Tag: #pq

Increase Your Self-Confidence to Overcome Impostor Syndrome

Post author By mgauthier
Post date September 10, 2024

Leaders often face unique challenges in their careers, and moments of doubt and uncertainty can sometimes give rise to impostor syndrome. This pervasive feeling of inadequacy can affect even the most accomplished individuals, leading to self-questioning, missed opportunities, and burnout. However, by adopting practical strategies to boost self-confidence, leaders can overcome impostor syndrome and thrive in their roles.

Set Achievable Goals and Celebrate Small Wins

Start by setting achievable goals and celebrating small wins. When you break down larger goals into manageable tasks, you create a clear path forward, making your objectives more attainable. Each completed task becomes an opportunity to celebrate progress, vital for maintaining motivation and reinforcing positive behavior. Whether it’s sharing your achievements with your team, expressing gratitude to those who supported you, or indulging in a well-deserved self-care activity, recognizing these victories helps to combat self-doubt and build confidence.

Practice Self-Care and Prioritize Mental Health

Self-care and mental health should be top priorities for any leader. Taking care of yourself enhances your ability to handle stress and uncertainty, boosting your confidence and sense of self-worth. Self-care can take many forms, from getting enough sleep and exercise to spending quality time with loved ones. Whatever your preferred method, integrating self-care into your daily routine is essential for maintaining your well-being and sustaining your leadership journey.

Seek Feedback and Support from Trusted Sources

Seeking feedback and support from trusted sources is another powerful way to reinforce self-confidence. Surround yourself with mentors, colleagues, and friends who have your best interests and can provide honest and constructive feedback. Their perspectives can help you see your strengths more clearly and validate your accomplishments. Additionally, connecting with like-minded individuals who share similar challenges can provide valuable support and encouragement.

Embrace Vulnerability and Take Risks

Embracing vulnerability and taking risks are also critical components in overcoming impostor syndrome. The fear of failure or being exposed as a fraud often underpins these feelings, but stepping out of your comfort zone allows you to grow and learn. This willingness to take risks challenges self-doubt and strengthens your leadership capabilities. Moreover, embracing vulnerability can deepen your connections with others and foster stronger relationships.

Identify your Strengths and Accomplishments

Identifying your strengths and accomplishments is crucial in building self-confidence. Start by listing your skills and abilities—whether it’s effective communication, problem-solving, or expertise in a specific area. Also, document your accomplishments, big and small, such as successfully leading a project or achieving a personal milestone. Focusing on these positives reinforces your self-worth and empowers you to face challenges with greater assurance.

Practice Positive Self-Talk

Lastly, practice positive self-talk to counteract the negative thoughts that fuel impostor syndrome. The way you talk to yourself has a profound impact on your confidence and self-esteem. Negative self-talk can reinforce feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy, while positive self-talk can help you to build confidence and self-worth.

We leverage the framework of Positive Intelligence® to strengthen mental fitness muscles and weaken the impostor syndrome self-talk.

To practice positive self-talk, start by becoming aware of your inner critic. When you think negatively, challenge and replace those thoughts with positive ones.

For example, if you think, “I’m not good enough,” challenge that thought by reminding yourself of your strengths and accomplishments. By applying the strategies of Positive Intelligence®, you can take control your inner critics, aka your saboteurs, instead of the saboteurs controlling your inner dialogue. Positive Intelligence® will help you build confidence and self-esteem.

Overcoming impostor syndrome is a journey that involves embracing your strengths, setting realistic goals, and fostering a positive mindset. By celebrating small wins, prioritizing self-care, seeking feedback, and practicing positive self-talk, you can gradually build self-confidence and silence the inner critic that fuels self-doubt. Remember, it’s okay to be vulnerable and take risks—these steps are essential for growth and self-assurance. With persistence and the right strategies, you can transform your mindset and truly own your successes.

If you’re ready to power up your leadership presence and conquer impostor syndrome, join my colleague, Anita Torres, PCC, and me in our live virtual advanced program. The PowerUp Your Leadership Presence – Beat Impostor Syndrome Using Positive Intelligence® program starts October 4th.

For more information and to register.

Tags #growthmindset, #impostersyndrome, #impostorsyndrome, #leadershipcoaching, #mentalfitness, #positiveintelligence, #pq, #redworkscoaching, #saboteurs

Redworks Blog (all posts)

My Impostor Story

Post author By mgauthier
Post date February 15, 2024

As a certified leadership coach, I work with leaders who struggle with impostor syndrome – those negative voices telling you you’re not good enough or don’t know enough. If you can relate, you’re not alone.

As a solo entrepreneur, I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome as well. I struggled the most when creating and delivering workshops and presentations.

The issue was me comparing myself to others. My inner critics would say, “You’re not as good as so and so,” “You will never measure up to that person because they are better than you.” My inner voices would also say, “What the heck do you know about this topic area?” and “They know more than you.”

I often second-guessed myself wondering if my work was good enough, if it was creative enough. I would also be asking myself, “How would she say this?”

Then, when it came time to deliver the presentations and the workshops, my inner critics reared their ugly heads again and said, “Who are you to say these things? “Why should they listen to you? “and “You’re going to bore them.” Ouch.

These thoughts stressed me out, and I realized that I had a choice to make – I had to stop this toxic inner dialogue or stop doing this work, which I was not willing to do.

So, I decided to do something about the negative thoughts.

As a coach, I use lots of different tools to support leaders. I coached myself and started reframing my negative thoughts to positive ones to flip the script.

I considered what made me unique and different from other trainers and coaches. I focused on my special skills, knowledge, and attitude. Once I started doing this, I could better manage the negative thoughts, making me feel more confident about the content and my leadership presence.

Positive Intelligence: Strengthen Your Mental Fitness Level

Another tool I now use to help grow my confidence and leadership presence is Positive Intelligence®, created by Shirzad Chamine, and it has been a game changer.

Positive Intelligence® is all about strengthening our mental fitness which is our capacity to respond to life’s challenges with a positive rather than a negative mindset.

Saboteurs

I know now that the inner critics I was experiencing were my saboteurs. The Judge and my stickler accomplice saboteurs were responsible for much of my stress and negative mind chatter.

The Sage

The counterpart to the Saboteurs is the Sage, which generates positive emotions while handling life’s challenges.

The Sage is responsible for empathy, compassion, gratitude, curiosity, the joy of creativity, and calm, clear-headed action. The five Sage strategies are empathize, explore, innovate, navigate, and activate.

The Saboteur voices that compared me to others are not gone, but through Positive Intelligence®, using the five Sage strategies, I have been able to lower their volume. My Saboteurs are losing power, and I am more in command of my thoughts and emotions.

Positive Intelligence® helps me everyday and it can help you as well. If you’re ready to power up your leadership presence and address impostor syndrome, join my colleague, Anita, the Passionista, Torres, PCC, and me in our live virtual program called, ‘Power UP Your Leadership Presence: How to Beat Impostor Syndrome.’

This virtual and highly interactive program is designed to help women leaders develop strategies to combat impostor syndrome and cultivate self-worth and self-confidence, which are essential for overall well-being and success.

For more information and to register.