Ever had that feeling like you're about to be busted for not deserving your accomplishments? We often refer to this voice of self-doubt as imposter syndrome. Coined by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, it’s described as that sneaky doubt that haunts a lot of us. Surprisingly, it's not just a few people—it affects 82% of people! This tricky phenomenon hits hard, especially among the high achievers. It's like thinking luck or some cosmic fluke is behind all your wins, not your hard work. And while imposter syndrome can affect anyone, unfortunately it tends to hit women even harder.

Before diving into how you can expose your imposter syndrome for the imposter it is, let's start by reframing this term. Let’s stop calling it imposter syndrome. You DO NOT have a syndrome (or maybe you do, but it 100% is not imposter syndrome). You have imposter thoughts.

And the good news? You have the power to change this around. Confidence is a muscle that can be trained. It doesn't require magic tricks or delving into past traumas. Your imposter thoughts are simply neural pathways that have become too dominant. You have reinforced you do not belong, are not smart enough, don't deserve a seat at the table for too long. But guess what: these thoughts are not the real. It's a bunch of BS and we're going to change this around.

Will it be fixed within a day? Nope. Chances are you've been living with this inner critic for quite some time. Therefore, it'll take some time to find your voice of strength again. But mastering the art of working effectively with your own self-doubt is a crucial life skill. So let's not waste anymore time and get to it!

Recognize your Inner Critic

At MOXIE we use a simple but powerful exercise. We give our participants two minutes to write all of their flaws down on a piece of paper. After that, we do the same with their strengths. Seeing your inner dialogue on paper is usually a fast (and pretty shocking) way to understand your inner dialogue.

Seperate Yourself from your Inner Critic

Once you recognize the sound of your inner critic, you have the power to change it. From now on, whenever you hear the inner critic talking, you separate yourself from the inner critic and reclaim your true identity. Tell yourself, "Oh! That's my inner critic," to distance yourself from its influence and no longer take direction from whatever the voice is telling you. The key is to understand that the inner critic does not define you. Your aspirations and inner wisdom are at the core of who you really are.

Listen to you Inner Critic (for a sec)

When you hear your inner critic, ask the voice ‘what are you trying to protect me from?’. Once you’ve created an inner critic character, you can actually ask that character what it's motivation is. When you know the root of the critic’s intentions you can respond with ‘thanks so much for your input, but I’ve got this one covered’.

Remember: the goal is not to fully eliminate your inner critic, as that’s an impossible job. It’s to just ‘let your inner critic be’. Recognise what it’s got to say and don’t take any directions from it.

Arm yourself to talk back to your Inner Critic

Our favourite assignment! Whenever your imposter thoughts slip in, it’s usually difficult to meet it with reason again. You feel like you suck at everything and forget to see all the amazing things you’ve done that helped you to be where you are and why you’re the best. To help yourself in periods of self doubt, we strongly recommend keeping a hype-girl journal for yourself. In this hype-girl journal, you write down all your achievements, all compliments you’ve ever gotten, all the awesome personality traits you possess and basically why you are the absolute best. To fill your hype-girl journal, block 15 mins in your calendar every week on a time that suits you to add stuff to it.

Seek new examples

Lastly we recommend you to seek out new examples and role models. It’s difficult to be what you can’t see, which is a common experience for women who lack visible examples of individuals like themself that are thriving in their chosen paths. Finding examples of individuals that look like yourself will help you thrive. Read more about this here (link to other posts).

Want to equip yourself with more shit to feel more confident and let go of imposter thoughts? Join a MOXIE course now!