If you are a perfectionist like me, you might have imposter syndrome at the same time and you might not even be aware of! I found it today as I attended there SeNSS Virtual Summer Conference 2020 led by @adairrichards. I'm going to explain what I learnt in a couple of tweets.

First of all, what is imposter syndrome (IS)? IS is a feeling of doubts about your accomplishments which has a persistent internalized fear of failure.

Based on a reference in today's talk, 70% of people experience this feeling in their lives. High achievers, successful professionals, college professors are the ones who suffer the most.

There is a feeling alongside this IS, that you feel 'you are not fitting in' or 'I shouldn't be here' which eventually leads to anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, procrastination or overworking, not realising potential, very high self-criticism and low self-compassion.

Based on what I found, a childhood experience might affect this. For example, raising with the feeling of superiority, or being designated as a very intelligent one.

I found this valid since from my childhood, I always was the first ranked in the class and the first one who finished her assignment and all people around me repeatedly claimed that I'm the superior and a very intelligent girl. With minute failure now I get so frustrated.

Unrealistic definition of competence and perfectionism are the other causes. For example, for me, I should have always been the first one to satisfy my parents' expectations. Or I always set very high standard goals for myself.

There are ways to overcome IS such as: 1.awareness, 2.Remind yourself your feelings 3.Normalize your feelings 4.lis your achievements 5.learn from failure 6.ask for support 7.visualize your success 8. Redefine success for your self http://9.be  kind with yourself.

I'm really grateful for attending today talk since I found people with the same feelings with me that profoundly helped me. Retweet this thread if you find it useful to find more people. Thanks to Dr @adairrichards for the great talk.