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Hey there, Maureen Cherna here, founder of the Mindsight Academy, neurocoach to executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and a neuroleadership trainer using insights from neuroscience to help you deliver results by learning to work smarter, be in control of your brain, manage yours and others' emotions, change behaviors, flourish and exceed expectations. Welcome back to another episode of Lead to Excel Podcast. I am so thrilled to be with you today because we're going to be discussing a really special and important topic today on imposter syndrome. But before we get into that, remember to subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to it, because it will help other people find it and give them the opportunity to understand how they can rewire their own brain to enable them to achieve their goals. So without wasting any more time, grab your cup of coffee or your drink or whatever that might be, put your feet up and listen in. Is imposter syndrome inhibiting your progress? I remember seeing a job advert, and the job looked so good, and I knew I could do it. But the more I thought about it, the doubt started coming in. Should I really apply? Well, I decided I would, and I applied for the job. And I fortunately got an interview. I prepared so well for this interview. And on the day of the interview, I arrived at the reception of the organization. And as I sat in the reception, I looked around, and there were three other candidates who were being interviewed at the same time. And the discussion started. And through this discussion, I started listening to them and listening to all the experience they had. And then I started questioning myself whether or not I really should be here. It was an IT role, and I was the only woman in that room, and the only black woman. Panic setting. The more I thought, the more the doubt started. Well, suddenly I heard Morichana, do you want to come through? I went through into the interview and sat at the desk. And honestly, every single question that I was asked, I think I literally just answered one. I could not remember any of the answers. This was an interview I had prepared so well for. All that I was processing in my brain was you shouldn't be here. This is not a role for you. Are you qualified enough? As I left the interview and stepped out of the room, before I even got to the lift, all the answers kept flooding back. This is one example of imposter syndrome. And that was my first experience of imposter syndrome. It's estimated that 70% of the US population has experienced what's known as imposter syndrome. Bertrand Russell says the whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts. When you think of your greatest achievements, do you feel proud of what you've accomplished or do you feel like a fraud? As I sat in the reception waiting for the interview, I honestly felt a fraud. I felt I did not belong. Now, do you get so crushed when criticized because you see it as your ineptness? Or when you achieve successes, do you say to yourself, I was just lucky, I had a lot of support. Imposter syndrome is usually triggered by a new success or opportunity, such as a new job, promotion opportunity, starting a new business or an accomplishment. Once the negative thoughts start in our brain with our insecurity or how we are a fraud, it activates our stress response, which stimulates the amygdala in the brain, our amygdala controls our moods and instincts and is part of the limbic system in the brain. The amygdala then sends signals to the prefrontal cortex that is involved in analyzing and interpreting data to evaluate whether this information is accurate. If the thoughts are perceived as something that causes anxiety, fear, or threat, the adrenal gland is activated to release adrenalinoepinephrine. Then the body is brought into a state of stress. Now let's go back to my initial story. When I got into the interview room, like I explained, and was asked questions and literally went blank. Maybe you can identify with this. At that point, my emotional brain had been triggered from my limiting and critical thoughts, thereby deactivating the part of my brain, which is the prefrontal cortex that orchestrates my thoughts and actions. By doing that, that part of the brain which would have enabled me to remember and process the questions and thoughts and be able to answer those questions accurately was switched off from the stress that had arisen from the thoughts that I shouldn't be there. I'm a fraud, all those limiting thoughts. I have met so many women and men that are professionally paralyzed because they feel that their promotion was a mistake, that the organization, that the organization will soon find them out, or people that talk themselves out of even applying for roles, higher roles, because they feel that they're not qualified enough. I actually went as far as applying for the role, but lost the job before I even went in for the interview because I had talked myself out of the role by telling myself that I shouldn't be there. I'm not as qualified as those other people in the room. I had allowed what I was hearing to then impact on my own ability and capability. Imposter syndrome is typically associated with high achievers and is the overwhelming feeling that you don't deserve your success. It's when you become convinced that you're not as clever, intelligent, creative, or talented as people think. This leads to you feeling that your achievements are down to luck, good timing, or just being in the right place at the right time. And it's interesting how our brain would come up with all these creative things to confirm the thoughts that we are having. A certain level of self-doubt can keep you grounded and motivate you to keep aiming high. But when self-doubt