How do I know whether I have imposter syndrome - 7 Steps to overcome

How do I really know whether I'm suffering from imposter syndrome or not? Lot of people in the creative field are more subjected to have this particular imposter syndrome is what is the statistics telling? Okay, so how do you really know about it? If you're really suffering from that, how do you really overcome that? This podcast is going to address you with lot of statistics and data on how you can overcome that and how to even find out whether you have that or not. Okay, so take a lot of notes. Let's jump into this topic. First, let me tell you one thing guys. It is very vital to know whether you're really having that imposter syndrome. So what is that imposter syndrome? First of all, if you're self doubting yourself, if you're feared of something to expose yourself, definitely there is a chances that you might have that. See there are very fancy words and all these things which really tells this. But let me tell you, it's nothing guys, it's all in your mindset. How do you really understand that? A lot of people don't get into that clarity. Okay, so it is very vital to first write about yourself. That's why I always tell my students before learning any design thinking process or any Figma or any Adobe XD, first write about yourself at least 5,000 words or at least thousand words, or at least even 500 words. The moment when you write it you will know you have done lot of things in your life so far. See that is why if you are not doing this, what will happen is you will itself doubt yourself many times and people get into a trouble of this particular imposter syndrome. So how do I really understand Jagdish whether I have it or not? Okay, I'll tell you certain things which you can really find out whether you have that particular thing or not. Okay, so the very first thing I could say is ignoring all your achievements, you always down power yourself. You always attribute to got it through luck or some external support. And then you are very fearful to expose yourself like that. You are living in a constant anxiety like someone will discover something. You are not incompetent or you somehow got into this design field but sometimes you will be exposed and then you are constantly comparing yourself. Or maybe if you are over prepared and driven by some kind of fear, like oh, I need to be very perfect, I need to be very adequate, I need to work hard, then only I can make those presentation happen. Having lot of negative self talks. These are all the symptoms guys. Okay, so don't Worry about it. It's not a disease where you have to go and take medication. It's a mindset. Again I'm saying you okay. It's not a. It's not a disease or something People call it like that. A 2019 study published that International Journal of Behavioral Science found 70% of the people experience imposter symptom at some point in their life. It's very casual, guys. You're not the only one. 70% of the people. Hey Jagdish, I. I have all these things, whatever symptoms you said, but I don't feel like I'm an imposter symptom guy. That's superb guys. That's really good. See every people have certain degree of comparison, negative talk or over preparedness or having some fear of exposure to some degree.

Okay.

Maybe the extremities. If you go, you call yourself as a imposter symptom where a lot of people don't know this word under okay.

Right.

Lot of people might be hearing this word first time. Don't get worried or what you call thinking too much about it. It's all in your mindset. If you really find out a proper reason of why you wanted to learn design and if you come into that particular motivation into the design field, you will never experience all these things anyway. I'm going to give you some strategies and all, but I'm telling you, okay, so 2023 LinkedIn Learning report found that 61% of the creative professionals struggle with this imposter syndrome. Already told you, right? So there are a lot of negative impacts. In fact, 2018 study found that Journal of Personality and Social Psychology linked imposter syndrome to anxiety, depression and perfectionism. Perfectionism is a disease, guys. I take one day for my students to explain why becoming perfect is not good in design, they'll get into a lot of trouble. Frontiers in Psychology in 2020 study found that imposter symptom can lead to career indecision, decreased job satisfaction, lower performance even if you go to a good design field. What's the point? Design Lab study showed that 85% of the design students and professionals reported experience imposter symptoms. See Design Lab study found in 2023. 2022 a GUI blog article found that revealing the imposter symptom can hinder creativity, innovation and risk taking in design. People don't do that guys. That's the point. So you won't take any risk, you won't take any innovation, creativity and steps to show it. That's where you will get into a lot more trouble, you will get into a big problem. So first let me tell you guys, you need to acknowledge and understand this imposter syndrome, okay? If you're not having, it's okay. If you're having, you need to first acknowledge this. That's the very first step to overcome that. The second is celebrate your achievements. That's why I tell write about yourself. See, listening to this podcast or listening to some Gyan or watching some YouTube video will never change your life. Taking an action with an accountability, with a consistent habit pattern will only give you success. If you ask me who is God, I'll tell you habit is God. I'll tell you accountability is God. Because if people are not having that. See today in the day and age there are huge amount of content available in ChatGPT. Particularly Google has launched Bard, Gemini and YouTube and the Google search. Do you think information is a problem? Thousands of better design teachers will come in front of you if you switch on your Internet. But do you think all the designers are becoming successful? Less than 1% of the people get the most highest salaries in design. So the point is still there are 1 lakh plus vacancies available in design in India. You will not believe in 2025 it's going to be even 1.5 lakhs plus. It's all because of our mindset only nothing is there outside. Okay, so first we need to write about yourself. We need to understand that who we are as a person, people don't understand it. People don't have a proper accountability, people don't have a habit. People don't have a proper mentor who can guide. That's why they are just randomly different in different direction and they don't even know they are self doubting themselves and then they are not even noting then they are achievements. So please have a notepad ID take action immediately. Pause this podcast, write about yourself at least 500 words. I believe you would have done it because I have given a pass. So third thing is definitely join a mentorship program. I highly highly suggest you to join my program because I know the importance of it and I know how I have switched myself from engineering into design and how I felt really wide and gap. Having studied in the biggest college in the country and it's world level 35th ranked college NID and I went to exchange education for Germany, stayed there, I visited more than seven to eight countries, worked in 65 plus project talking with 15 to 16 different country designers, got one national award for a medical product design where I Designed UI and ux. So whatever I'm learning, I'm teaching to my community and students. As you can see in this podcast, how many value you're getting in this very short 10 or 15 minutes, right? So you can choose this mentorship program, but you can choose any mentorship program. Anything is better than nothing. Choose your own choice, but never do it on your own. It will take 150 years for you to figure out and become a successful person in design and creativity. You won't be able to do it alone. Guys, connect with mentors, peers for support. Okay, the fourth important thing is continuously you need to learn. See, how you become more competent is by learning is by equipping your skills, by understanding the basic concepts and taking projects and doing it right. That's how you overcome this particular imposter syndrome. If you have a good mentor who can put you in a learning process, who your mentor is, an implementer who is also learning continuously, then and only you will be able to overcome all these things. The fifth important thing is embrace a constructive feedback. See, instead of fearing the criticism, see feedback as an opportunity. It's a very important thing. People don't do that. So think about when somebody is saying, hey, your design is shitty, ask them politely, can you mean exactly what is mean by shitty here? Is my colors bad? Is my composition bad? Is my design bad? Is my visuals bad? Is my research not proper? Then you will know what is the feedback. Definitely go and improve on it. Okay, so you need to embrace that particular constructive feedback. The sixth is maintain a growth mindset. I always tell in my podcast, definitely have a mindset which is like learning, growing. Have a positive attitude so that. See, attitude is again, a vague word. Okay, so if you allow me to talk attitude, I'll go on for days to talk about it. But to just cut short what you really think in your life as a biggest value and what you think in your life as a biggest goal that determines your attitude of your life. If your goal is really high, your attitude will be also high. If your values are really high, your attitude will be really high. Automatically you will set things right and move forward. You will never even experience any kind of imposter syndrome, this, that and all.

