Do you ever feel like an imposter?

Like a fake or a fraud, and that people are going to find out? Apparently common, even among those we know as geniuses.

I meet many entrepreneurs who have fears and insecurities as they build their empires, price their services, and get behind their marketing and strategy.

If you struggle with an inner view of yourself, despite how you present yourself to the world, you’ll find some comfort and belonging knowing that you’re amongst 70% of the population that feels an imposter syndrome at some time.

I interviewed Veronica Hislop to shed some light on this limiting belief that stunts our potential. She explains the Imposter Syndrome and provides great tips and strategies on how to overcome it.

Veronica describes the imposter syndrome as a  core belief that oneself is inadequate, incompetent, and a failure,  despite evidence that indicates they’re skilled and successful.

What amazed me most is that even genius people like Albert Einstein and famous people like Maya Angelou admitted to thinking they were an imposter!

Here’s to your future authenticity. No imposter syndrome required.  Be fearless, be YOU and be rich!

Penny

Here’s the interview. Transcribed for reading below or as an audio file for a quick listen.  Your authentic self will thank you.

Penny: Well good morning everyone, it’s Penny Tremblay here, from the Tremblay Leadership Center and you know one of the things that I often hear, the undertone of what people talk to me about, in business and really showing up in their strong and confident and powerful self is fear. I met an amazing lady. Her name is Veronica Hislop and she is with a company called Em-Powered Solutions. She talked to me a little bit about this imposter syndrome and I got so excited because I thought, “That is definitely somebody I want to interview.”

Penny: So she’s here today. Welcome Veronica, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Veronica: Hi, good morning. Thank you for inviting me, and it’s a pleasure for me to speak with you. I’m, as you introduced me, Veronica Hislop of Em-Powered Solutions. I’m a woman’s empowerment strategist and I work with entrepreneurs, not only women but that’s my niche market, but working with entrepreneurs to help them to manage their stress, prioritize their needs and set healthy boundaries so that they can focus on their business, get clear, get focused, get grounded so that they can make massive success in their business. That’s essentially what I do.

Penny: That’s great, and I was so happy to meet you at the recent Toastmaster convention. So, what is the imposter syndrome?

Veronica: Well, let me just say that I met a lot of smart, intelligent people, you know, CEOs, executives and when I zero down and when we’re talking, what really comes up is this feeling of inadequacy, self-doubt, lack of confidence, and then when you go on a deeper level, interpersonal level, you really see that they’re struggling with their inner view of themselves which is very different from how their presenting to the outer world.

Veronica: So you really get a sense that what they’re struggling with is Imposter Syndrome. It’s the core belief that you are inadequate, that you’re incompetent, and that you’re a failure despite the evidence that indicates that you’re skilled and you’re successful. And essentially people feel it at their core that they are frauds and they are fakes and that people are gonna find out that that’s how they feel about themselves and that’s how they see themselves.

Veronica: This was something identified in the 70s by Pauline Clance, when she was doing research with women in academia, and then they began to expand their research but it wasn’t just a female issue, but it was an issue affecting a lot of people. And recently we’ve heard many people in the entertainment field, Tina Fey, Mike Meyers, Maya Angelou, I mean Nobel- no, yeah, she was a Nobel Prize winner. She talked about feeling like she was a fraud and that she was gonna be found out. That she wasn’t really as confident in herself as she presented to the world.

Veronica: Albert Einstein, and I’ll give you a quote, he said, “The exaggerated esteem in which my life work was held makes me very ill at ease, and I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.” Albert Einstein.

Veronica: So this is something that affects at least 70% of the population at some point in time.

Penny: So how does it affect female entrepreneurs? Or how does it affect entrepreneurs?

Veronica: Well, we question ourselves, we may self-sabotage, we lack confidence, we compare ourselves to others, it’s that negative, inner, critical bullying voice that says, “You can’t do that. You the hell do you think you are? You’re not good enough. Do you really think that you should be putting yourself out there?”

Veronica: All of that monkey mind crazy stuff that goes on in our brains.

