Earlier this week, we hosted our first event highlighting two women in science - Dr. Evelyn Jensen and Dr. Erin Stewart, and their experiences with Imposter Phenomenon. The speakers highlighted their feelings of familiarity with Imposter Phenomenon throughout their careers - feelings of worry in not being as prepared as they expect themselves to be and the difficulties of having confidence in their expertise.
By going through these experiences, the speakers have learnt what works best for them to work towards overcoming these feelings. The speakers shared their tips and tricks to help us crush it! Evelyn stated the importance of self-talk, and being lenient with yourself while also advocating for yourself! Erin emphasized the key fact (which I myself often forget) – we’re all here to learn, no matter what stage of your life/career you’re in!
From these key lessons, we started a list of tips and tricks to help us find a method that works best for us!
1. Take note of your successes
Make a folder in your inbox of “Good Things” and fill this up with all the emails that make you feel good in any way!
2. Have cake days (Re. The Donut Manifesto)
When you’ve accomplished something, make sure to take the time to celebrate it in a way that makes you feels amazing (like having lots and lots of cake)!
3. Keep track of your progress
Keep a spreadsheet tracking all the projects/tasks you’ve accomplished and are working on (every conference call, paper, presentation, etc.). This will help you arm yourself with tangible pieces of data to show you how much you’re actually doing!
4. Break down bigger tasks into smaller ones
Writing a to-do list always helps me, and checking off smaller tasks can help you break down these overwhelming feelings.
5. Come up with guard posts
When going through these feelings, reflect back on huge moments in your life where you’ve felt similar emotions and have pushed through. Have trust in yourself that you can make it through this.
5. Remind yourself of your core values
When going through these experiences, look back at your core values and reaffirm them – does the situation you’re currently going through make this list? This can put the situation at hand into a new perspective.
With these core lessons and tricks, we can help each other move forward towards crushing it!
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