manifests as imposter syndrome, it can prevent you from growing and progressing. The feeling of imposter causes many people so much stress, anxiety attacks, fear, lack of progress, being risk averse, and operating below your capability. My aim in this podcast is to encourage anyone that listens to this podcast and feels like an imposter to realize first and foremost that you are not an imposter. I hope to equip you to change your thoughts about your competence and do those things that you've been putting off, such as asking for that pay rise, start speaking up in meetings, start that new business that you've been talking about for years. Write that book that you've been putting off. Go for that new role that you know that you're capable of doing, but you've been talking yourself out of applying for. Imposter syndrome has a massive impact on organizations. A lot of times organizations pull away from dealing or tackling imposter syndrome, forgetting that the more people that are suffering from imposter syndrome in your organization, the greater the impact it will have on the overall culture of your organization, the productivity, and your results. The pressure to perform and to get ahead within a high achievement-oriented and challenging workplace environment can give rise to feelings of insecurity, stress, and fear of failure, which can trigger and lead to people exhibiting imposter syndrome. In some organizations, risk taking is acceptable as long as you always get it right. This will inadvertently feed into people's insecurities. Due to the fear of being exposed, imposters can become so engaged in their own task and performance that they don't have time to look up and stretch themselves beyond any project or task that they are working on. This then can have an impact on creativity, it will have an impact on relationships and have an impact on the possibility of collaboration. Imposter syndrome can increase acute or chronic mental health issues in the workplace and impact on people's performance. It unfortunately impacts on interpersonal relationships because it makes people risk-averse. They are less likely to be innovative, thereby negatively impacting on the organization's results. Are you a perfectionist? Many people who experience imposter syndrome are perfectionists. This is when you set yourself on reasonably high goals and then feel shame or disappointment when you fail. Perfectionism means you struggle to be satisfied with your achievements and you focus a lot on the mistakes and failures that you make. When I use the prison brain mapping diagnostic with my clients, it's always eye-opening for them, especially when they realize that their preferred behavior pattern represents areas in the brain with increased serotonin activity, which is associated with the following behavior patterns. Appear to be cool, calm, and collected on the outside, but suffer from a lot of anxiety and worry. Being intolerant of mistakes or casual attitudes, prone to repeatedly check or count the same data to ensure accuracy, all of which can be signs of perfectionism. You also have people on the other extreme who might be afraid of failure, that they avoid taking any new responsibilities, they prevent themselves from going for new positions or find it difficult to speak up in meetings or answer questions because they are scared of getting things wrong. So here are a few ways to overcome that limiting voice in your brain that causes imposter syndrome. Recognize that it's normal to second guess yourself, especially when you're new to an organization or if your team members look, behave, or have a different experience than you have. Remember my experience when I went for that interview and listening to the people in that reception room. Because this is your brain trying to find out if the situation that you're in is a threat based on the current wiring in your brain. And one thing I always say is our subconscious brain answers the questions that we give it or does what we tell it to do. So if you start off by saying that I shouldn't be here, your subconscious brain will go searching in your brain and will come out with every reason really why you should not be there, or why you shouldn't apply for that role, or why you're not good enough. Next, focus on learning, growth, and adding value. When you identify a challenge or even an area of weakness, think of it as an opportunity to grow and learn. This is how emotional intelligent leaders gain confidence. You can use tools like the prison brain mapping 360 assessments that I use with my clients to unearth opportunities for learning and development in a way that encourages growth. Empowering your people through the use of feedback makes sure expectations are understood and helps reduce unnecessary self-doubt. Increase self-awareness of yourself and others. When you have clarity about who you are and what your values are, you're less likely to try to fit into a mold that is meant for someone else. Overcome perfectionism by challenging your behavior and beliefs. List some of the things that you do that have to be perfect. Then for each behavior that you've listed, write down why you believe that this activity must be perfect. Finally, decide what new behaviors or beliefs you need to create. Also keep reminding yourself that mistakes are a part of life and an opportunity to perform better next time. Own your successes. Many people with imposter syndrome find it difficult to accept praise. When things go well, they attribute their success to external factors, but when things go wrong, they tend to blame themselves. Take time each day to acknowledge and celebrate your achievements. Receive, accept positive feedback and praise, and remember them next time when you hear that negative inner critic. This will help you to put any criticism into