Common Characteristics of a Clutter Clearer – Imposter Syndrome
IMPOSTER SYNDROME
Imposter Syndrome is chronic self-doubt, specifically in relation to your skills, accomplishments, and ability.
People who struggle with Imposter Syndrome suffer crippling doubt about their abilities. They feel inadequate or incompetent, constantly compare themselves to others despite clear evidence of their achievements, and they have a fear that they will be exposed as a ‘fraud.’
They are uncomfortable with taking the credit for their success, often because of anxiety. They will often feel like they don’t ‘deserve’ their success, and they usually feel like any success is not sustainable – hence the fear that they will be exposed as a ‘fraud’.
70% of people are likely to experience imposter syndrome at some point in their life. Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Sheryl Sandberg, Neil Armstrong and Olivia Colman have all admitted they struggle with it.
Imposter Syndrome is very common with people who struggle with clutter because not only are we perfectionists, but we also struggle to acknowledge the significance of our successes. Signs you may struggle with Imposter Syndrome include that you:
- Compare yourself to other people on the Journey
- Have found yourself thinking or saying ‘yes, but……’ in relation to your Successes
- Struggle to do your Success / Gratitude Journal consistently because you struggle to notice successes, or judge or dismiss them as insignificant
7 Ways to Manage Imposter Syndrome
- Remember that YOUR success is unique to you and not related to other people’s success.
- Focus on the SIGNIFICANCE of your successes, not the size.
- SHARE your successes with people who understand and appreciate the significance of them e.g in the VIP Circle, and allow others to acknowledge and celebrate them with you.
- Set and protect your BOUNDARIES with people who only focus on your physical clutter and don’t recognise the significance of all your successes.
- CONSISTENTLY use your Success Gratitude Journal to quantify and ‘see’ your significant successes every day.
- Ensure you practice 10 minutes of SELF-CARE daily.Quiet time, time in nature, reading etc are all easy daily self-care activities that don’t take much effort.
EXPLORE and understand your feelings and experiences with the help of a therapist / counsellor to ensure it doesn’t sabotage your Journey.
10 SIGNS
OF IMPOSTER SYNDROME
- Extreme lack of self confidence – you struggle to trust others, are overly sensitive to criticism
- Feelings of inadequacy – you struggle to accept praise, think or believe you are not doing ‘enough’, and you overcompensate by trying to ‘do it all’
- Constant comparison – to other people, feeling inferior, you think other people are doing better than you
- Anxiety – particularly in relation to performance or the speed of progress
- Self doubt – you focus on any negatives or ‘mistakes’, you joke about yourself in a negative way
- Distrust – your intuition, capabilities, other people. You usually play it safe with decision making (might come in useful, just in case)
- Negative self-talk – you blame yourself when things go wrong, you are critical about yourself and your progress
- Dwelling on the past – you dismiss achievements by focusing on, referencing and replaying negative past expereinces, you get stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts
- Irrational fears of the future – to the extent they are negatively affecting and interfering with your present, you resist thinking about the speficics of your Best Life
- Dismissing – compliments, acknowledgements, thanks or congratulations from others
You can clear your clutter fast, or you can clear your clutter forever, but you can’t clear your clutter forever, fast.
If you NEED to clear your clutter and you’re ready to accept that you can’t clear it forever FAST, click on this link and visit my Help Centre to find out how I can help you get started. https://www.clutterclearing.net/clares-help-centre/
