The feeling that we are insufficient in our work, the belief that we don’t deserve success and the fear for others to discover we are a fraud unfortunately accompanies many women in your working life. It is spoken here of imposter Syndrome, a phenomenon whose origin dates back to 1978. At that time, psychologists Pauline Rose-Clance Y Suzanne Imes They began to investigate why a large number of women, who were in high performance positions, were not capable of recognizing their authenticity, of being owners of objective success. Despite their worth, and why were their performance, status, and reputation diminished?
Hardly anyone gets rid of impostor syndrome
From then on, the impostor syndrome was acquiring a greater role in research on organizations and with it, in popular culture. People we find undeniably successful, like the former first lady Michaelle Obama either Sheryl Sandberg, current operational director of Facebook, have expressed feeling imposters. Also actresses like Nathalie Portman They have had to overcome this feeling. We find a glimpse of this in the speech he made during the graduation ceremony at Harvard University in 2015: “I felt that there had been some mistake… that I was not smart enough to be in this company, and that every time she opened her mouth she would have to prove that she wasn’t just a dumb actress.” Portman, in case anyone still didn’t know, he attended Psychology at Harvard and even went so far as to publish a couple of scientific studies.
The freak result strange Y baffling. On the one hand, it encompasses the belief that we are not good enough at work and the irrational idea that we do not deserve social recognition for our achievements. This, far from staying in our heads, ends up manifesting itself in very toxic attitudes Toward oneself. As some studies warn, the misfit perfectionism, the low self-efficacy and the negative self-talk not only end by sabotage the emotional stability of the person, also limiting their progress. The fact that impostors have a complex and unsympathetic relationship with their achievements can lead to a lack of planning already one biased Decision Making, which negatively affects their performance. It is difficult for a person to perform (and feel that they perform) when the mental exhaustion has kidnapped your creativity, good work and self-confidence.
Impostor syndrome… is also impostor syndrome
Dealing with it is not easy: such a state of worry impacts self-esteem and psychological well-being, and can cause depression and anxiety. But, is this a discomfort exclusively for women? Not at all. According to a study published in the ‘International Journal Of Behavioral Science’ in 2011, the 70% of people Have you ever suffered from impostor syndrome?
The social perception that the impostor syndrome seems more frequent in women could perhaps be related to the gender stereotypes and the leadership explosionfeminine. Leadership requires self-knowledge, self-awareness and, of course, the ability to make decisions and face new challenges. It is an experience in which many people demand a lot, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, and forget to look compassionately at their vulnerabilities. In the case of women, the degree of demand both individual and social may be greater. In terrain that has traditionally been occupied by men or in highly masculine environments, many women feel that they have to demonstrate more capacity for work.
Falling down and failing is also empowering
There is another aspect that, in terms of gender, also deserves to be analyzed. The social reinforcement experienced by women when publicly showing their problems and difficulties. The feminism welcomes women, seeks to encourage them in their moments of fragility and invites them to celebrate their achievements without falling into false modesty. For some time now, it has become a compass that guides us, that through its slogans inspires the construction of the woman we want to be, with our successes and mistakes. fall and fail have become aspects that fit into the concept of empowerment, since they assume a realistic and non-complacent vision of women. Not being perfect cannot be an excuse or reason to humiliate ourselves or reduce our skills.
Instead, in the case of males, it seems that the sighting of unicorns is more likely than the open acknowledgment of the fears they feel in their professional careers. We have learned the damage that the expectation of being a ‘superwoman’ entails, but they still seem obsessed with fulfilling certain roles: seeking a certain degree of heroism in the professional field and not allowing themselves neither evaluate nor express the insecurities of imposter syndrome.