If such characteristics as over-preparation or procrastination, perfectionism, super-heroism, fear of failure or success, and the denial of own competence are about you, than you are most likely to have imposter syndrome (Huecker et al., 2023). It is especially common among high-performing people who have deep knowledge and expertise. Still, they doubt their abilities and competence. This imposter syndrome worksheet will help you detect this issue and find ways to overcome it to improve performance and grow personally and professionally.

1. Detection of the Imposter Issue

Situations in which one may feel like an imposter may differ. Find examples of different characteristics of imposter syndrome below.

Imagine a situation when a person writes a story, but then constantly adds something or rewrites some parts without publishing it, thinking that it i still not good enough to be read. Such a case shows their fear of failure and perfectionism.

Another example is when a person has a lot of great ideas and plans how to realize them, but does not start acting because of fears or procrastination.

There can be a case when a person wants to be a super-hero through hard work, the need to know everything in the world, or super-achievements to feel confident in their competence and expertise. One may feel not good enough asking for help in the task they think that they could do on their own.

Although it may seem that such situations may help such persons achieve success or give them a great impetus for high achievements, there are negative impacts:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Burnout
• Exhaustion
• Fears to take action and realize ideas

You can detect imposter syndrome if you have the following thoughts:

• Being too concerned about achieving super-results
• Polishing your work without finishing it and delivering the result
• Fearing that you are not good enough for others
• Focusing on finding subjective signs of imagined incompetence
• Wanting to show super-achievements

2. Imposter Syndrome Worksheet

The following worksheet that you can download in the PDF format and fill in can help you change your thoughts from feeling like an imposter to a self-confident person, realizing one’s self-worth.

The Imposter Syndrome Worksheet includes the following parts:

• Identifying imposter thoughts
• Determining triggers and causes
• Challenging or addressing such thoughts
• Reframing them

Start with writing down your thoughts by recalling the situation when you felt like an imposter.

Proceed with analyzing what factors might cause your imposter syndrome:

• People
• Social media
• Place
• Too high personal standards
• Situation or circumstances

The Imposter Syndrome Worksheet can help you challenge your imposter thoughts through finding evidence of your achievements and skills. Stop comparing yourself to others or, even more importantly, the distorted social media reality. Think that your knowledge and skills are real, while social media images may be fake.

Researchers like Huecker et al. (2023) state that if you suffer from anxiety or depression caused by imposter syndrome, psychotherapy is a method to manage the issue.

Finally, the goal is to reframe your thoughts. In other words, start changing your thinking by noticing and focusing on any small achievement or positive action.

3. Strategies to Overcome Imposter Syndrome

Use the Worksheet above for self-reflection:

• Fill in all empty fields, enumerating points
• Reflect on your thoughts
• Track progress and refill the Worksheet within the set time – 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year

Another strategy is to add evidence of all your strengths identified as a result of using different self-assessment tools for personal development. Write down all these strengths in the empty field for Challenging Imposter Thoughts in the Worksheet. Focus on strong points helping you achieve tasks:

• Communication
• Leadership
• Analytical skills
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Strategic thinking

Consider these skills as more important than the volume of knowledge. You cannot know everything, but the ability to think critically, analyze, find a creative solution, and communicate effectively can help you in decision making more than the information amount only.

Takeaways

Although you may be motivated by the need for super-achievements, imposter syndrome may have its downsides like procrastination, failure to act, anxiety, and fears. Take time to fill in the Worksheet above (around 10 minutes) to understand whether you suffer from imposter syndrome:

• Recall the situation that made you feel like an imposter
• Write down what might cause such feelings
• Enumerate all possible factors
• Find evidence for and against such feelings
• Reframe your way of thinking
• Use strategies above to focus on your strengths
• Reassess your thinking patterns by refilling the Worksheet

Has this Worksheet helped you identify your imposter thinking patterns? Share in comments and subscribe to the Newsletter to get educational information first.

Reference

Huecker, M. R., Shreffler, J., McKeny, P. T., & Davis, D. (2023). Imposter phenomenon. In StatPearls [eBook]. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585058/