The Hogwarts Maneuver, or Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

Just the other day, I had a day, an average, normal day. Some stuff happened, some people said some really great things about my coaching work both to me as well as publicly, and I did something really stupid. Publicly.

Throughout the day, I heard the voices. They went something like this.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Can’t you do anything right? What were you thinking? Why would anyone work with you when you can’t do something as simple as send an email?” And then they got even nastier. “Oh, they’re just being nice. They didn’t really mean it when they gave you that compliment about your work. They were just afraid of hurting your feelings,” said that insidious, unctuous voice in my ear. “You’re not good enough to do this work. You don’t have enough experience, you don’t read or study or know the right things. You’re just a nobody from the middle of nowhere, and you’re lucky that none has seen this yet. You may talk a good game, but people see right through you. You’re a fraud, so pack up and go back where you belong.”

When I tried to go to sleep later that evening, that voice was still there, whispering away. I tossed and turned all night. And do you know what caused this internal fracas? A mistake on an email distribution list.

Sadly, this is not the first time that I’ve heard that voice, and I highly doubt that it will it be the last. You see, I have a raging case of Impostor Syndrome.

Impostor Syndrome

Impostor syndrome was described in the late 1970s, but I think it safe to say that it has always been there. Wikipedia provides this definition:

Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome, or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments or talents and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud". Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon remain convinced that they are frauds, and do not deserve all they have achieved. Individuals with impostorism incorrectly attribute their success to luck, or interpret it as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent than they perceive themselves to be. While early research focused on the prevalence among high-achieving women, impostor syndrome has been recognized to affect both men and women equally.

I’m betting that this description sounds quite familiar to many of us. When I first read about Impostor Syndrome, my response was, “How did they know what I was feeling? Was it that obvious?” You see, as a coach, I feel like I work without a net a lot of the time. I’m up in front of people, and many times they’re looking to me to be an expert. And while I have the experience and the know-how and the credentials, sometimes I forget that, sometimes I forget who I am.

For me, impostorism is a lot like the inner saboteur that so many of us have, and underneath both of them is one thing: fear. Impostors, saboteurs, and fear, that unholy trinity, and I deal with fear every.single.day. That mean, awful voice likes whisper that I’m not good enough, that I don’t have the right experience or the right training. It is the unkindest cut, and it goes for the jugular. It wants me back in a corner, safe from shame or things that might be unfamiliar. It wants…nothing that I want.

The Hogwarts Maneuver

One of the best ways that I’ve found to deal with that inner impostor is with what I call the “Hogwarts Maneuver.” To help you understand what I mean by this, a bit of explanation is in order. In the third book of the Harry Potter series, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Lupin uses a boggart, a shape-shifter that takes the shape of a person’s worst fear, to teach students the Riddikulus spell in his Defense against the Dark Arts class. To cast the Riddikulus spell, the student imagines their worst fear as something funny, laughs, and shouts “Riddikulus"!” The impostor or fear changes into a spider wearing roller skates, a dreaded professor wearing fusty old-lady clothes, and suddenly, that impostor disappears. Ron Weasley demonstrates this spell in this video clip.

When I do the Hogwarts Maneuver with clients, I ask my to imagine their imposter or saboteur. I ask lots of questions, like “What does your skin feel like when you hear the voices?” or “What does fear smell like to you?” or even “How does it look when fear runs along beside you?” You see, I’m trying to help them to get up close and personal with what scares them, because once you have that intimate knowledge, it’s easy to imagine it as funny, even comical. Shout “Riddikulus!” and laugh. Once you can laugh at fear, it doesn’t have quite the hold over you that it once it had. In fact, it becomes Riddikulus, because it was all along.

Handling Impostor Syndrome

Just like internal biases, fear cannot and should not be swept under the rug. If you keep doing that, pretty soon you’re having to detour through separate rooms because fear has taken up permanent living space in you. There are many ways to handle Impostor Syndrome, and here are some things for you to practice.

Coaching

Get a coach! Really! As coaches, we’re trained to listen for that saboteur, that impostor, for when fear tries to slide into the driver’s seat. We can help you to recognize when it comes up and how to develop strategies to keep it in the trunk. Getting a coach is a commitment, a longer-term investment for yourself, but that investment pays off when you find yourself accomplishing things that before you were afraid to try.

Self-Check

It takes courage and continued practice to step into fear. Here are some questions that can help to stop impostors in their tracks:

• What observations of facts do I have that supports this line of thinking?

• How is this serving me or helping me?

• What do I know to be true?

• What do I know to be false?

Straight Talk

Here are some short, to-the-point ways to begin dealing with impostor syndrome, saboteurs, and fear.

• A good friend of mine once put it this way: fear is a small, yappy dog that you sometimes need to put in its kennel. Use this analogy of fear being a small, yappy dog and tell it to “Kennel up!” (And mean it!)

• Develop a relationship with a peer or mentor where you can ask, “Can I check something with you?” Because you have a trust-based relationship (ideally), they can help you to see what is truly there, not that mirage that your impostor wants you to see.

• Develop a positive mantra, one that works for you. Use that to remind yourself of the good things that you know to be true about yourself and your work.

• Fake it until you become it using an internal power stance. If you don’t look like your impostor is in the driver’s seat, it’s a lot easier to keep it in check.

Coaches are not impervious to fear, impostors, or saboteurs, and I hope that we do not pretend that we are. We’re human, just like the people and teams and organizations that we serve, and we’re practicing being better. And we’ll get there.

Image for this post provided by Linda Nickell. Connect with her on her on Instagram as @coznlinda to see more of her work.