10 Top Tips to combat Imposter Syndrome

I couldn't quite believe my ears to what my friend had just said. She is one of the most confident, successful and without doubt one of the most intelligent women I know. Oh.. I forgot to mention she is also working for one of the most successful technology companies in the world. At first, I thought she was joking but when I looked at her straight face I realised that she genuinely thought this was true..

When you think of your greatest achievements to date, do you feel proud of what you've achieved? or have you ever had an overwhelming feeling of crippling self-doubt? Or even have you ever feel like a fraud in your role at work?

Despite confidence, Intelligence and an amazing job, I started to psychoanalyse what she had said. I thought to myself, there must be a deeper meaning to why she thought that she was a fraud. I knew that there must be other people out there experiencing this paralysing self-doubt.

So, after hearing this podcast it all made sense to me. I realised this was a clear case of Imposter Syndrome. I wanted to write this blog because I think it's so incredibly Important to have self - worth, feel proud of your achievements and not feel like an Imposter.

Imposter syndrome is:

• Characterised by the conviction that you don't deserve your success.

• It is the feeling that you're not as intelligent, creative or talented as other people seem to believe you are.

• It is the suspicion that your achievements are down to luck, good timing or just being in the right place at the right time.

• It is accompanied by the fear that, one day, you'll be exposed as a fraud

I bet you've all felt like this at some point in your life, right? Well I certainly have:

Interestingly, research shows that Imposter Syndrome is more likely to affect women and those who ‘excelled in areas that were not always accessible to them’. In my case, I didn't have the confidence to apply for a degree (in a male dominated technology industry) which I believed was not accessible. Looking back now, I was clearly qualified but it was my own mindset that held me back.

In fact, I went on to study a female-dominated degree in the Human Sciences. My degree was incredibly interesting and I learnt about the scientific study of the mind, behaviour, human development, neuroscience and cognitive processes. However, there was something fundamentally missing from my degree and looking back now... it was definitely technology.

2014 changed my mindset completely:

Apple's Credo is about enriching lives and they completely changed my mindset when I started working for them. The people I worked with made me do a 360' on my thoughts from thinking "I'm not good enough to study technology" to throwing me in at the deep-end to live and breathe their Innovative technologies. Their employees' were cheerleaders for our confidence and motivated us on a daily basis. They enriched us with the knowledge, skills and environment that we needed to thrive in. They truly cared about their people. Most importantly, they believed that everyone needed deep empathy, positive energy and the gift to help others shine. What I loved the most, is that they didn't care about what background we came from and they advocated that we needed to express our successes no matter how big or small.

So thinking about my friend, listening to the Imposter syndrome Podcast and reflecting on my own experience.. These are my top ten tips to build your confidence and hopefully not let Imposter syndrome creep in too much;

1. Break the silence and talk to people - Acknowledge your feelings and ask yourself WHY? Talk them through with someone and come up with a plan to overcome them.

2. Be an imperfect perfectionist - It's okay not to be perfect, who is?! Set realistic, goals for yourself and if things have to change, adapt and make it achievable.

3. Own your success - Take credit for your own work, don't let someone take all of that away from you. Get authentic feedback from people and save/publish it.

4. Realise that Its okay to Fail - "Fail fast, Succeed Sooner" it doesn't mean you are a failure, it just means it wasn't the right time. It should motivate you to try even harder and teaches you what you need to do different for next time.

5. Analyse all of your strengths before weaknesses - Write a list of all the things you are good at first rather than what you're not good at. You should undoubtedly have more positives than negatives, if you don't then you're being too self critical.

6. If you're scared of doing something, force yourself to do it until it becomes easy- I used to be scared of public speaking and now with a lot of practice (and forcing myself in situations where I had no choice but to present) I can present on a stage in front of a very large audience. Find something you're scared of and just do it, what have you got to lose?

7. Find your own cheerleaders who will bring you up not pull you down - Find a network of friends/colleagues/people who have a common confidence demons and talk about how you all overcame them or looking to overcome.

8. Find a mentor that inspires you - A mentor doesn't have to be a senior VP in your company. They could be a peer or a manager who can give you honest feedback, time and advice about feeling like an Imposter.

9. Remember that you don't need to be an expert and know everything to do what you do - I was asked to set up an Innovation hub 2 years ago with pretty much knew nothing about SAP Innovation, nor did I have any experience in this field. So why on earth did they asked me? I realised that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. You don't need to know everything up front, you just need the right mindset, skills, passion and motivation to do a role. The knowledge will be learnt along the way!

10. Be yourself, be authentic, work hard and always strive towards the best - Don't try and act in a way that you think people want you to. Be the Authentic you, rather than an impostor of someone that you're not.

So, if you've ever felt like you couldn't be part of the 'Women in technology' culture, if you've ever felt like a fraud or an Imposter, If you've ever felt that you weren't worthy enough or just simply haven't had the confidence to be bold in the workplace. I hope this has helped you with tips for building self - worth. It's not been an easy challenge for me but, small steps make a big impact. This blog was aimed toward's 'Women in tech' because of my friend's, baffling words. But actually, these tips can apply to both male and females who are facing Imposter Syndrome, so I hope this blog has helped even just a little bit.