perspective and provide you with much-needed boost of confidence. I know people that create a brag file for themselves. This is a document or folder where you keep a record of your wins at work or in your business, no matter how big or small they are. This helps you look back on your accomplishments with a healthy sense of pride rather than diminishing them as the result of luck, chance, or connections. Crush your thought distortions. Stop mind reading. You know, when you negatively assume that you know what other people are thinking. I know why she said that. It's because she thinks I'm not good enough. He thinks I'm a loser. They think I can't do it. You know, all those negative distortions that the mind comes up with. Another thought distortion is jumping to conclusions. I'll tell you about Paula. Paula is a junior employee who works well with her colleagues and manager. Paula's manager has been quite upfront in the past to give her constructive feedback when certain aspects of her work performance needed to improve, and equally forthcoming with praise when she met or surpassed expectations. There are times they go through periods of working under extreme high pressure with tight deadlines. One morning, Paula got to work and checked her email and saw a one-line message from her manager which read, Call me as soon as you can. Immediately, Paula started panicking, wondering what she had done wrong. Can you see how Paula, without any fact, had jumped to conclusions, assuming that her manager had emailed her for negative reasons and jumped to conclusions that she must have done something wrong? The trouble with Paula's thinking is that she automatically believed with certainty that her manager was emailing because something was wrong, while the fact is that she might actually be emailing her to give her some good news. This thinking distortion of making assumptions without the relevant data is known as jumping to conclusions. Many people experienced this thought distortion during the pandemic period. I'll lose my job, my business is going to go under, and a lot of such thoughts. Next, foster inclusivity. Leaders, you need to help improve the self-esteem of your people by making them feel more comfortable with their strengths and weaknesses. This is essential in order to more successfully reward effort and commitment. Create a space that allows for authentic conversations where people feel comfortable speaking up without fear of being attacked or perceived as being incompetent. Create an environment where everyone can speak without being interrupted as well as acknowledging mistakes. It's important to also acknowledge their successes and opportunities for development as well. So where people need training, provide them with the opportunity to have that training. Next is coaching. People with imposter syndrome benefit from individual emotional intelligence and coaching programs that focus on the alleviation of maladaptive concerns and the enhancement of self-efficacy to help reduce the negative effects of unconscious bias and feeling like an outsider. Many people in organizations today would benefit from being coached. So if you're a leader that identifies any of your people that need this, provide them with this opportunity because it will go a long way in helping make your own role easier. And as a leader, I recommend that you get a coach to work with because a lot of negative thoughts that the brain comes up with. As an individual, if you are not very self-reflective, if you don't have high emotional intelligence, and even if you have high emotional intelligence, a lot of times a lot of these self-defeating or limiting thoughts come up, and without someone to help you walk through them, could hinder your progress, stifle your success, create a lot of anxiety, stress, and affect your mental well-being. So I really truly recommend that every leader, whether you're a business owner or a leader in an organization, work with a coach. It would really go a long way in helping you achieve that success you want in your role. Finally, foster psychological safety. Helping your people understand that not having all the answers or asking for help doesn't make them a fraud. It actually helps you define and solve problems more efficiently, creatively, and collaboratively. Celebrating your people's small and big wins keeps morale high and it will also help them internalize their successes. When you take charge to lead from a place of vulnerability and model resilience, you can prevent imposter syndrome from attacking yours and your people's self-confidence. Research has shown that whilst both men and women experience imposter syndrome, it tends to hold women back more. And there's so many reasons for that, which I don't have time to go into in this podcast. So to everyone that identifies as an imposter, especially my fellow women, it's time to change the way you think and see yourself. Recognize and embrace your awesomeness. I will finish with this quote by Mary Ann Evans, which says, It's never too late to be what you might have been. So if you're still feeling like an imposter even after practicing the above tips, book a free consultation with me so that we can have a chat to help you overcome your own inner critique and increase your confidence to ensure that you get to your own mountaintop. Okay, three things before we finish today. Have you subscribed to this podcast? If you haven't, make sure you click that subscribe button wherever you listen to this podcast. Because once you subscribe, you will not miss an episode. And as usual, if you have a topic you would love me to speak about or bring a guest on, do let me know by leaving a review. Finally, do have a fantastic week and remember that you are limitless. So I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Bye for now.