“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t”.
Just like fear, imposter syndrome is something that disrupts our confidence on a daily basis. It checks on us even when we are equipped with the knowledge, connections, titles, corner offices—anything we think we need to be worthy. The sad news is that imposter syndrome doesn’t easily go away, as every level in life attracts new challenges and new experiences. The good news is, as we begin a new year, you can kick it out anytime you encounter it, and all this requires is a conscious level of self-awareness and avoiding self-sabotage.
Growing up in Burkina Faso in a family of five, I never knew that I would be separated from family at the age of 19 to go live the American Dream. I moved to the USA with a student visa in 2008 after graduating from high school to further my education. I grew up speaking French and Moore. I never lacked anything, since my dad was a chemical engineer. Everything changed when I landed in the USA: I encountered many challenges, and I had to work full time under the table while going to school full-time and maintaining a high GPA so I could secure benefits like the Atlanta Campus Scholarship and any other funding I qualified for. My life began filling up with unpleasant encounters such as chronic illness, loneliness, deception, etc. Yet, I kept climbing the ladder because I always believed that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. When I entered the corporate world in America, I thought that I was going to have a breakthrough, but instead, life became very stressful.
Corporate America can really be a jungle. There were times that I would stay silent with my ideas during meetings, thinking that they were not good enough or in fear of any follow-up questions that would come in after I spoke. Also, working in a male-dominated environment deepened my silence for a while—I couldn’t speak up for myself, and quite often, I would let mistreatment from people toward me go unchecked. These later affected my career growth to the point that I would also be mistreated by my supervisor without speaking up, thinking that they were doing me a favor by allowing me to work for them. It came to a point where I had to overperform to impress those around me—people-pleasing became the order and a way of seeking acceptance. I was doing too much, wanted to get things right all the time, became a workaholic, embraced superhero traits, became the go-to person, worked solo to prove that I was independent, and took on “doing it all” as the order of the day. Despite doing all this, I ended up being used and manipulated at the end of it all.
Additionally, as a foreign woman of color, one of my biggest challenges has always been my accent: I have had to repeat myself several times to be understood, and this experience has been my main devil, preventing me from speaking up or sharing my thoughts. In some scenarios during work meetings, I would be so hesitant to even raise a hand to share my views because of that feeling that I didn’t belong. I would end up volunteering to take minutes to avoid contributing to important matters. Being an immigrant made it worse whereby on some occasions, I would stay silent not because I had no idea what the topic was, but because of my accent—anytime I opened my mouth to speak, instead of people listening to me, someone would immediately switch the conversation to asking, “Are you really a national here? That accent!”
Imposter syndrome would manifest in places where I truly deserved a seat at a high table—I would get hesitant to show up, choose to stay low key, or sometimes even stay behind.
Well, despite all this, below is how I have learned to deal with imposter syndrome:
- I dare to seek opportunities and to embark on tough projects that enable me to get out of my comfort zone—it is hard, but it gets easier with time.
- I seek mentorship from my peers and feedback from colleagues to commit to self-mastery.
- I believe that I am worthy and valuable despite anything those little voices say.
- I pay attention to imposter syndrome patterns, and I have become more aware of them.
- Day by day, I keep learning to set boundaries so that I avoid the urge of doing too much for people to like me. This requires a higher level of self-awareness to accept, and I now understand my weaknesses, so I find ways of continuous improvement (i.e., separating my feelings from the facts).
One major consequence of imposter syndrome is self-sabotage. This is predominantly true whenever you belong to a group that harbors stereotypes about competence, especially in STEM fields. Observing your thoughts, letting them go, and questioning them more critically is always a learning curve. As you probably already know, the more you practice a skill, the better you will get at it. Examining your emotions can help, even more so when you share what you’re feeling with trusted friends or mentors. It is important to note that most people experience moments of doubt—that's normal! What’s important is not to let the doubts take over. Recognize that imposter syndrome happens to everyone, and everyone experiences it at some point.
Learn from the majority. It is also important to join networks/groups like ISACA’s SheLeadsTech initiative under One In Tech (an ISACA Foundation) and the ISACA Mentorship program, which is aimed at coaching and mentoring ISACA members. Here, you will meet with people of similar interests, aspirations, or roles, and hear about experiences that you can learn from.
Lastly, anytime that voice of unworthiness chimes in that tells me that I am inadequate or not good enough, I silence it immediately, because I am confident that am capable of bringing something to the table I deserve a seat at. Just a friendly reminder, everyone: even the most incredibly skilled and talented among us deal with imposter syndrome. It doesn’t spare anyone. You only must recognize it and deal with it head-on.