I suffer from Imposter syndrome since age 10.

I suffer from Imposter Syndrome( a recurring emotional experience) and if you answered “YES” to any of the questions below, then you have it too my friend.

**Perfectionist (Convinced any error is a sign of weakness)**

1. Do you have trouble letting it go after making a mistake?

2. Are you over prepared for meetings or presentations?

**Workaholic**

1. Do you feel pressured to work longer and harder than everyone else?

2. Do you seek out new responsibilities even when your plate is already full?

**Natural Genius**

1. Do you give up on things that don’t come easy?

2. Are you ashamed to admit how long something took to learn?

**Expert**

1. Do you think you need to know everything about a job before you do it?

2. Do you seek new training even though others say you already have the credentials?

I identify myself as a hybrid of Perfectionist and Workaholic. I took up a course to understand the reason behind this-

1. As a kid, my intelligence was measured by the MARKS I scored in an exam.

2. Being born a girl, everyone predicted I would end up with a graduation in English honors and get married thereafter.

3. When I scored well in exams, everyone said the paper was EASY.

4. When I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in a new country, everyone said I was influenced by the circle of friends.

4. When I worked hard for better opportunities, everyone said she got it because of her LOOKS.

Don’t ever compare yourself or feel obligated with someone else’s social media profile. This is “a” part of your life but not your whole life. Take this platform as a place which brings you positivity, strength, gives you purpose to work for a better tomorrow. We all started from the same point, your success is defined by how far you want to go.

What makes me unique?

1. I cook good meals and also manage high intensive workload.

2. I plan trips effectively with proper time management in a Budget.

3. I pay attention to others while they trust me with their intimate problems.

4. I try to keep others secrets.

5. I initiate conversation even though the other person might think less of me.

6. I don’t give up.

7. I always reason out and try to understand why a person is behaving the way they are portraying.

8. I always believe in giving back to society.

9. I keep working on myself.

10. I try to have less expectations from life.

11. I dedicate myself wholeheartedly to any work I take up.

New habits I am incorporating:

• Finding a mentor.
• Seeking help when you are failing
• Accept that you can’t know everything
• Overcome overthinking of other peoples judgement
• Starting a new routine- wake up at 6 am and start your day. Making physical changes.
• Always try new things

Ways to overcome it:

1. Label your negative thoughts or actively name your feelings
2. Practice self-compassion.
3. Use visualization- Picture yourself contributing in a meeting, making a presentation or performing well on a task, visualize the audience nodding and smiling.
4. Stick with it.
5. Have goals and start small
6. Realize confidence is a skill- Approach every project with the same confidence that you will be successful.
7. May more eye contact.
8. Speak in a lower speech and talk slowly.
9. Learn to survive failure.
10. Talk about it.

I took up a course titled as “Overcome Imposter Syndrome” by Carolyn Goerner to help me understand imposter syndrome. I feel much powerful today than I did yesterday. I hope you feel it too.