In this episode, Jodie discusses imposter syndrome. What it is, how we experience it and how can we overcome it.

Thank you to Julie Evans for her contribution to this episode.

You can find Jodie at jodiepaterson.com

Find out more about imposter syndrome here: https://jodiepaterson.com/2021/03/28/how-to-deal-with-imposter-syndrome/

Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/howdoyoumind)

Many Pathways

Transcript

0:01

this is a many pathways production hello and welcome to How Do You Mind the podcast that talks about mental well being and self care i'm your host jodie paterson and today we're going to be talking about imposter syndrome

0:14

so what is imposter syndrome well it's the feeling that you don't deserve your success or you aren't qualified to be doing what you're doing it shows up in many different scenarios but the most popular example is public speaking sure we all get nervous speaking in front of a crowd of people but imposter syndrome is when you don't feel qualified enough to be the one speaking in front of those people for me my imposter syndrome comes out when people ask me questions i often deflect the question away from myself because i don't feel like i'm the right person to answer even if i'm the only person in the room who knows anything about that subject

0:53

there's also the issue of never feeling like i'm doing the right thing or enough for work when i know what i'm doing and i'm definitely doing enough i'm not the only person who suffers with imposter syndrome i spoke to my friend julie about her experience

1:09

yeah i'm guessing it's probably more common in women than that like i've heard there's a lot of cases where you know they'll look for an expert in something and there's a woman who's hugely qualified and to go have to be an expert in it but i wouldn't say i'm an expert like i've got a doctorate in it or i've got other professor of it but i wouldn't i wouldn't say i'm an expert

1:28

and then but some bloke who like knows nothing is like oh give it a go i'll give it again i think i'm probably more on the like bloke giving it a go side but yeah i mean i've i'm training to do i'm studying psychology with counseling skills so counseling you know like sitting down with someone and luckily a lot of the counseling is kind of non directive so it's kind of basically idea about you know your own brain better than i do so let's i'm gonna ask questions and things like that but at the end of the day it's still a responsibility someone's still coming to you because they want help with something and that's quite like the other day

2:11

we were in class and i was talking to some people who are parents and i was like i'm not qualified i'm not a parent but then i kind of thought about it a bit and my i talked to my tutor about it she was like what do we do for the kid and you you you could give that side of it and that was a hugely valuable to a parent because there may be you know 3040 years old and then their child and they what's it like nowadays and i can say well as a kid who grew up in the internet age i can tell you x y zed and that might help you know allay some fears or worries in their head and that can be hugely valuable so it's it's probably something i'm actively working on but i suppose it's maybe i would have never want to go in thinking well i can definitely you know sort i'm 100% i can you know i can do this it's not very neat anyway but i think a little bit of a

3:06

little bit of it is good but obviously not to any great degree where it starts stopping people from you know speaking on a subject that they are hugely knowledgeable about yes like that whole like being modest is good but not thinking you can do it at all is the other end is bad

3:27

i've been looking into it and one of the ways that they often use to combat it is by visualizing success so if you're visualizing what your endpoint is and what you want your success to be you're more likely to overcome your imposter syndrome wow that's really interesting that's nice to know there's actually a like a kind of cure or a treatment method to give people

3:57

so we've talked about suffering with imposter syndrome but how do we overcome imposter syndrome as with everything there's no one way that works for everyone i've written out a few tips that may help you tip number one talk about it a problem have his problem shared right if nothing else sharing your fears with close friends or relatives even work colleagues can leave you feeling lighter and ready to take on a new challenge the other benefit is that they might have some advice for you that helps you overcome your imposter syndrome they may even have some really brilliant advice that helps you tackle other things like anxiety tip number two learn that it's okay to fail failure can feel intimidating and it's often the reason we develop imposter syndrome in the first place you know fear of failing is a big part of imposter syndrome well i'm here to tell you that failing isn't only okay but it is a fantastic way to learn if you spend your whole life not trying because you're too scared of failing you won't achieve half of what you want to in your life so

4:59

overcome the fear to fail and imposter syndrome will be easier to tackle

5:05

my third and final tip for you is visualize your success if you really want something you're going to go for it no matter how you're feeling so start visualizing what success is for you once you've figured that out the stepping stones to get there will seem so much easier those are the things that are currently helping me get over my own imposter syndrome but they won't work for everyone if you are really struggling with this please do some googling find articles with other solutions to help guide you through it i've also written more about it on my website jodiepaterson.com if you fancy checking it out that's all for this episode thank you for tuning in if you like what you hear you can support us on buy me a coffee that will be linked in the description if you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast please reach out to me the email address is HowDoYouMindpodcast@gmail.com other than that have a nice week and i'll catch you next time

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