Impostor syndrome: what are the career impacts?

THE imposter syndrome – or imposter syndrome – it is a set of feelings that makes many people doubt their own professional capacity and feel like a fraud. These people do not understand that they have merit for getting a promotion or for delivering good results, even when those results are clear to everyone on the team.

What is impostor syndrome?

Impostor syndrome or impostor syndrome is a set of feelings that can make you not believe in your ability to be efficient and achieve good results.

These feelings can even make you believe that you don’t deserve the job you have or the promotion you just received. Instead of receiving credit for your achievement, when you suffer from this syndrome, you may think that it is just a matter of luck and that sooner or later, everyone will realize that you are not competent for all this.

All of this makes you question your intelligence and your ability all the time, which creates permanent anguish.

What are the impacts of the imposter syndrome on personal and professional life?

The imposter syndrome has negative impacts on both personal and professional life. Someone who is suffering from this may miss out on career growth opportunities and also isolate themselves in personal relationships because they feel inferior and unable to maintain a healthy relationship.

Loss of time due to perfectionism

Those who have impostor syndrome usually cannot cope with their own achievements. When that person receives a promotion, for example, he tends to think that at some point the company will realize that he made a mistake.

To prevent this from happening, she tends not to allow herself to make mistakes. In more intense cases, she can create a routine to check and recheck everything to ensure that all of her work is done perfectly, which inevitably compromises her deliveries and deadlines.

Loss of productivity due to intolerance to mistakes

As everyone makes mistakes at some point, however much a person tries not to make mistakes, it will happen. The difference is that when someone with impostor syndrome makes a mistake, the chance that they will learn something from the mistake is very small. The person tends to exaggerate in self-criticism, which can cause a total depletion of their productivity.

Stress and pressure leading to burnout syndrome

All of these charges can cause another syndrome, the so-called burnout syndrome, a type of professional burnout that comes from a prolonged period of stress.

Refusal of promotions and self-sabotage

Another extremely negative impact of a person feeling fraud is the postponement or even refusal of a promotion at work. This self-sabotage occurs because the person thinks that he / she will not be able to cope with the position and that he / she does not have enough competence for him, even though everyone believes that he has it.

Early termination of personal relationships

In a personal life, a common effect of impostor syndrome is for a person to end a relationship to avoid frustration. Someone with this syndrome tends to think that he is inferior to his partner – in the same way that he finds himself a fraud at work. That person also has a hard time accepting that someone might actually like him.

Imposter syndrome: how it affects women at work

The most common name for this set of feelings we are dealing with is the imposter syndrome, just like that in women. And it is not by chance. Experts say that this syndrome affects many more women than men in the labor market. Possibly, as a result of the historical discrimination that women suffer in companies, with lower wages, less representation in leadership positions.

It is worth remembering that, in Brazil, only 7% of presidential positions in companies are held by women. In addition, the International Business Report (IBR) – Women in Business 2019 study, conducted by Grant Thornton, the proportion of women in leadership positions in the country fell 4% in 2019, totaling 25% of corporate leaders. document You’re Not a Scam: Understand How Impostor Syndrome Affects Women In The Job Market, from IPOG (Institute of Post-Graduation and Graduation).

How to identify impostor syndrome?

Impostor syndrome can be identified through some recurring symptoms, ranging from that feeling that you don’t deserve a promotion to excessive insecurity about your skills and abilities. Check out the main ones in the list below.

You feel you don’t deserve

This feeling of unworthiness may be related to hiring, promotion or recognition for your work. For you, it’s all about “luck”, you feel you have no merit in this.

Do you feel like a fraud

You believe that your role only occupies you because nobody realized that you are not prepared for it. He also feels that this “fraud” can be exposed at any time.

You don’t tolerate mistakes

You review everything you do a thousand times and always try to reach perfection. Mistakes cannot happen, and when they do, you cannot overcome them without extra doses of suffering.

You tend to procrastinate

Any major challenge that appears – a new task, a big promotion – you tend to postpone, postpone and postpone indefinitely because you don’t feel prepared.

What to do to minimize imposter syndrome?

Check out how you can get the imposter syndrome out of your life, starting with understanding what you’re feeling and, if necessary, ending with seeking professional help. Come on:

1. Understand what you are feeling;
2. Identify what causes so much insecurity;
3. Document your achievements (from an email with compliments to the objective results you achieved in a project);
4. Refer to these “documents” whenever you feel unable or incompetent;
5. Talk to friends at work you trust who can honestly talk about your skills and the way they see your work.
6. Don’t try to solve everything yourself. If you realize that these feelings are somehow holding you back, seek professional help. Therapy or psychotherapy are good options.