Is Impostor Syndrome ruining your chances?

Whether I see clients for stress or anxiety, there is often a running theme - Impostor syndrome.

Impostor syndrome is a common phenomenon that affects many people across any profession or background. Indeed, I have worked with top lawyers, teachers, nurses

and many senior managers, to name a few. In fact, the International journal of Behavioural Science has written that an estimated 70% of people experience Impostor syndrome at some point.

So what exactly is Impostor Syndrome? Well, it is defined as a feeling of inadequacy, self-doubt and incompetence despite your education or experience. Would you believe that when it was first identified in 1978, psychologists believed only women were affected!

Impostor syndrome can be a major barrier to personal and professional growth, as it leads people to question their achievements, avoid taking risks, and limiting their full potential. As I see all the time, it can also cause feelings of anxiety, stress and depression, and make it difficult for people to own their success and feel confident in their abilities. You see, anxiety and stress is just a symptom of something else going on. When we get to the root cause, it involves impostor syndrome - which itself is a symptom of something else.

There are generally 5 main signs or characteristics of Impostor Syndrome:

• Perfectionist: - people have such high expectations of themselves that unless they get 100% of things right 100% of the time, they will feel like failures

• 'No helpers': - people that feel they can't delegate or ask for help as otherwise they would feel like a fraud or a failure

• Working harder: - there are people that feel like they need to put more hours in than everyone else. Perhaps they feel they are not as good as everyone else so they work harder or longer hours to compensate. Maybe they push themselves as they feel they need to succeed in everything they do. Not achieving this makes them anxious and stressed.

• High achievers: - if high achievers or naturally competent people are used to success but then struggle or feel they need to work hard to achieve something, then this can cause them to feel inadequate

• Not polished: - when people feel that they have to gain more skills before they feel they are worthy of starting a new project - that feeling of never quite being good enough to take that next step. This can also cross over to other situations - an example could be not going for a job application as you don't tick every single box. Perhaps they never speak up in meetings for feeling they will ask a question that they think they should know the answer to.

If you examine the characteristics above, it is easy to see why Impostor Syndrome can make someone anxious and stressed if they are dealing with these thoughts and feelings.

The roots of impostor syndrome can be traced back to several factors, including perfectionism, internalized negative self-talk, and societal and cultural influences.

In my experience, there are many causes but I often see that it is due to criticism or self doubt caused by a specific event or conversation. An example I see periodically is when a client has been criticised by a manager. That is enough to knock your confidence for years, despite all the good work you have done

One of the key ways to overcome impostor syndrome is to challenge the negative thoughts and beliefs that lead to feelings of self-doubt. This can involve questioning evidence for and against your thoughts, seeking out positive feedback and experiences, and focusing on your successes rather than your failures.

Another important strategy is to embrace and practice self-compassion. This means being kind and understanding towards yourself, recognizing that everyone experiences setbacks and failures, and focusing on your strengths and accomplishments.

Impostor syndrome can be a debilitating experience, but it can be overcome. By challenging negative thoughts, seeking support, and practicing self-compassion, you can increase your confidence and build resilience in the face of self-doubt.

People often need help with negative self talk and sabotaging self beliefs. If you need help, lets have a chat. Past clients have overcome blocks to get new jobs, promotions and successfully complete post grad courses.

You can book an assessment call here with me, Stephen Bissett

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Anxiety

What is anxiety and what are the symptoms of anxiety?

Anxiety is a perfectly normal and natural emotional state that we all experience from time to time. We often have feelings of tension, worried thoughts or physical changes like increased blood pressure at certain situations. Normal levels of anxiety is what drives us through more stressful situations, for example - nerves about a job interview, attending meetings or sitting exams. These examples are of relatively short lived anxiety which subsides when the situation ends.

The feelings of anxiety are caused by the body releasing adrenaline which triggers the anxious reactions which is also known as the flight or fight response - a survival mechanism from our early ancestors which allows us to fend off or run away from predators. Anxiety can be caused by past events, or environmental factors.

For some people, their anxiety becomes a bit problematic - they may be in a heightened or prolonged state of anxiety, usually recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns that preoccupy their mind. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness or a rapid heartbeat. [Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology]

Here are some of the common signs of anxiety. There are may types of anxiety but these are just common symptoms.

1- Feeling nervous, restless or tense

Often you may not know why exactly you feel like this. You may not have anything planned that would make you feel this way.

2- Feeling of impending danger or doom

Similar to number 1, this feeling may be completely unwarranted and without reason. Or it may well be triggered by something that has occurred in the past.

3- Hyperventilating (rapid breathing)

Similar to a panic attack - this can feel scary and can just happen out of the blue. I worked in a fast food restaurant during the summer holidays and I had one while I was looking for something in the stockroom. I had never had one before and haven't had one since (over 20 years later).

4- Sweating and or trembling

This is likely to be a result of the increased heart rate caused by the adrenaline pumping around the body.

5- Stomach problems

Similar to stress, anxiety can lead to stomach (gastrointestinal) issues. I'm sure we have all experienced heightened anxiety before an exam and have to visit the bathroom.

6- Uncontrollable anger or irritability

Unsurprisingly, having anxiety can lead to anger or irritability. This could be due to being scared, worried or due to emotions.

7- Avoiding situations that trigger anxiety

Some people know what triggers the anxiety and avoid being in the situations. For example a previous client avoided driving for years, caused by a traumatic incident years earlier.

What can you do to help anxiety?

As a hypnotherapist, I could help you, as I have done for many clients before.

Schedule a call to see how I can help you by clicking on the button below.

Speak to Stephen

Stephen Bissett

Hypnotist and Unconscious coach

The miracle of OldPain2Go!

I am now a certified #OldPain2Go practitioner. Stumbling across the technique when Steven Blake, the creator, did a demonstration at a Hypnotherapy conference, I was immediately convinced that I needed to learn the technique himself.

The first client I used the technique on was a lady with Fibromylagia, who, not every day but most days, was in severe pain and had been for over 5 years. This lady was probably typical of those with the illness: it took a long time to diagnose and the doctors can't really do anything to dampen her pain. There are multiple symptoms, each one as devastating as the next. As is common with sufferers, this lady had to give up work as her pain was so bad.

I did the session online as she was in a different part of the UK and the total time it took was around 45 minutes. The lady was having a low pain day so we couldn't assess the effectiveness after the session. The aim would be to reduce the pain right down or eliminate it during the session. Fast forward 3 weeks and I received a lovely message to say she had been pain free ever since the session.

You can see the lady's message sent to me on my Facebook page (why not like us while you're there!) www.facebook.com/zinhypnotherapy

This technique is absolutely incredible for #chronicpain and one that I'll be using regularly. The funny thing is, although it uses some foundation principles, it isn't even using formal hypnosis, clients would just think we were having a conversation!!