TACKLE IMPOSTER SYNDROME IN 10 SIMPLE STEPS
Imposter syndrome is common amongst social media managers and can be a huge reason for why we’re not signing the clients we want, showing up online or charging our worth.
When I started my business as a social media manager in 2017, I’d never heard of imposter syndrome.
But I was experiencing a lot of self doubt, thoughts of ‘who am I to be doing this?’, worrying constantly that the (great) results I was getting for clients weren’t good enough and when I was finding things simple and easy to do, I felt like a fraud.
I felt like everything was supposed to be hard.
Before I dive into the 10 simple steps you can follow to tackle imposter syndrome, I want to share with you some common signs that you’re suffering with imposter syndrome:
Overdelivering: There’s adding special touches and then there’s going (way) above & beyond. If you’re constantly overdelivering for your clients in the hope that they’ll appreciate you more and won’t fire you, the imposter’s voice could be nagging you.
Not believing your clients when they tell you how good you are: Despite the constant positive feedback and praise, you think your clients secretly hate everything you’re doing and can’t wait for your contract to be over.
Comparisonitis: You compare yourself to anyone and everyone. You compare your results, the number of clients you have, how much you charge, your followers on social media, your branding - if you can compare it, you will.
You downplay your achievements and focus on the negative: When it comes to your monthly analytics reports, instead of being excited about the 10% increase in reach you got your clients, you obsess over the fact you lost 3 followers (even though they weren’t your target audience anyway).
Making things complicated: When things become easy (through experience, practice, knowledge) you feel like a fraud. How can you be paid for something that only takes you a couple of hours? Instead you procrastinate, make things complicated and add in a few (unnecessary) tasks to feel like you deserve your money.
There are many other symptoms but I found these 5 had the biggest impact on my business.
If you relate to any of these, I want you to quit feeling guilty or judging yourself for it right now.
There’s no need to judge. Just acknowledge, accept and then we can move on to how to tackle.
Are you ready?
Here are my 10 simple steps for tackling your imposter syndrome:
Name your imposter
I want you to name your imposter.
That voice in your head that tells you you're not good enough, your clients are going to be disappointed in you or makes you worry about what people are thinking of you, is going to become a person.
You can name him/her whatever you like.
Why am I getting you to do this?
The next time that voice starts to whisper in your ear, you can say (out loud if you want to):
"Ok no fun Nora (my imposter), thanks for your concern but I've got this"
By personifying the voice and acknowledging it's there, you can take control and dismiss the voice.
Switch off for a sec
AKA meditate.
For those of you who roll your eyes at the suggestion to meditate, please don't write this step off just yet.
Meditating doesn't have to be something spiritual or religious.
Meditation means to contemplate or reflect.
Why should you meditate?
It's very rare that we take the time to switch off and allow our brains to rest.
When we take a few minutes - and it really can just be 5 minutes - a day to switch off our brains and focus on our breath, we feel more relaxed.
This also allows us to quieten the imposter that's causing us to worry.
Spend 5-10 minutes sitting quietly and allowing you thoughts to come and go.
Close your eyes, focus on your breathing and notice how much calmer you feel.
If you'd like a little guidance, search YouTube for a 10 minute guided meditation.
Meditation is like exercise for your mind.
The more we do it, the better we become at it.
Exercising your mind is just as important as exercising your body so I'd really like to encourage you to keep this up.
Again, even if it's just 5 minutes per day where you quieten your mind and focus on your breath.
When we take this time to switch off, we're subconsciously saying to ourselves that we're WORTHY of 'me time'.
And when we feel worthy, our imposter stays away.
Journal out your worries
This exercise is great following a meditation or as a stand alone option.
Grab a piece of paper and a pen and answer the following questions:
"What do I want to achieve within my business?"
"What's holding my back from reaching my goals?"
Now don't think too much about your answers. Just write whatever comes up in your head.
When you take the time to recognise what's getting in your way, you can work out how to overcome each of these issues.
When you know what you need to do to overcome the issues, imposter syndrome is less likely to show up.
Again, no judgements here.
