Sarah never really thought of herself as being anything more than an individual contributor until one day, a Vice President on her way out happened to mention, “You know I think you’re smart enough to be a Vice President here.”
Sarah almost spit out her coffee - it was not only a surprise but set off a chain reaction.
It got her thinking…
She knew her job inside and out, and was a solid rock at the company for over a decade.
The thought of taking on new responsibilities…a new post…that moved her up the corporate ladder scared her.
❌ What if she didn’t know that much?
❌ What if she failed?
❌ What if the VP was wrong (totally possible right?!)
As the what if’s piled up, Sarah realized she was swirling around in a mental tailspin because she was self-inflicting feelings of incompetence and downplaying her success.
In other words, imposter syndrome had struck.
It was a clear reminder that she shouldn’t really do anything different.
Like Sarah, so many of my clients, especially women corporate leaders, experience imposter syndrome.
In fact, 70% of women (and men btw) experience this phenomenon.
Can you relate?
When we feel stuck or downplay our success like Sarah, we don’t take risks and feel shocked when we are praised for our success!
If you are feeling incompetent or downplay your success, or attribute where you’re at because you’re “just lucky,” message me "reframe" and I'll send you some tools.
This is what I help corporate women leaders do all the time - identify what the root causes of the blocks and create a new paradigm to think and behave from.
It’s totally possible, and YES, you can get past this.
XO
Rachael
PS I'm hosting a free masterclass that will help you with this Tuesday, Dec 6th to focus on the positive and do things different - something that you can also apply to imposter syndrome. Register here.