If you are a woman you are likely to have experienced imposter syndrome at some point. Imposter syndrome is when: you doubt your skills, talents or accomplishments, and you have a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”…. Are you with me?
Imposter syndrome is a form of cognitive dissonance between what other people believe about you and what you think about yourself.
It disproportionately affects high-achieving people – including you, non-diet coaches – who find it difficult to accept their accomplishments. Imposter syndrome has these people questioning whether they are deserving of their accolades.
But… Why does imposter syndrome even exist in the first place?
Imposter syndrome does NOT exist because you did something “wrong”. In fact, imposter syndrome exists because of systemic oppression – sexism, racism, classism, xenophobia, and other biases. Therefore, the more marginalized your identity is, the more likely you are to feel the “imposter syndrome”.
The bottom line is this: we feel that we don’t belong because we were never supposed to belong.
As long as you have dreams beyond the social norm, that the system wasn’t designed for, you’ll have self-doubt. And, you will feel like an imposter.
But the real question is, how do you react when your brain has the thought “I’m not good enough”? Will you buy into it, or will you let it go?
How to overcome the imposter coach syndrome
When I coach professionals and they tell me they feel like an imposter, I know they are challenging their comfort level. However, the cool thing is, they already have the tools to fix it from our business coaching container.
They have the tools to take themselves through the coaching model. Which means, they identify the thought that is producing the “feeling” of imposter syndrome. Then, they change the thought to one that will produce feelings of confidence.
That’s it.
Confidence is not a default setting. It is something you have to work on to create internally through your thoughts and beliefs.
So, to do this for yourself, use the coaching framework that you use with your clients. And if you don’t have one, get one.
Imposter syndrome doesn’t go away – it will rear its head with every new stage of your business. However, it will also build your confidence if you choose to work through it.
What you’ll learn listening to this episode:
- The root cause of imposter syndrome
- How to stop feeling like you’re not enough as a coach
- The tools my clients use to overcome imposter syndrome
- What no one else is telling you about imposter coach syndrome
Mentioned in the show:
Live Training Event – 4 simple steps to get more paying client event