Penny: And I’m laughing because not only does that so fit with me at times, but I know so many women who will be watching this who are in my circle, my network, and they’ll be saying, “Yes. Check mark, check mark, check mark, check mark. That’s me, that’s me.” And then they’ll be saying, “How do I get rid of it?”

Penny: So, give us a quick tip or a strategy, you know, an action.

Veronica: The first thing that you really have to get is very tough with yourself and begin to shift from that critic mindset and embrace that coaching paradigm. It’s a paradigm shift that you’ve gotta make in your head to shift from being a critic to being a coach. Your own personal coach. And the quicker you make that shift the more successful you’re going to be.

Veronica: So it’s moving from being very deconstructive, being negative and critical to being more constructive, more empowering, more positive in terms of your thinking. So not blaming yourself, taking responsibility, not being negative, being more positive, being more affirming. Being more compassionate and kind to yourself.

Veronica: Talking to yourself in more of an encouraging way than being discouraging. Not focusing on the fear. Shifting more to focusing on confidence. Not thinking, “I can’t,” but looking more in terms of “I can” and “I will, and not seeing things being awful and terrible and catastrophising, but more, “I’m okay.” You know, “I did good.” And not seeing things as being a challenge, but seeing things as being an adventure.

Veronica: And even a little bit of a game. Having fun with all of this and not taking ourselves so seriously. And thinking of yourself as a winner, as a champion. Becoming your own best friend. Catching those imposter syndrome thoughts and turning them around in your favor.

Veronica: And keeping track of your successes.

Penny: That’s it. I was in a seminar yesterday and a beautiful, young financial advisor lady said that we should have a list of accomplishments instead of a list of to-do items all of the time, and-

Veronica: A get done list.

Penny: Right. I’ve seen that as a ta-da list instead of a to-do list, you know? Where you’re like a little kid going like “Ta-da!” I do this.

Penny: But Veronica, I really wanna thank you for diving into this topic of imposter syndrome because when you said that Maya Angelou and Albert Einstein had these things, I think even just that. Recognizing that people who have done great things in the world, people who have been Nobel Prize winners and authors and people whose quotes we live by today have also had this same sense of self-doubt and self-worth, which just means it’s probably normal and maybe it’s a really good [inaudible 00:07:41] stress way of driving us forward to be better. You know?

Veronica: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Penny: Thinking that we’re it and all and everything we can be, maybe we would just be more stagnant and not push.

Veronica: Absolutely. Heres another story. Jennifer Lopez sold 70 million dollars worth of albums, and she still turned around and questioned herself as to whether she was good at what she was doing.

Veronica: So it’s … it’s something that I think we will all kind of experience at some point in time. I don’t think imposter syndrome ever goes away, but you will catch it, you will recognize it, you’ll acknowledge, “Aha, imposter syndrome, I see you. And you’re not gonna get the better of me on this one.” And just being aware of it and having some tools in your back pocket that you can use to turn it around. Because it’s all in your mind, right? Mindset.

Penny: Well and fear and insecurities are what hold us back from living into that full power and doing the greatest things we can do with our time and energy, so this is really, really helpful information.

Penny: You mentioned that you have a imposter syndrome kick-your-ass guide to recovery program coming up, and so just point us in the right direction where any listeners might wanna go and find out more information about that.

Veronica: They can connect with me on my website, on my, yeah, at www.empowered-solutions.ca, or vhislop@sympatico.ca , you can fire me a quick email, but either one of those ways, connect with me. You can get on the email list for the course and when it will be launched, and we have a lot more tips and tricks and tools in that course that you’re gonna kick imposter syndrome out that window. And you’ll know when it comes up and you’ll know, “Okay, I can do this to get me over this,” and move very quickly so that you get out of your own way.

Penny: What a fabulous gift that you’re bringing to the world of entrepreneurs and just so important. I do an activity on posture and it’s not a similar thing, but it is, I believe that getting rid of this imposter syndrome will help us step into a stronger posture where we can really stand in who we are, what we do, and what we have to offer and come from a stronger place.

Penny: So thank you so much for your time today Veronica, I really appreciate it and I know my listeners will as well.

Veronica: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure.