Oh my God, I’m an Impostor! 😨

Managing Imposter Syndrome

My career journey has been a lot. From braiding to baking, web development and product design, I have worked many roles and made my fair share of memories with impostor syndrome. This post is a walk-through of the steps I’ve taken over time that has helped me manage imposter syndrome as a writer.

Call this a living tribute or dirge to impostor syndrome, as I’m still not entirely over it.

The Realization

We’ve all felt this way at some point in our lives. Like you’re about to be caught in a lie when you’re, in fact, not lying. Wikipedia defines impostor syndrome as “A psychological occurrence in which people doubt their skills, talents, or accomplishments and have a persistent internalised fear of being exposed as frauds.”

Okay, maybe not you, but up to 82% of people have a sense of not having earned their achievements. While I had it as passing moments sometimes, the start of my career as a content writer brought impostor syndrome in, like that friend that won’t take the cue to leave your home. Several “Oh my God, I’m an impostor” moments later, I started taking the following steps to believe in my achievements and career growth.

Determining the Trigger

Imposter syndrome is overwhelming. For me, it played out as questioning my intelligence and my knowledge in my field. But when I became conscious of the feeling of inadequacy as though I’ll be caught in a lie being what I’m not, I started to take a mental note of when I felt like that. Each time I felt like an imposter, I was engaging in conversations with developers, reading the success story of a writer, or reading a carefully curated piece of content. The first instance was only natural since developers populated the community I belonged to, and I wasn’t one, so their conversations made me feel like a child among adults. However, realising I also felt like an imposter even in my field made me see my lack of confidence was because.

• I was in the wrong community.
• I wasn’t committing enough.

Recognising these pushed me to take the following steps I did to stop feeling like shit.

Developing my skills

I’ve been a creative writer longer than I have, been a Content Writer, so I’ve constantly introduced myself as a Writer. However, the decision to become a Content Writer changed the meaning of introducing myself as a writer to others. Others had more than stories that never made it past Facebook to show for being writers, certifications, and resumes while I remained in my bubble of close friend validation.

Realising this made me see why I always had impostor syndrome, even while baking actively. I knew enough to soothe a local community but not nearly enough for the global community I was gunning for. So I started taking free courses, reading, and writing. During this period, I still felt out of place, but less so because I was making a ton of effort.

Building a Network

For the longest time, I felt like an imposter in the tech space because I was surrounded by developers and thought I had to be one to be a techie. I had to find myself in the right community, and to do that I:

• Limited my commitment to tech community events and spaces:

The community was filled with friendly and helpful individuals; however, as someone trying to kickstart her career in Content Writing, that was the wrong community for me. While I wanted to be in the tech space and currently am, I didn’t need to be exposed to just the developer community.

• Connected with writers:

One glance through my LinkedIn profile, and I found the problem. All the connections I had were developers. No wonder I felt like the ugly duckling rather than the beautiful swan. I went on a spree, connecting with writers on LinkedIn, then Medium and Twitter. Soon enough, connect requests began to come from other writers who viewed my profile and decided to connect.

My Support System

This can be your mentor, partner, friend, or sibling. Whoever this person is to you, the point is to have someone in your corner who you can openly tell how you feel in the moment and why you feel so. Sharing my vulnerability to feeling out of place made me recognise the triggers even as my support system helped me walk through them. While I developed my skills and grew, I still felt completely out of place each time I got a rejection mail or read an article so well articulated I couldn’t imagine myself being able to express myself so perfectly.

This one person shared their failures with me, rejections, and all they experienced when they were at my level. This allowed me a breather and reminded me to pace myself despite not seeing any progress. He also reminded me of achievements I made that I considered too little or simply forgot. This repeated act led me to do the same for myself — remind myself of my wins.

Documenting my Progress

In the last few years, I realised that our memory is more limited than we imagine. Several times I’ve found myself floundering for information I grilled myself to remember in a day or two. As my support system kept reminding me of my achievements when I doubted my abilities, I began to keep track of them myself. I created a folder in my gallery and took screenshots of feedback from my boss, squad leader, and manager. I also made a slides.com document and compiled all my certifications. What I saw surprised me despite knowing those experiences were there—track feats, big or small. When you go back to look through them, you will see your progress over time, which helps reaffirm your place in the industry.

Other Helpful Tips

Share your Progress…and Failures

Your lens is not the only one in life; sadly, we tend to see ourselves from the most critical ones. As you measure your progress, share it with your community. While this might seem like seeking external validation, you will also get feedback from others to show you what you might have been too critical about.

On the other hand, sharing your failures reminds you of how far you’ve come to appreciate where you are. In the same way, you’ll be helping others such as yourself see the amount of work that goes into progress. Ask people in your community to also share their failures to see the background of what they’ve struggled with to achieve the success you see that makes you feel insignificant in comparison.

Never Compare Yourself with Others

Unlike what you might think, everyone in the industry has had their fair share of rejections behind the scenes. They have also had different opportunities and experiences to reach their current status. So work hard, go at your pace, and focus on making visible progress and appreciating them as you go.

Managing impostor syndrome is not about making it disappear. Instead, it is about accepting it exists and is happening to you, identifying triggers, and taking steps to manage it. Also, recognise as you make career growth that your responsibilities might change along with the transition, and you might begin to feel incompetent again. However, if you are intentional about your career growth and recognise the knowledge gaps causing you to feel like an impostor, you can work through it.

P.S. This may be a not-so-popular opinion, but impostor syndrome can be a growth accelerant when recognised and handled intentionally. It is much harder to grow when you feel comfortable with your present knowledge. So welcome her/him with open arms, but know when to say, “You need to leave”.

Until next time 🖖🏾