There's been many occasions where I've spilled out all my thoughts in my notebook and realised that something I hadn't been consciously thinking of was getting in my way.
Grab my mindset workbook for tips on how to journal for confidence: Mindset Workbook
Repeat after me
This exercise is about increasing your confidence.
As our confidence increases, our imposter fades away.
One of the most powerful ways to give yourself a confidence boost is by repeating affirmations.
Affirmations are positive statements that we say about ourselves.
The more we repeat them, the more they sink into our subconscious and the more we begin to believe them.
Set aside 5 minutes each day, for the next week, so you can repeat this affirmation again and again:
“I am AMAZING at what I do”
You can even set the mood by lighting your favourite candle and playing a relaxing tune in the background.
To make the affirmations more powerful, why not stand in front of the mirror and look yourself in the eyes as you say it?
Throughout the day, every time you notice your imposter’s voice pop up in your head, turn to this affirmation.
Not a fan of this one? No problem, click here to read my blog post containing 31 of my favourite confidence boosting affirmations.
I used to feel really silly when I first started saying affirmations but over time, I'm so much more confident in myself, that silly feeling has been replaced by empowerment.
I also realised that I felt silly because no fun Nora was in my head telling me I was an idiot for talking to myself and that people would think I was weird.
"Thanks for your concern Nora but I've got this"
Empowerment lists
This is my number one favourite way to shut up your imposter and give yourself a massive CONFIDENCE boost.
An empowerment list is a list of positive things that you love about yourself, that you can do or that make you feel good.
When I first started writing empowerment lists, I'd really struggle to come up with reasons.
Don't feel disheartened if it takes you a while to write out your own list.
The more you write these lists, the easier it'll get.
Here’s a list to get you started:
30 reasons my clients love to work with me
To start you off, here are 3 of mine:
- I'm funny
- I offer good advice
- I’m intuitive and can tell if there’s something you need to say
Every time your imposter starts to appear, write out a list that contradicts what they're trying to say to you.
For example: The imposter's saying your clients are going to think you haven't done enough for them so they're going to be disappointed in you and regret the fact they hired you.
You could write out '20 reasons my clients are always happy with the work I produce'.
Give it a go, you’ll be surprised how good it makes you feel.
Get started with empowerment lists & journalling here: Mindset Workbook
Master your mornings
How we start the day can impact us in a BIG way.
Hitting the snooze button too many times can leave us feeling guilty that we've 'wasted' time when we should be working.
Feeling guilty leads to the imposter showing up.
Until I had a morning routine I loved, I found it so difficult to get up in the mornings.
I'd snooze my alarm for at least an hour then check my phone and get caught up in emails, tasks for clients and social media.
When it comes to creating a morning routine, it doesn't have to be a complicated, 2 hour ordeal.
It can be something simple such as waking up 30 minutes earlier, drinking a cup of tea whilst reading a book.
As a Confidence Coach, I actively encourage everyone to work on their mindset daily.
This step is to create a morning routine that you feel EXCITED about. It can be as long as you want, just make sure it's realistic for you to stick to.
You could create a morning routine out of the exercises above or just pick your favourite one.
I've tried out so many different routines and don't always stick to the same one every day.
My rule is that the first 1-2 hours of the day are MY time.
Fabulous feedback
This is such a wonderful way to shut the imposter up when they show up out of the blue.
Create a folder either on Google Drive, Dropbox, your phone, anywhere that you can access easily.
In that folder, you're going to save emails, screenshots of reviews on Facebook pages, messages from clients, screenshots of Insta comments - literally ANYTHING positive about you and your business.
Any positive feedback that you've ever received - it could be that someone likes your website, a client saying thank you for your work or someone thanking you for your advice.
The next time your imposter shows up, I want you to acknowledge they're there and then open up this folder and read every comment in there.
This is going to remind you just how FABULOUS you are.
And make sure, when you're reading all these wonderful comments, that you let yourself SMILE.
Here’s a message about my Master Your Mindset workbook that made my heart happy:
"I was reading through your pdf Mastering Your Mindset this morning and I love it! I've even asked in groups before (when I didn't know so much about mindset) about what actually are mindset tasks to do and people would give e their general ideas but it's so amazing you've put everything together in this pdf. I want to get started with all the 'tasks' now."
