Do you sometimes think that you can't do anything at all?

I stood in the middle of the room rambling out loud into nothingness and suddenly my breath caught in my throat. I got enormous sweaty armpits, the sweat collected in my palms and my heartbeat gave it an extra little kick. Only one sentence buzzed through my head: but I can't do this at all? Quite awkward when you're booked to give a training the next day. By the way, this wasn't the first time, this feeling often overcomes me when I have to do something new.

I had it during my first adult job interview. I had it when writing my first piece for Amayzine, it hit me during that one travel column for a nice magazine and I also had it the day before giving my first big training. The mindfuck of this whole issue is that I can do it, but sometimes my mind decides to pretend that I can't. Not funny at all, in that respect my mind has a terrible sense of humor. It is also a relief that this little issue has a name, the imposter syndrome.

The imposter syndrome is loosely translated as the fraud syndrome. When your mind doesn't pull these annoying tricks on you, you actually gain confidence by landing a new job or an awesome career opportunity. Because hey, they don't ask you for nothing, right? For people who have a medium light touch of the imposter syndrome, it works the other way around. You wonder when you will be found out and people will realize that you have no idea what you're doing.

What do I do when this feeling suddenly takes hold of me? I make sure to dive into what I need to do like a madman. My preparation takes absurd forms. This is not the solution, emphasizes Ben Tiggelaar in the NRC, because this only causes unnecessary stress. I can relate to that a bit. After all, I can do it, the imposter syndrome is really only in your head, so why make myself unnecessarily more anxious?

The solution is a stripped-down version of cognitive behavioral therapy, Tiggelaar explains. It's quite simple. Examine your own thoughts and try to adjust them. Ask yourself where those negative thoughts lead you and what (positive!) thoughts you can replace them with. So the next time you suddenly think you can't do something unjustly, you know what to do. Take a deep breath and talk to that delightful feeling in your head.

Sometimes I find myself chuckling hard inside. Because imagine if someone were to discover that I understand nothing? Fortunately, I have now mastered a technique that helps particularly well with that. And so far, people I work with still claim that I understand everything reasonably well and don't spout complete nonsense. Another little win.

Source: NRC