Why Do You Have Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome has dominated our reality at some point or another. For most of us, there is no traceable root cause. A "why" if you would.

Previous Post: Are You Experiencing Imposter Syndrome?

We blame it on multiple influences in our lives and throughout our professional and personal situations.

However, there are certain tendencies where imposter syndrome really rears its ugly head.

So let's breakdown why you have imposter syndrome, and how to move forward from here!

Imposter Syndrome "Tendencies"

Call them triggers, or simply, the most efficient way to highlight + bold + underline this phenomenon:

• The desire for things to look and be perfect.
• Stress, overflowing into anxiety.
• Defining oneself as a high performer.
• And being afraid to fail.

These tendencies are imposter steroids.

Take, for instance, Perfectionist's Stress. You know, that overwhelming, day-to-day (aka chronic anxiety), wanting to be the best, and/or a fear of failure. It's really the open door to imposter syndrome.

"Pours a cup of strong, black, coffee."

I mean, lets agitate this suffering, right?

Here’s what’s really happening with imposter syndrome.

You start to monitor yourself so closely -

"What if they find out?"

"Am I giving off hints of my innate incompetence?"

"What are they thinking about ME?"

When you actually step out of an experience, disconnect, and by default, deliver a mediocre performance due to our heightened state of distraction.

And then lets add the worst culprit of all, Fear of Failure, to the scene.

Why Do I Have Imposter Syndrome: The Fear of Failure

Who fears the most? The people who have not only experienced success, but those with some big wins under their belt, and they’re terrified of losing the next round.

Not only does the imposter experience limit our ability to succeed, but it also exaggerates our perceived potential to fail. We obsess over any examples of past deficits.

You are constant need to validate the imposter experience means we seek out our mistakes, we want proof to criticize ourselves repeatedly.

We’re basically looking for every excuse we can find to underperform because gee whiz if that’s not what think we do already.

It’s exhausting. It’s habitual. And it’s more than possible to stop.

You start with awareness. Yay, you did it.

*** Remember, if you're experiencing this phenomenon, start celebrating your wins

Overcoming imposter syndrome begins with a commitment to accept this is actually normal.

That it IS actually a thing, and it is up to you to shift your focus and allow yourself to accept … you.