Have you ever felt like you:
- don’t belong in your job or company
- find it difficult to accept praise
- focus on what you haven’t done
- feel as though you’re not qualified.
These are all associated with Imposter Syndrome, something which I’ve suffered with myself at the beginning of my banking career and especially in times of change.
I used to get a nagging feeling that someone would come and tell me that I didn’t belong in my team or that I did not deserve my job. It started right at the beginning of my career, getting onto a graduate scheme with a top UK Bank. I put myself down and convinced myself they wanted a diversity hire…even though I passed all the assessments!
Then moving to and working in London, I felt very out of my depth for a while, but time, experience, and connecting with others helped.
In small doses, Imposter Syndrome can help to push you forward and work hard, but if it gets too much it can create a lot of self-doubt and may stop you from progressing.
I believe that a lot of South Asian women suffer from Imposter Syndrome and here’s why:
- If like me you encountered racism as a child, those feelings of someone telling you you don’t belong tend to stay with you for a while.
- There are fewer South Asian female role models in leadership positions.
- Being high-achievers can lead to perfectionism and wanting to stay in your comfort zone so that you don’t make mistakes. You may tell yourself, that you are not ready for new opportunities when you are.
These feelings of doubt can happen anytime, so what can you do about it?
- Shift your focus, instead of looking at yourself, think about the people you are serving in your role and the benefits you are bringing.
- Build up your list of experience, it helps to have this written down so you can refer back to it and remind yourself of how qualified you are.
- Work on building a growth mindset where you can see mistakes as part of your learning journey and development. Keep seeking feedback and use it to improve. I use several tools to help with this in my workbook ‘The Confidence Toolkit’.
- Take a break when you have those thoughts. Take yourself somewhere else and focus on your breathing, create a positive affirmation or listen to some music to break the cycle in the short term.
Increasing your confidence in your abilities will help ease imposter syndrome, if you feel that you need further support, coaching will bring out your key strengths and skills to help you feel like you’re ready to face your next challenge, contact me for more information.