Have you ever caught yourself thinking (or saying out loud) the words, “I don’t deserve this”? Or have you ever felt guilty for winning an award or receiving some sort of recognition?

If your answer is “yes,” then you, like millions of other people in the world, have experienced the psychological phenomenon of Imposter Syndrome. 

What is Imposter Syndrome?

“Imposter Syndrome” is a phrase popularized by female leaders Sheryl Sandberg and Amy Cuddy – it refers to the general feeling that we don’t belong, or that we are not worthy of some responsibility or honor that we’ve earned.

Other signs of Imposter Syndrome (or “impostorism”) include:

• Feeling like we’ve fooled or tricked people into thinking we’re more competent or talented that we actually are
• Thinking the thought, “I don’t belong here” or “I don’t deserve to be here”
• A deep, unsettling feeling that we’ve been given something we don’t deserve
• Feeling like we’ll be exposed for not deserving what we have
• Generally feeding like a fraud

Imposter Syndrome is arguably most common in places of work or other achievement. Maybe you feel like you don’t deserve that promotion, that raise, that recognition, that award, that credit… but I’m going to tell you something right now:

You do. 

Impostorism is a paralyzing feeling, because it “steals our power and suffocates our presence” (according to “Presence” by Amy Cuddy). It is completely imposed on ourselves by our OWN doing and mindset. Which means that we also have the power to take AWAY that burden, and own the things that we have achieved, and rightfully deserve.

Here are three ways to start fighting Impostor Syndrome, right now.

Let Go of Perfection

It’s not uncommon for perfectionist personality types to be strongly affected or subjective to to Imposter Syndrome.

Dr. Valerie Young, author “The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer From the Imposter Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It,” explains how Impostor Syndrome specifically affects high-achievers in this article from The Muse:

“Perfectionists set excessively high goals for themselves, and when they fail to reach a goal, they experience major self-doubt and worry about measuring up. Whether they realize it or not, this group can also be control freaks, feeling like if they want something done right, they have to do it themselves.”

Take a moment and think if this applies to you: do you feel like your work and your output has to be perfect ALL the time? When you are disappointed in your performance (usually on an incredibly high goal you set for yourself), do you beat yourself up over it?

(In case you can’t see, I’m doing a big ol’ hand raise over here!)

For perfectionists and high-achievers, success is rarely satisfying because they believe they could’ve done even better. So this naturally creates an environment where Impostor Syndrome can easily set in and monopolize your mindset.

If this applies to you, you can fight Impostor Syndrome by making the active choice to let go of perfection. Learn to take your mistakes and “failures” in stride, and use them as an opportunity to learn and grow. In addition, realize that “done” is almost always better than “perfect” – yes, do your best always, but keep perspective on what’s really important, and don’t forget to take time to remind yourself that you are doing an AWESOME job. (And remember to celebrate your many victories, too!)

Realize You Are Not Alone

According to Entrepreneur.com, the first step to overcoming Imposter Syndrome is recognizing that it is a common feeling which many successful professionals have felt before.

In fact, Imposter Syndrome originally garnered attention as a phenomenon that affects primarily women – but studies have shown that affects men as well. One of the original researchers behind the recognition of Impostor Syndrome, Pauline Rose Clance, found that women and men were experiencing impostorism to an equal degree, but women may have a higher tendency to be able to recognize and then talk about their feelings (or men weren’t discussing their experiences with impostorism as much because they were ashamed).

As cited in “Presence,” by Amy Cuddy: “In 1895, Pauline and a collaborator, Gail Matthews, published a survey of their clinical psychology clients, noting that among 41 men and women, around 70% had experienced impostorism.”

Bottom line: Impostor Syndrome is damaging to anyone, regardless of gender. And it affects so many more people than you may realize

So, one of the ways to fight Impostor Syndrome in yourself is to realize that you are NOT alone in feeling this way. Many, many people struggle with the same feelings of self-doubt and deservedness. And if you can easily look at another person and say, “How can THEY experience impostorism?! They are so successful/deserving/talented/smart/etc.” Then you must be able to do the same when you look at yourself. Because you ARE one of those successful, deserving people.

You must recognize that you are a poor judge of your own performance – after all, you are a “data set of one,” and you’d never make data-driven decisions from just ONE data point, right? And if you really want some insight on how you can constructively improve yourself and your skillset, seek feedback from peers or superiors. They will be able to provide you some new perspective, that just may help validate or encourage your own feelings of success.

Act Like You Belong There

My best tip – hand down – for beating imposter syndrome is simple: act like you belong. One of the biggest indicators of imposter syndrome is experiencing that nagging thought in the back of your head of: “I don’t deserve to be here.”

Therefore, one of the best ways to FIGHT that feeling is to ACT like you do. Act like you DO belong there. (Because you do!)

When I find myself in a nerve-wracking situation, maybe in an audition for a new theatre or at a higher level than I’m used to being at, I know how easy it is for me to look around and internally measure myself up to those around.

So I choose not to. (Or I try to, and on my BEST days, I am successful!)

Instead I choose to tell myself encouraging things, to modify my body posture to look confident and poised, and to go through my own internal track of preparedness and positivity.

Because whatever you tell yourself – whatever thoughts you choose to place in your head – they immediately become true. (Regardless of whether they ACTUALLY are true or not – it doesn’t matter). Your words become your world.

So when all else fails – when you feel like you don’t belong, when you feel like you don’t deserve something – act like you do. And after a while, you’ll find something amazing: you’ll find that you DO. All because of how you were able to proactively adjust your mindset, your beliefs and your actions.