Imposter syndrome sounds so dirty and humiliating. Who wants to talk about their insecurities and defects of character? Ugh, not me. Maybe you’ve never heard of imposter syndrome before but learning that there is now a term for those gross feelings that you’d rather keep in the shadows makes you uncomfortable. Uncomfortable why? Because once you bring something to the surface and shine a light on it, then it becomes your choice how to proceed.
Imposter syndrome basically means you doubt your skills, talents or accomplishments and have a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud. I believe that many people think they are not as smart as others assume them to be, but not have a persistent internalized fear of being exposed. If your imposter syndrome feels like a debilitating fear, you might need to seek some professional guidance.
If at times you doubt yourself, here are some tools to help you stand in your power and know your worth.
1. Come up with a powerful mantra.
A powerful mantra is one that is in present tense with ‘I’ statements. For example: I am smart, I am capable, I got this. Write it on your bathroom mirror in a dry-erase marker or a sticky note on your night stand. This will also help change the old tapes in your head.
2. Visualize your best self.
See yourself passing your checkride. See yourself get the award. Visualize yourself in the cockpit of your dream airline. Seeing is believing and once you can see yourself accomplishing your goals then it’s easier to believe you actually can. Then tune into the feelings of pride and excitement around this vision!
3. Accentuate the positive.
As this pertains to pilots in this blog post, I think what is important here is to know what you are good at. If your strong skills are aircraft systems but you’re mediocre with FAA regulations then you can feel good knowing where your strengths are and what needs work.
4. Develop a new script about failure.
I have learned that we need failure to overcome major hurdles in our lives and we are often better from that experience. Failure can be used as a huge motivator to work harder. Creating a new script might sound like, “There are no mistakes, just learning opportunities.”
5. Separate your feelings from real facts.
Are you really a fraud? Feeling like a fraud isn’t the same as actually being one. Recall all of the hard work you’ve put into becoming a professional pilot, those are facts. Passing your written test and checkrides are facts. Feelings are not always true.
At the end of the day it’s important to know we are all trying to do this thing called life and just learning as we go.
Read more of my thoughts on imposter syndrome here.