This was such a proud moment for me after working so hard to create something valuable that people could actually use to get started with mindset work.
Remember, every time the imposter's voice starts to creep in, open up this folder and indulge in all the wonderful comments you've received.
Grab the Master Your Mindset workbook here: Master Your Mindset
Create systems that support your business
I used to feel like such a fraud (ahem, imposter) when I first began signing clients as a social media manager.
We'd have a call, sign the proposals, they'd pay their invoice and then it'd hit me - OH MY GOD THEY'VE JUST PAID ME BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING.
What helped me overcome this?
Creating an onboarding process
Every time I signed a new client, I'd be able to follow the same steps which meant:
I looked professional
I didn't forget to ask them for things
I wasn't overwhelmed trying to think of everything I had to do next
Create a simple process of everything you need to do when you start working with a new client.
For example, mine looks something like this:
- Have discovery call
- Send message including proposal
- Send follow up message ( if necessary )
- Send invoice
- Receive payment
- Send thank you email + access to welcome pack
It might look simple but it helps so much when it comes to reducing the overwhelm.
It doesn't have to stop with an onboarding process, you can create yourself a process for anything within your business:
- Writing blog posts
- Scheduling to social media
- Responding to enquiries
- Repurposing content
Do yourself a favour and make your life that little bit easier.
Create a wonderful experience for your clients
When your clients are happy, you can be happy.
Now I'm not saying your clients aren't happy at the moment, I'm sure they all are, but when you have guidelines in place on how you can deliver the best service, the imposter is less likely to show up.
Let me give you an example from my social media management business:
Before client experience guidelines, my clients would tell me how happy they were with me but I didn't believe them. In my mind, I hadn't done enough or anything 'special' to warrant their praise.
After stepping up my game and creating things such as a welcome pack and beautifully designed analytics reports, I felt that I was making the effort to go above and beyond and therefore COULD understand why they were happy.
Did my results change? No, they were the same.
What changed was my confidence in the service I was delivering.
Think about the type of experience you want your clients to have when they work with you - how do you want them to feel?
Once you know how you want your clients to feel, you can come up with simple ways to make that happen:
- 10% off on their birthday month
- A welcome pack when they sign with you (by welcome pack I mean a booklet explaining how you'll work together, containing contact details and your office hours etc)
- Sending a 'congratulations' email if they've reached a goal
Little things make a big difference.
Quick fix confidence boost
Put together a 5-10 minute routine to give you a BOOST in confidence when your imposter decides to show up.
This routine is going to be FUN.
It's all about getting excited, increasing your energy and raising your vibrations.
Vibrations? Say what?
We're all made up of energetic vibrations and, when it comes to the Law of Attraction, the higher vibration we are in, the more positive things we attract.
When we let imposter syndrome win, we spiral into a low vibration which leaves us feeling:
- Overwhelmed
- Stressed
- Having a 'lack' mentality
The Law of Attraction simply means 'like attracts like' so when we are listening to the imposter and do find ourselves in that negative headspace, we'll find ourselves attracting more negative things:
- Random bills
- Not signing any clients
- Losing all our ideas
Slightly off tangent for a sec...
When you create your routine - and it really can only be 5-10 minutes - think about ways that you can increase your energy and make yourself feel good.
When I need a quick fix confidence boost - often before live videos! - I'll put on my 'High Vibing' playlist on Spotify and dance around the house until I start to feel more energetic.
Before client calls, I always make sure my energy is high and I'm feeling positive so that I can show up as the best version of myself and ultimately, offer even better advice.
Here's a 10 minute example routine:
- 'I have the power to do the most incredible things' - repeat affirmation out loud for 1 minute, smiling as I say it
- 15 reasons I'm amazing at what I do - write an empowerment list which normally takes around 5 minutes
- Dance, dance, DANCE - Choose a song from my 'high vining' playlist and dance around like crazy for 3 minutes
- Deep breathing exercises to fill my body with positive energy for 1 minute