Only focus on apologizing when it’s really warranted, e.g. B. when you make a mistake or mislabel someone, Rubenstein said. When you hand in the work, don’t immediately apologize for e.g. B. wrong font or wrong paper.

If you spend too much time apologizing, bosses or co-workers may question your competence because you seem less confident.

talk to others

Being open about feelings of betrayal can help you feel less alone. However, Marks advises caution when discussing this with his boss. “It can make people lose faith in your abilities,” she said

“Too often, people with fraud suffer in silence,” Cokley said. “They don’t want to share their feelings or reveal their vulnerabilities because when they’re in a highly competitive environment, they don’t want to be seen as unworthy or seen as some kind of weakness.”

Being open with coworkers and colleagues can help reduce this fear. “If you are honest about your feelings about being betrayed, you will likely find that you are not alone and that many other people struggle or deal with these feelings as well. It can be very empowering to know you are not alone in this regard,” said Cokley.

However, there can be downsides to being so open, especially in a work environment.

“It can cause people to lose confidence in your abilities, even if you have the abilities. Like they want someone who can, who can take and own and not need constant pats on the back to keep going,” Tracey Marks, author of Why Am I So Anxious, told DailyMail.com.

Marks said that some bosses are better at managing employees with cheating feelings than others. Ultimately, she said, it’s up to you to make sure everything is done in a work environment.

Rubenstein suggested asking for help from people inside and outside this environment, not just colleagues, but also friends and other colleagues.

Ask for help

If cheating leads to depression or anxiety, Cokley recommended seeking help from a licensed mental health professional

“We don’t ask because we’re afraid asking for help will look like a weakness,” Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein suggested starting small. For example, if something is unclear about a task, ask for clarification. “You will realize that it is good not to know everything. And that’s actually more the norm than not,” Rubenstein said.

When scams begin to interfere with your daily life and exacerbate mental health issues, you should consider seeking professional help. Cokley recommended seeing a licensed therapist “especially if you find that your feelings of cheating are bothersome in any way, because we know these feelings can be associated with increased feelings of depression and anxiety.”