Imposter Syndrome Cure: How to Completely Stop Faking Yourself
Imposter Syndrome is the mentality of a person who is faking who they are so that they can be accepted by others. It stops so many people from unleashing the true personality that is within themselves. While Imposter Syndrome is a complex condition for anyone to live with, fortunately, there is an Imposter Syndrome cure that exists.
The Origin of Imposter Syndrome
Imposter Syndrome can have one or several different causes. However, it is usually rooted in childhood. For example, families that value achievement over everything else in life, such as love or connection, will place unrealistic expectations on their children. This will often motivate a child to succeed and stop their true personality from coming out.
Another common cause of imposter syndrome is trying to fit in while growing up. A child with low self-esteem will often have such a poor opinion of themselves and as a result, will experiment with different behaviors until they find the “winning” personality that allows them to gain a certain amount of acceptance from others.
3 Easy Ways to Overcome Imposter Syndrome
As with most behaviors and mental processes, Imposter Syndrome is a learned behavior. Like a muscle, it was conditioned and until it became a robust behavior. In contrast, the same applies to overcoming it and unleashing your true self. Here are three easy ways to overcome it.
1. Assume Acceptance, Rather Than Trying to Earn It
A powerful mentality that a person can develop is to assume respect and acceptance from others. When you already believe that you are respected and accepted by others, you feel no need to try and “win” over a person’s acceptance.
As you go about your day, start practicing the assumption of respect and acceptance from others. Assuming approval takes practice but is easy to do. As with any other behavior, it takes a lot of practice. The more that you practice it, the easier and more automatic it will become.
2. Build Your Self-Esteem
Poor self-esteem and Imposter Syndrome go hand-in-hand. You can’t have one without the other! The greater that your self-esteem is, the greater that your acceptance will be of yourself. The more that you accept yourself, the less you feel the need to impersonate another person’s personality.
How do you build high levels of self-esteem? Here are some easy, effective ways:
· Spend at least 30 minutes each day visualizing yourself as a successful person that is confident and can take on anything.
· Use affirmations, incantations, and self-talk every day to condition new empowering beliefs.
· Cultivate the habit of daily contribution by doing small acts of kindness, such as giving a dollar to a homeless person or saying “hi” to a stranger.
· Take excellent care of your body by eating a nutritious diet that is rich in raw fruits and vegetables.
Quick Tip: Building self-esteem is easy. Just pick one of the above rituals and do it for five minutes or so every day. Then, once that has become a habit, scale it up if you’d like and add new rituals as time goes on.
3. Use Relaxation to Annihilate False Personalities
Yes, you read that right! Relaxation is an effective way to shrink false personalities and unleash the person you are deep inside.
This powerful technique is from the book Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. In his book, Maltz teaches that tension and anxiety disinhibit your honest and wonderful personality.
Tension and anxiety cause you to become inauthentic, an overthinker, and always trying to decide how to act to please people. The remedy for this is straightforward – start making relaxation one of your top priorities every day!
Start taking at least half an hour out of your day to relax. And this means truly relaxing – not playing games on your phone or guzzling down beer. Do something that relaxes both your body and mind, such as laying back in a hammock, getting a massage, or relaxing in a sauna.
Over to You!
Isn’t it wonderful that there is more than one Imposter Syndrome cure? If you struggle with this condition, start implementing the strategies mentioned above. Remember to practice them DAILY. Doing each technique once or twice allows you to overcome it. Make it a lifestyle!