Hadijah binti Jaffri

These are ten strategies that I excerpt from Impostor Syndrome website.  

1. Break the silence. Shame keeps a lot of people from “fessing up” about their fraudulent feelings. Knowing there’s a name for these feelings and that you are not alone can be tremendously freeing. 
2. Separate feelings from fact. There are times you’ll feel stupid. It happens to everyone from time to time. Realize that just because you may feel stupid, doesn’t mean you are.
3. Recognize when you should feel fraudulent. If you’re one of the first or the few women or a minority in your field or work place, it’s only natural you’d sometimes feel like you don’t totally fit in. Instead of taking your self-doubt as a sign of your ineptness, recognize that it might be a normal response to being an outsider. 
4. Accentuate the positive. Perfectionism can indicate a healthy drive to excel. The trick is to not obsess over everything being just so. Do a great job when it matters most, without persevering over routine tasks. Forgive yourself when the inevitable mistake happens. 
5. Develop a new response to failure and mistake making. Henry Ford once said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Instead of beating yourself up for being human and blowing the big project, do what professional athletes do and glean the learning value from the mistake and move on. 
6. Right the rules. If you’ve been operating under misguided rules like, “I should always know the answer,” or “Never ask for help” start asserting your rights. Recognize that you have just as much right as the next person to be wrong, have an off-day, or ask for assistance. 
7. Develop a new script. Your script is that automatic mental tapes that starts playing in situations that trigger your Impostor feelings. When you start a new job or project instead of thinking for example, “Wait till they find out I have no idea what I’m doing,” try thinking, “Everyone who starts something new feels off-base in the beginning. I may not know all the answers but I’m smart enough to find them out.” 
8. Visualize success. Do what professional athletes do. Spend time beforehand picturing yourself making a successful presentation or calmly posing your question in class. It sure beats picturing impending disaster and will help with performance-related stress. 
9. Reward yourself. Break the cycle of continually seeking °© and then dismissing °© validation outside of yourself by learning to pat yourself on the back.
10. Fake it ‘til you make it. Now and then we all have to fly by the seat of our pants. Instead of considering “winging it” as proof of your ineptness, learn to do what many high achievers do and view it as a skill. The point of the worn out phrase, fake it til you make it, still stands: Don’t wait until you feel confident to start putting yourself out there. Courage comes from taking risks. Change your behavior first and allow your confidence to build. 

What is impostor syndrome?  It is said that even Albert Einstein experienced this before regardless of his astounding achievement.  But, you don’t have to be Einstein to experience impostor syndrome.  It exists in any high achievers who have self-doubt about themselves. 

Picture is taken from The Networking Nerd

Many studies have been conducted on this since psychologists explored this phenomenon back in the 1970s even.  Many articles have been written to give some tips that people can use to overcome this phenomenon such as what is proposed by Valerie Ashby (who is highly accomplished academician).  There are also some articles written by graduate students to document their journey of experiencing impostor syndrome as post graduate students such as by Adam Persky.  

Why do I care to search information about this?  After I finished my Latihan Ikhtisas, some seniors told me that I should gear up my efforts to climb the social ladder of the academia.  Rather than being a “normal” senior lecturer, it is impertinent for me to prove that I deserve to be promoted to Associate Professor.  The thing is, I have this idea of what constitute an Associate Professor and a Professor.  I don’t think I have what it takes to become one now.  But I know some might think otherwise because they are not experiencing impostor syndrome.  They are Jack of all trade, master of none.  I want to enhance my skills.  This would take me years to do so.  I know some use political measure to climb the academia social hierarchy, but I am not them.  I know where I stand.  Being true to myself is not easy.  I know.  But, like Dr Seuss said

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind do not matter and those who matter do not mind” 

Note: I know that I like to use Dr Seuss’s quotes.  Sound childish, right?  Well, everybody has his own opinion.  I respect that.

I was spring cleaning my office (no picture to show because it is so messy),  I found some of my old masters assignments (sigh.. what was I thinking hoarding these things.  I know right, I should get rid of it). 

Then, to take a break, I checked my FB because I am learning to use Jamboard from one of my friends so, I need to review her class activity using Jamboard and like always, I was diverted to other things and I ended up “exploring” this webpage.  One of the post is about late Mimi.  I have known her since my undergraduate years.  A friendly senior.  She was so humble and care-free even though she spoke fluent English with a tinge of American accent.  I felt envious.  But she never was a snob even though she was one of the best students in our psychology department. 

Fast forward, she messaged me not long after I finished my PhD.  She was finishing her PhD in Clinical Psychology.  Then after that, we kept in touch using FB messages and she invited me to hang out with her when I came to KL for work or leisure purposes.  I never had the chance to honour her invitation.  Not even once.  Then, in 2017, I heard the news of her passing.  I felt numb for days thinking how fragile is our life that we take for granted.  Mimi, reading posts written by others about you in the Psychology@IIUM blog comforts me.  Al-fatihah to you.  May Allah Grant you eternal bliss.