The second of a series of business features for business-shy people by the local author and creative director Antonella Caputo, who has over 20 years’ experience in copywriting and visual marketing and part of the Team Sputnik design agency.
“I start from ‘Three’” says a character in an Italian movie to his friend, when asked about his plans.
“You’re saying it wrong”, says the friend. “It’s: ‘I start over from scratch’”
“No, I start over from ‘Three’”, says the first character. “In my life I’ve done three successful things, and I don’t want to lose them. So, I start over from ‘three’.”
When starting a business, we are often plagued with self-doubt and feel under-equipped, quite forgetting that we have previously done successful things. And it’s in this gap between our successes and our perception of them that ‘Impostor Syndrome’ kicks in. We play down our successes, or think that they were not down to us, but the result of sheer good luck.
Impostor syndrome was first described in 1978 by clinical psychologists Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes. The term refers to the acceptance of the idea that you’re simply not good enough, a fraud, or not deserving of success or praise. It was coined by Clance as a way of describing her own feelings of being an impostor throughout her career as a psychologist.
This belief can be particularly damaging for women who want to start their own business. According to research from the Kauffman Foundation: “Women are twice as likely as men to report feeling like an impostor at some point in their careers. In fact, more than half of women say they’ve felt like an impostor and less than half feel confident in their abilities.
Here are five top tips to help you change your thinking, and overcome imposter syndrome.
START FROM ‘THREE’
Get a journal and on the first page write down three things you have been successful at in the past. These are your stepping-stones on which you can build future success.
MAKE A RECORD OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK
Journaling is the best way to help you remember your successes. Write down your wins, such as commendations, people paying you compliments on your successes, and so on. When self-doubt becomes hard to deal with, open the journal!
TALK ABOUT IT
Becoming part of a network, a place where you can share your feelings without being judged, is very important. You can discover how others in the group overcome such feelings, and it’s a relief to know you’re not alone!
IT’S NOT ALWAYS YOUR FAULT
We all make mistakes, but it’s important to recognise when a mistake was actually your fault and not that of others. Take notes when things go wrong and try to identify the cause. That way, you can check if a negative result is due to some external factor. Not everything that goes wrong is down to you!
LEARN FROM A MISTAKE
Nobody’s perfect! Everybody goofs up from time to time. The important thing is to forgive yourself and not to brood over it. Instead, treat your mistake as a learning experience.
Imposter syndrome can kick in at any time in life, especially when circumstances change.
BONUS TIP: don’t compare yourself with others, each of us is unique!
Antonella Caputo
• Going into Business: Five Tips for business-shy women
• Team Sputnik Branding Resources to assist creating a brand. For more information, click here www.teamsputnikvisual.com/notebook