Okay?

So seventh important thing is document your success stories. See, keep a record of your successful achievements. I told you right? To write about yourself. So separately do a achievement mapping.

Okay?

So share your journey to the others. Reflect on yourself first so that you will be feeling more endorphins segregated in your body so that you feel wonderful. Your self esteem goes up chemically. That's what happens. Let me recap you guys. The very first thing is acknowledge yourself. Yourself, your imposter syndrome activity or anything. Check the five things what I told you like self doubt, perfectionism and having fear of exposing and having a comparison. And I mean compare all these things and just first acknowledge it.

Okay?

The second important thing is celebrate your achievements. Write a journal about yourself, 5,000 or thousand or even 500 words and just see how you're feeling. After that, 100% sure you'll feel great about it, guys.

Okay?

And see, I'll tell you one more thing. I'm not just leaving you this podcast just like that you can write what did you really feel in this podcast? After writing about yourself, you can definitely send an email, guys. See, leave all these gifts. Definitely I'll be giving you an T shirt or any kind of a goodies as a gift for the selected users who are replying in this podcast. But beyond that, let me tell you guys, it's for you, what you're doing, okay? If I see that if you're sending an email to dfc, design for change about yourself, writing about yourself in a paper and sending it to me, definitely I'll be giving you a very good mentorship and a one on one support for you. Again, I cannot do it. For all the people around 23 country people are design listening to this podcast, I cannot give for thousands of students. I can select a few students who are damn seriously interested in listening to my podcast every single day. Because I have the data, I know who is listening to a lot more content. So I'll be definitely giving you clarity because if you show the interest of writing about yourself, I'll show 100% interest of how you can improve your career and accelerate your design growth. Okay, I'm giving you this as a additional gift, guys. Okay? The third important thing is seeking a mentorship and support. Fourth is continuous learning. Fifth is embracing a constructive feedback. Six is having grown minds growth mindset. And seventh is documenting your success stories. If you're able to do it, guys, definitely you will not feel any kind of a syndrome imposter this that There is no point in talking like that.

Okay?

I hope this podcast would have given you a great light in why it is very important for a creative designers to throw all this imposter syndrome mindset under all. Okay, so take a lot. Take a. What do you call. Take a deep breath and take a. What you call lot of energy and aspiration from your community or around you or your goals, your vision and mission and values, you will never feel anything about this, guys.

Okay?

So thank you so much, guys. Connect with me. If you need a support, you can send an email. I'll be helping out in my mentorship program right now. Admissions are going on and if you are really interested and if our team is also interviewing you and finding out that you're doing damn Serious will be helping out. This okay. Thank you so much. Take care. All the best. We'll see you in another episode. Bye.

Bye.