Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: Finding and Building Your Confidence as a Woman

We all know it, we’ve all felt it, we’ve all succumbed to our own self-doubt because of it: imposter syndrome. With the constant accessibility we have to others and the world around us, it feels almost impossible to avoid imposter syndrome. And no matter how confident or “put together” you may think someone else is, I can almost guarantee you, they’ve also had moments of self-doubt.

Imposter Syndrome

The feeling of self-doubt, in our own skills, intellect, or abilities, around high-achieving individuals.

Imposter syndrome can truly leave you feeling inadequate. It can leave you feeling like you aren’t good enough. You sit there comparing yourself to others “around” you (aka others you watch on social media that you’ve likely never even met!). And suddenly, you are left unmotivated, down in the dumps, and far from feeling good about yourself.

How to Beat Imposter Syndrome

Here’s the best part about imposter syndrome though, that whole “around high-achieving individuals,” we decide what that means. We decide what high-achieving means to us. What I may deem as successful or high-achieving may be different to someone else.

If you let it, inspiration can come from the same source. So instead of viewing others who “have more”, are “achieving more”, may look more “successful” than you may feel- remember, you get to change that narrative. You get to alter the thoughts in your own mind.

When the imposter syndrome starts flooding in, change the thoughts to inspiration instead. Make those thoughts about YOU and less about the other person. Instead of thinking about all the ways you aren’t like them, think about all the ways you are inspired by this individual/content and put that into action. Take a moment of gratitude and focus on all of the amazing things you are and can do!

Building Your Confidence

A while back I touched on ways to build up your confidence. You can check out that blog post here.

And the absolute best way to combat imposter syndrome is to focus on your own path and confidence. Instead of comparing yourself to others, compare yourself to you.

Did you do something today that you hadn’t done yesterday?

Did you try something new that you have never done before?

Did you challenge yourself and tackle something that has intimidated you in the past?

Did you stop overanalyzing and overthinking and just try the damn thing?

When you focus on building your own confidence, that whole comparison and imposter syndrome slowly starts to fade. And it’s truly the most freeing feeling in the world!