You are not a Fraud: Understanding and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Have you ever felt like a fraud? Like you’re just faking it and one day everyone will find out you don’t really belong in the entrepreneurial landscape? You’re not alone. In fact, this feeling, known as imposter syndrome, affects up to 82% of professionals across various fields and experience levels. Let’s talk about what imposter syndrome is, why it happens, and some practices I’ve used over the years to combat it. 

What is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is the persistent belief that your success is undeserved, despite evidence of your competence and accomplishments. You might attribute your achievements to luck, timing, or even deceit rather than your hard work and skills. It can lead to anxiety, stress, and a fear of being “found out,” hindering your professional growth and personal well-being. Disproportionately affecting people with underrepresented identities like BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women, imposter syndrome can have debilitating effects. Understanding that awareness is the first step of changing any behavior, here are some signs to be aware of to recognize when imposter syndrome comes up. 

Recognizing Imposter Syndrome

Before you can tackle imposter syndrome, it's important to recognize its signs:

1. Self-Doubt: Constantly questioning your abilities and feeling inadequate. 
2. Perfectionism: Setting impossibly high standards and being overly critical of your performance.
3. Attributing Success to External Factors: Believing your success is due to luck or external help, rather than your own efforts.
4. Fear of Failure: Avoiding new challenges or opportunities because you fear you won’t measure up. This can also look like setting the bar too low/making your goals easier to achieve so you avoid failure.
5. Discounting Praise: Dismissing compliments and positive feedback as unearned. 
6. Negative Internal Dialogue: Saying you do not deserve certain things or believing others are judging your success without any real proof that they are.  

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

While the first step to overcoming anything is naming it (awareness), where do you go from there? As someone who has battled imposter syndrome throughout their journey as a business owner, here are a few things that have helped me over the years:

1. Accept what you don’t know and trust that you’ll find someone who does.

Not knowing how to do something can call up your imposter syndrome and make you feel unqualified in your field. This can make you feel like you need to know everything, and rightfully so. There is a toxic narrative out there making you feel that you should work to be the smartest person in every room. This is not only unsustainable, but being smart is not the greatest trait of high-performing CEOs, consultants, and business people alike. Rather, having the ability to find the right people and information, coupled with innovative problem-solving skills are what the most successful CEOs actually have. Trusting that you know how to find answers and expertly solve problems is key in stomping out imposter syndrome.   

2. Build a community you can share your feelings with. 

Every entrepreneur and business owner deserves a safe space to untangle the complexities of imposter syndrome. Sharing with a trusted group of like-minded professionals is not only liberating and decreases feelings of loneliness, but you can also discover how others combat imposter struggles. While friends and family try their best to support, they often lack context around being a business owner which can lead to misunderstanding and/or unintentional comparison. Psychologists suggest discussing imposter struggles with those who understand the nuances of your industry but do not work directly with you. 

3. Lay out the facts to disprove your internal dialogue.

Imposter syndrome thrives on you living in your head and allowing yourself to believe the story you are telling yourself. When this happens I turn to the facts about my performance. For example, if you are telling yourself “I am not succeeding. I am a failure. I don’t belong in this industry” or “I am not smart enough to be in this room of CEOs” write down everything that disproves those statements. Here is what that can look like:

“I am not succeeding. I am a failure. I don’t belong in this industry” → I have grown this business from zero clients to 10; Whether big or small, all my clients are experiencing growth; I am growing which means I am not failing.

“I am not smart enough to be in this room of CEOs” → I got into this room which means I belong here; I am a CEO because I own my own business which means I belong here; I have X years of experience under my belt.

4. Journal about your wins

Much of entrepreneurship is a hustle where we are feverishly knocking out items on our to-do lists and chasing the next level of achievement. It often feels impossible to take a moment to reflect because we are convinced that our attention and energy should be spent on something a bit more tangible, something that affects the coveted bottom line. Here’s the thing though, getting caught in a cycle of busyness makes us blind to our wins and our growth, which keeps the door open for imposter syndrome to visit whenever and wherever. Constantly battling imposter syndrome will reduce your focus and productivity, which will end up negatively affecting your performance anyway. This is where a Wins Journal can be a gamechanger. Memorializing your daily wins on paper everyday not only creates a historical account of success you can reference when doubt creeps in, it combats imposter syndrome by building confidence and maintaining optimism. I keep it short and sustainable by writing down three wins from the day right before bed. In Dan Sullivan’s book The Gap and The Gain, he says “Success is not measured by how far we go, but by how much we grow.” So, if this is something you want to try, don’t simply focus on benchmark wins (i.e. I landed a six-figure contract today). You’ll also want to recognize your growth no matter how big or small (i.e. today’s sales grew by 2% compared to yesterday).  

5. Plan celebrations for your achievements. 

Business professionals who battle imposter syndrome often discount their achievements, which allows it to fester and grow. Take time to reflect on your accomplishments, give yourself credit, and embrace when others celebrate you. Add accomplishments to your wins journal (no matter how big or small) and make note of how you feel after the accomplishment—revisit this when self-doubt creeps in. I suggest taking it even one step further and planning celebrations when you reach milestones and achievements—it can be as small as treating yourself with a craft latte from your local coffee shop or as big as throwing a party with friends. Here's the key: bring others into your journey. Share your goals with a colleague or fellow business owner who can hold you accountable, or loop in your family by setting a collective reward. This approach builds momentum, sparks excitement, and invites a community around your success. Building community around your accomplishments doesn't just make the wins sweeter—it reinforces that you're worthy of them. Regardless of how you celebrate, you deserve it.

Final Thoughts

Overcoming imposter syndrome is not about eliminating self-doubt completely but learning to manage it effectively. I know this is easier said than done, so if you need a supportive community of consultants to collaborate and grow with, The Consulting Web membership is just that. Hopefully we’ll see you there, and if not, remember: you’re not an imposter. You are beyond capable and worthy of every bit of success that comes your way. Keep going!

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