Defeating the Impostor Syndrome:

Empowering Women to Success

Agenda

• History

• Who does it apply to

• What causes Impostor Syndrome

Quiz

Am I an Impostor?

• Practices to implement

• Things to remember

• Your directional statement

WOMEN DON’T GIVE THEMSELVES ENOUGH CREDIT FOR WHAT THEY CAN DO. YOU SEE IT IN THE 21 YEAR OLD COMING OUT OF UNDERGRADUATE, THE PH.D CANDIDATE COMING OUT OF GRADUATE SCHOOL, AND YOU SEE IT IN THE PROFESSIONAL WHO’S BEEN WORKING 10, 15, 20 YEARS. !- DIRECTOR OF MINORITY AFFAIRS, WOMEN'S COLLEGE

Impostor Syndrome Definition

People who have a persistent belief in their lack of intelligence, skills, or competence. Unable to internalize or feel deserving of their success, they continually doubt their ability to repeat past success. When they do succeed, they feel relief rather than joy.

History

• The term "impostor syndrome" first appeared in an article written by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978

• Feelings pop up most during times of transition or when faced with a new challenge

• Dr. Gail Matthews, conducted a study of successful people and found that 70 % of the subjects reported feelings associated with impostor syndrome

Only for women?

• Impostors are everywhere. They are people of all races, religions, and socioeconomic classes

• Men experience the impostor syndrome too, but it affects women more.

• Men generally place blame differently. Where men will blame external factors, women will tend to look internally and put themselves as the problem

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Are you an Impostor?

Quiz

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Do you ever credit your success to luck, timing, or error?

Quiz

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Do you agonize over the smallest flaws in your work?

Quiz

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Are you crushed by constructive criticism?

Quiz

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When you succeed, do you feel like you “fooled them again?”

Quiz

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Do you worry it’s a matter of time before you’re found out?

Quiz

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Are you reluctant to accept responsibility in fear that you’ll fail?

Results

• If you answered yes to any of these questions, then no matter how many degrees you’ve earned, how high you’ve risen, or how accomplished you really are you think that you are an impostor, a fake and a fraud.

Reasons you might feel like an Impostor

• The environment you were raised in

• You’re a student

• Your work environment

• You represent your entire social or racial group

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Who’s helping to promote Women’s Success?

Overcome Impostor Syndrome

Lean In

Black Girls Rock!

Ban Bossy

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Find your success

I ALWAYS DID SOMETHING I WAS A LITTLE NOT READY TO DO. I THINK THAT’S HOW YOU GROW. WHEN THERE’S THAT MOMENT OF ‘WOW, I’M NOT REALLY SURE I CAN DO THIS,’ AND YOU PUSH THROUGH THOSE MOMENTS, THAT’S WHEN YOU HAVE A BREAKTHROUGH. — MARISSA MAYER

Embrace Moments of Doubt

• Moments of doubt are inevitable, but you can’t let it define your experience

• Fake it till you make it

• Be true to yourself, but think about the person you want to be

• “Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. – Maya Angelou

Do a Reality Check

• When you have a setback, you have to use it as an opportunity to learn

• Do a weekly retrospective

• Failure is just a curve in the road, it’s how you handle it that makes all the difference

• Q-TIP = quit taking it personally!

• Shift your thinking from being scared, ”I can't do this”, to being enthusiastic, ”I can figure this out.”

Build Your Support System

• Mentor

• Someone you can learn from

• Alliances and friends

• Lean In Circles, women's groups, coding groups, conferences, meetups, etc.

• Ask for feedback and advice

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. - Marian Wright Edelman

Define Your Own Success

• Define what success means to YOU

• Celebrate both large and small victories

• No one is perfect

• What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

• Think about if you’re holding yourself back from success because of the fear that you will fail

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Take Action

I’VE COME TO BELIEVE THAT EACH OF US HAS A PERSONAL CALLING

THAT’S AS UNIQUE AS A FINGERPRINT – AND THAT THE BEST WAY TO

SUCCEED IS TO DISCOVER WHAT YOU LOVE AND THEN FIND A WAY TO

OFFER IT TO OTHERS IN THE FORM OF SERVICE, WORKING HARD, AND

ALSO ALLOWING THE ENERGY OF THE UNIVERSE TO LEAD YOU.

— OPRAH WINFREY

Think about how you feel now

• Think about when you most often encounter the impostor syndrome and how you feel.

• What situation makes you feel most like an impostor?

• What negative feelings do you experience?

• What do you typically do to handle this?

How would you rather feel?

• Now think about how you would rather feel

• What self-affirming things would I rather feel in that situation?

• What do I want the new positive voices in my head to say?

• What is one thing I can do to make the situation better?

Make Your Directional Statement

• Set a positive foundation that packs emotional power to override the negative beliefs of your impostor ways

• Example: I am a beautiful and extremely competent individual, who deserves to be where I am in my career

SHOW THE WORLD WHAT YOU CAN DO

QUESTIONS?

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Meaghan Lewis mlewis@thoughtworks.com