By Susan Limbu

It is a hard feeling to shake off when you feel like you do not deserve what you have achieved or if you constantly doubt your skills and talent. Imposter syndrome is the feeling that the accomplishment by an individual is due to sheer luck and it can affect everyone from different walks of life spanning from professionals, academics to students. This internalised feeling of a fraud or unworthiness is more common than we think. It is important to recognise imposter syndrome for what it is, reasons for experiencing it and what we could do to manage it to a certain extent.

Approximately 70% of people are known to experience the feeling of an imposter during their lifetime. While it may be considered as a general feeling to some, imposter syndrome can affect the wellbeing of an individual as well as have impact on their life and career.

So why do people suffer from imposter syndrome? Well the reasons are not very clear nor simple as it ranges from childhood memories, anxiety to experiences of discrimination that has led to feelings of not belonging. Furthermore, the type of imposter syndrome has been further categorised by Dr Young, an expert on the topic, into the perfectionist, the soloist, the expert, the superwoman/man and the natural genius. Do you relate to any of these?

While my own personal experience of imposter syndrome started even before starting my PhD with the feeling that I somehow managed to secure my studentship due to sheer luck.

However, this feeling went away when I attended a talk on imposter syndrome as it made me realise that there are other people who feel the same way as me. I appreciated the honesty during the talk and it was important to discuss imposter syndrome, especially at the start of the PhD, so people can feel at ease by knowing that everyone, to a certain extent, suffers from the imposter syndrome.

While we may not overcome imposter syndrome overnight, we can learn to manage it. Here are top 5 tips:

1. Recognise that you are not alone – It is important to remind yourself that this is a common feeling that many people experience and talking and sharing with someone – a friend, family member or trusted colleague – can help by opening up about your worries. Whenever I experience imposter feeling, I speak to my friends and family, which feels reassuring and I remind myself that I have earned it.
2. Recognise your triggers – There are range of triggers that can onset the imposter feelings such as being in a new work environment or receiving criticism about your work. Recognising you trigger is vital to knowing what you can do next to deal with it next time, which leads onto my next tip…
3. Focus on your strength and what you have learnt – This reminds you of what you are good at and reflecting on lessons learnt enables you to focus on progression rather than regression.  It is also important to have reasonable expectations and goals to avoid work burnout. Personally, I enjoy journaling when I feel like I am lacking by writing down what went wrong, what I did well and what I could do better. It also stops me from dwelling on the negative.
4. Avoid comparing yourself with others – You are on your own journey and this is your life. Whilst it is hard not to compare yourself with others, I always remind myself that “Comparison is the thief of joy.” by Theodore Roosevelt. Reflect on why you think you are lacking in comparison to another person. Is it a particular skill such as presentation skills? Instead of feeling like you aren’t as good as them in that particular skill set, think about how you could be as good as them. What could you do to improve your presentation skills so you can be on par with them?
5. Make use of mental health support provided by the University – If you constantly feel like an imposter or struggle to cope, there is further help provided by the University such as mindfulness online workshops and counselling sessions. Making use of these can be one step into feeling less like an imposter and more like yourself. Here is also a list of support avenues available at University of Manchester

These quick five tips are here to remind you that while it is common to feel like an imposter in academia and work environment, remember you are deserving, and you would not be there if you were not capable. It is about time that you see it for yourself!

References:

https://articlegateway.com/index.php/JHETP/article/view/1936/1836

https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789463511438/BP000045.xml

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7174434/