Written by Rebecca Guest for the #ShareYourArchetype campaign…
Senior Agile Delivery Manager and Coach at Pod Point
It feels like there is so much talk about the term imposter syndrome these days. Yet, I have found it confusing trying to understand what it means and how it affects people.
Personally, I get quite uncomfortable talking about imposter syndrome. The only way I think I can recognise it arising is when I have objective successes in a particular area and yet I still feel like a phony. This to me is an indication of imposter syndrome at work. The feeling of disconnect between outward presentation and internal thought.
Imposter syndrome is no doubt fuelled by us having a glamourised view of success and failure for other people. We are aware of our thoughts, fears and challenges to get us somewhere. This often feels contradictory to the outward appearance others see.
I found looking at what imposter syndrome archetype I fell into as part of The Confidence Community a useful tool in helping me to understand myself better. I do love a personality quiz though!
My imposter syndrome archetype has definitely and reassuringly changed over the years. I can retrospectively see I was a ‘perfectionist’ and also practiced and actively fuelled the ‘soloist’ archetype. I think my current imposter archetype is ‘the natural genius’. I often think things should come easier to me than they do. I definitely berate myself for memory lapses, or for not understanding concepts and often feel that everyone else knows more than me.
Talking about the different imposter syndrome archetypes as part of The Confidence Community gave me a different understanding. I was able to hear other people’s feelings around how they saw themselves, which in turn helped me to understand my own feelings. I think imposter syndrome is like anything else human; we need to talk about it, unpack the concept and support each other. We can recognise feelings that affect us in this way and help each other by sharing our experiences. I don’t necessarily think feelings of imposter syndrome are something that need getting rid of, but rather they need to be understood.
The Confidence Community gave a safe space to talk about these feelings and scrap ego from the conversation. It enabled me to start to look at how feelings like these can hold us back from really expressing ourselves. Having practices in place to give you space in the frenzy of life to understand how you are feeling can be invaluable. I try to remind myself to start with the simple things rather than spending money on the latest app to get rid of imposter syndrome, or to have super human confidence. A couple of things I have found to be timelessly helpful are having a conversation with people you trust, writing thoughts down and reading.
The Confidence Community is all about reminding ourselves that we are on a journey where you live and grow. Imposter feelings can be a part of that journey too, helping us to understand what we need and connecting to that.