Impostor Syndrome Revisited

I remember sitting in a classroom full of people that didn't look like me in my Masters program wondering how did I get here do I need to be here....since I almost lost out on school with the MBA program does this mean I should quit?

Fast Forward 5 years later and I found myself struggling with the same phenomenon as I planned my first event under my umbrella a Vision Board Party seems simple right but when you're not sure of your self or your abilities impostor syndrome can find the easier door to the slip into your mind if you aren't careful.

Business goals, meetings, trying to maintain your social life, and everything in between will make you feel like you aren't measuring up when the truth is indeed your really are and in some cases even more than you thought possible. This is why I really wanted to touch on the subject of Impostor Syndrome and how it affects business women.

Here is the term Impostor Phenomenon as coined by Psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in their article "The Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic., which was taken from the Article " Where Does Impostor Syndrome come from? which can be found here!" The term "impostor phenomenon" is used to designate an internal experience of intellectual phoniness that appears to be particularly prevalent and intense among a select sample of high achieving women…. Despite outstanding academic and professional accomplishments, women who experience the impostor phenomenon persist in believing that they are really not bright and have fooled anyone who thinks otherwise. Numerous achievements, which one might expect to provide ample objective evidence of superior intellectual functioning, do not appear to affect the impostor belief.

We are sometimes worse on ourselves than others are because we feel like we don't deserve to be where we are or to have the accolades that we do. This causes us to fear that one day we'll be figured out and people won't respect us or our craft as much anymore. In today's age of social media it's imperative that we realize that we all have different paths, different journeys and perspectives that have gotten us to where we are today! Sometimes people can make you feel like you or others don't deserve nice things and we start feeling like yep....that's right I don't deserve this things at all. Which couldn't be further from the truth but we talk ourselves into believing that everything we have is of good fortune or luck and we discount all of our hard work and efforts to get where we are because it doesn't look like the woman next to us and her climb to the top. Let me just interject that Comparison is the thief of joy if we are being honest. And nobody made like you you designed yourself and everything that comes with that the good and the bad! So when you feel that imposter syndrome creeping up I've listed 5 things to help you deal that have helped  me!

1. Talk to someone other than yourself.- Sometimes you need a good friend or family member's perspective on how dope you really are and why you deserve to feel hyped up. Your friends also see the results and not the steps so it's often exciting for them to see while it's just ordinary for us because we are working on it every day and don't always see how dope it is ourselves!
2. Recognize your accomplishments and celebrate them without feeling guilty.- Allow yourself to really be ok with your accomplishments and know that it is ok to humble brag and celebrate them without feeling guilty! You earned the right to be where you are and it's time to recognize and celebrate this starting today!
3. Write down the steps it took you to get to your goals.-Sometimes seeing everything that it took to get to be where you are is all it takes for you to realize you are right where you need and deserve to be! Once you see that you put in the steps to reach your end goal and results so you totally can relax and rest assured in knowing you deserve your spot where you are! 
4. Take 5 minutes breathe in and out and think about how far you've come and how hard you've worked to get to be where you are.- This one is self explanatory and I think we all need to do this more often especially in the realm of business women!
5. Positive Affirmations of Self Love-Make sure you are building your self up so that you have the positive esteem to handle what you deserve and to know that you are worthy of everything that has been given to you, and know Business Babe that your success is not a fluke! 

 So let me know did you find this helpful? Have you been a victim of Impostor Syndrome Before?