Am I qualified to do this?
How Midlife Women Can Stop Imposter Syndrome from Silencing Them
You can listen to my walk/talk audio recording to hear how I STOP Imposter Syndrome from stopping me 🔊 🔊💗
If you are like me, almost every time I am at my growth edge, I start to doubt myself, regardless of my qualifications.
Here are some personal examples of imposter syndrome:
“I’m not qualified to lead this project.” (Even though I have run my vocal coaching business for over 20 years.)
“I am going to do irreparable damage to a human” (Becoming a Mother- twice!- and not blowing it so far)
“I suck at baking” (So I’ve burned a few pies- it doesn’t stop the Great British Bake-off contestants from trying.)
“I am not a real writer.” (Even though I feel compelled to write every day and share my voice, as imperfect as it may be. What is a “real” writer, anyway?)
When I read The Confidence Code, I was surprised to learn that even the high-achieving women in leadership positions (think CEOs and high-ranking Government folks) interviewed for the book still doubt themselves.
Do you mean THEY don’t even feel like they have finally arrived??
Imposter Syndrome is surprisingly common (70%) and even more challenging for women and people from marginalized groups.
In contrast, many men are trained to be brave and “just do it.” Leap now and think later. Look no further than the nominees for the next U.S. President Elect’s cabinet to see underqualified and overly confident examples of hubris and nepotism in full effect. There are some unqualified women in there as well.
I think everyone suffers from this binary imposter syndrome conditioning. We all want to feel good enough and qualified, but the research shows that women struggle with imposter syndrome regardless of their qualifications.
That’s when I realized, for myself and my public speaking clients, that we need to re-examine what we think is “good enough” or “ready.”
When do we really ever feel good enough?
We can continue to push through imposter syndrome, but what if we could rewire our thoughts to decrease the feeling altogether?
Enter Thought Exercise!
Try this thought exercise to help you challenge the belief that you are not enough.
You’ll find these questions and more in my Love Your Voice Public Speaking Workbook for Women:
When you imagine a successful person, who do you see? How are they similar or different from you?
What qualifications does it take to become an accomplished person?
Can anyone become a confident person with practice?
What advice would you give to a young person who wants to become a confident and capable adult? Can you give yourself that same advice?