Canadian Immigrant - November 2023

CAREERS & EDUCATION
CAREER COACH
Imposter syndrome in the workplace
Nine ways you can overcome these feelings
Think back to the times when you studied all night and entered
the examination hall, nervous and petrified. Maybe the very first
question intimidated you, but you still ended up doing the exam
really well.
However, instead of acknowledging your hard work, you were critical
of yourself for not doing better. You became doubtful and questioned
your self-worth. This is what psychologists term “impostor syndrome.”
Similarly at work, if you find yourself often getting frustrated
and anxious that you are not good enough and concerned that your
co-workers may discover this, it may be nothing but your impostor
syndrome working overtime. The downside of this? You may end up
overworking, resent challenging assignments or even underperform at
your job, out of the stress and worry.
According to Psychology Today, people with impostor syndrome
struggle with self-efficacy, perfectionism and neuroticism. The article goes
on to say that impostor syndrome could come from personality traits. A
similar perspective shared in TIME Magazine suggests that, according to
experts, it stems from childhood memories.
If you are struggling with this syndrome, you may be belittling yourself,
attributing your achievements to mere luck instead of your work ethic,
talent or intelligence. Even after you go through a grueling interview
process and get hired, you may feel like you didn’t truly earn it. You might
be saying any of this to yourself: I’m a fake, I’ll never be able to do this, I
must not fail, I just got lucky, That was no big deal, I don’t deserve to be
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CANADIAN IMMIGRANT Volume 20 Issue 5 | 2023