Stop Justifying Your Right to Be Here
Imposter syndrome is a phenomenon that you must overcome, or it will hinder your forward progress and keep you in a perpetual state of doubt and questioning your value. Imposter syndrome occurs when you show up, but you feel like you are still not sure if you should have a seat at the table – even if you are already sitting at the table. You are there, and you have earned your way, but you can’t get past the feeling that you are still battling for recognition. You feel the need to prove your right to get that project, the right to speak, the right to ask for your fee – the list goes on.
One of the most significant issues stemming from imposter syndrome is the power it has to erode your confidence. When this happens, you feel like you don’t belong – even though you clearly do – and everyone else picks up on your insecurities. You don’t get what you should and could because you, yourself are your worst enemy. It’s you who doesn’t believe in yourself.
Determine Your REAL Strengths
If you find yourself struggling with imposter syndrome, one essential thing is to stop the negative self-talk. To do this, you must focus on your strengths and have a strong understanding of what you do really well. Not what you have been told to do, not what your parents wanted you to do, not the path you were told you were supposed to take – but what you actually do exceptionally well. We all have strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots, and to move forward you must become aware of what these are for you.
This is not as easy as it sounds because every evaluation system in the educational world is set up for you to learn information, retain it, and then regurgitate the content back in the form they have asked. You get into business for yourself, and you need to be an innovative, free-thinker that can develop ideas and solve problems. And tell others why they should hire you and not your competitor. Not exactly what you were taught at school when your report card said “talks too much.” Then the internal conflict begins – do you do what you were trained to do, even if you are not great at it, or do what you are truly gifted in and what you love and how can you tell others you are a rockstar without sounding like you are bragging?
One of the keys to overcoming imposter syndrome is to discover your super-skill because everyone has one, and instead of apologizing for the things you are terrible at doing, double down on the place where you shine.
Shine With Your Super Skill
Once you discover your super-skill, the thing you love that you are fantastic at doing, it is time to capitalize on it. One way of accomplishing this is to double-down on your super-skill and hire people or surround yourself with teammates with expertise in your areas of weakness. In the real world, this looks like making sure that if Excel Pivot Tables and Spreadsheets are not an area where you flourish, make sure you have a plan in place that allows someone on the team that lives for the organization of data on Excel to take ownership of this part. When your evaluation occurs, if they point out your lack of knowledge in Excel, then you can let them know that you teamed up with a partner so you could both work in your area of expertise. Then, you proceed to tell them about the things you are passionate about and how your skills are making their organization better and improving their bottom line.
When you approach your strengths and weaknesses this way, it allows you to stop making excuses for what you don’t do well and then shine with your super-skill. This is how you stop imposter syndrome in its tracks and keep it from having a chokehold on your life and career. True confidence can then radiate, and the need to justify your place will officially be a thing of the past.
I am here to help! At the Growth Architect, my job as a strategist is to help you reach your goals by understanding how your mindset, growth, and business strategies work together. If you want to hear more about overcoming imposter syndrome and shining with your super-skill, then watch my video
Let’s grow!
Beate
Beate Chelette is The Growth Architect & Founder of The Women’s Code, and provides visionaries and leaders with strategies, blueprints and results-oriented, tangible tools and techniques that give clear steps to improve business systems, strengthen leadership skills and teams so that you can scale your impact.
A first-generation immigrant who found herself $135,000 in debt as a single parent, Beate bootstrapped her passion for photography into a highly successful global business and eventually sold it to Bill Gates in a multimillion-dollar deal. She is amongst the “Top 100 Global Thought Leaders” by PeopleHum and “One of 50 Must-Follow Women Entrepreneurs” by HuffPost.
Recent clients include Amazon, Reckitt (the maker of Lysol), Chevron, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, the Women’s Legislative Caucus of California Cal State University Dominguez Hills, Shelter Inc., Mental Health First Aid and thousands of small businesses.
Beate is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome” –a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”
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