5 Steps to Conquering Imposter Syndrome & The Stress It Causes

Imposter Syndrome (IS) makes us feel like a fraud, that we’re not good enough, don’t belong or are undeserving of ‘our seat at the table’. 

When triggered we doubt ourselves and overcompensate by trying to prove our worth. This proving leads to having too much to do, anxiety, stress and sometimes burnout. 

I was invited to talk about this on Jack Bonehill’s podcast where I share my 5 step SHINE process designed to conquer IS and the stress it causes. Here's how you can conquer IS and stress:

S: Self-Assessment & Self-Awareness

Whenever we embark on any change, it's important we raise awareness of what's happening now. This is because 95% of our behaviour is unconscious. How can we change what we're unaware of? On the podcast I talk about the 5 different types of imposter syndrome. 

H: Havening

Childhood trauma shapes our personality and influences our emotions, beliefs, and behaviours throughout life. Trauma impacts everyone and effects range from shame over a wrong answer in class, to the deep scars of physical or emotional abuse. As adults we experience stress when we are re-triggered at work, which prevents our best performance. Alarmingly, workplace stress kills 120K people a year. 

In business, trauma leads to significant consequences. Individuals may hesitate to share ideas, avoid challenging the status quo, feel overwhelmed by the need to "fix" everything, or shy away from opportunities due to inadequacy. 

These challenges affect not just individuals but organisations too, resulting in lost creativity and innovation, costing the UK economy up to £70 billion annually.

Havening a ground-breaking technique that fosters automatic belief, behaviour, and emotional change with minimal effort and is focused on the childhood trauma causing imposter syndrome.

I: Inner Captain

80% of our thoughts are negative. 20% are positive. Not great, but herein lies the opportunity to optimise! Imagine you 5% more positive, what results that could get for you. Most of us are familiar with our inner critic. It's that internal nagging voice that reinforces our imposter syndrome. It's very good at spotting our flaws, mistakes, rejections, incompetence...you get the idea. Changing the relationship we have with ourselves on the inside, changes the results we get on the outside.

N: Non-Negotiables

People with IS are often high achievers. If you want a job doing, give it to the person with IS! They're often good eggs, (everyone else's needs first), responsibility gap-fillers and really competent, (not that they would ever acknowledge this). This behaviour is driven by proving we are enough. Good enough business people, partners, parents, children, friends. The consequence is that they end up with a lot to do. This leads to stress and burnout. Therefore, time and people boundaries are really important.

E: Enable Re-Charge, Re-Fuel, Re-creation

People with IS often have a workaholic trait too. They don't make time for joy or self-care, unless their body shouts very loudly or stops them altogether. Healing ourselves from the inside out by 'treating ourselves like a baby' i.e. with the same love and care, nourishment, sleep and fun, helps us on the road to recovery.

Wishing you all the very best.

Estelle Read

Coach, Trainer, Speaker and Best Selling Author

P.S. If this resonates with you'd like to find out more about my SHINE Coaching Programme, you can book a free discovery call here.

P.P.S. You can listen to the podcast here.