From the course: Cultivating Presence and Impact in a Live and Virtual World

Women and men are judged differently on their potential

From the course: Cultivating Presence and Impact in a Live and Virtual World

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Women and men are judged differently on their potential

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- One of the first strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome and owning your success is to get really clear on what your strengths are. Take out a pice of paper and write down 10 attributes, accomplishments, it could be a short phrase, something that you know you have experience with and accomplishment that you've had. Take about 5, 10 minutes to start that list. And the goal here is to give yourself the time and space to really think about those qualities, those attributes and fill it up to 10 and then keep it somewhere handy that you can reference for at least once a day for a week straight. Many people find that if you do something for 21 days in a row, it can create a habit. I personally feel like if you have something that you invest time in for a week straight, what's going to happen is this. By looking at a list that tells you what your strengths are and reminds you of the value that you bring to the world, you'll start to ask yourself questions like am I using these strengths in my day-to-day work? Have I made my manager, my peers, my teammates aware that I have this strength? That I can help out in this capacity? I can contribute in a greater way? I find that if you look at a list like this, at least once a day for a week straight, it starts to influence the lens that you judge your day-to-day experiences. Maybe you start to realize that some of those strengths are not being utilized at work. Maybe your manager isn't aware that you have these talents or have these previous accomplishments and you could be offering your talents in a greater capacity. It helps us also think about what we enjoy doing. What about those strengths make us feel really confident? And the connection of owning your strengths back to imposter syndrome and overcoming it is this. Imposter syndrome is not about gaining new skills, it's about being confident and owning those that you have. So that's our foundation. Talking about confidence, knowing that this big barrier that gets in our way, is it self-doubt? And other people judging are we ready? Are we worthy? And so the more time that you spend on articulating and first, really knowing what you have to offer that helps you get clear on it and be able to speak about it more freely, more authentically. So then the second step is you have to practice talking about your strengths. So the next exercise would be take a couple of the strengths on that list of 10 and think about specific scenarios, times where you had success at work, outside it, in the community, everything is on the table here, and think about your unique contribution using that strength. That helps us better be able to describe what it is that we have to offer.

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