What is Imposter Syndrome?
What is Imposter Syndrome? Have you ever felt like a fraud in your career, as if everyone would find out you didn't belong? Are you often on edge thinking you don't know anything or don't know enough?
In Season 5 Episode 12, "Imposter Syndrome", we discuss how Pilates teachers are impacted by these thoughts, along with some tools to use when navigating these feelings in the studio. The term imposter syndrome is a cluster of doubts and uncomfortable emotions, defined by feelings of being a fraud or like we don't know enough, and that everyone around us will find out that we don't know what we are doing.
What is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where you doubt your achievements and feel like you're fooling everyone. You might constantly worry about being exposed as a fraud. This can manifest in several ways for Pilates teachers:
Perfectionism: Feeling the need to be the perfect teacher, knowing everything, and executing exercises flawlessly.
Comparison: Comparing yourself to other teachers and feeling inadequate.
Discounting Success: Brushing off compliments and attributing achievements to luck rather than skill.
For someone dealing with imposter syndrome, they might think they don't deserve their successes, or that the accomplishments they have achieved are due to luck or other factors beyond their own control and skillset. People in all types of careers can be affected by this psychological phenomenon, especially professionals who appear extremely successful to others.
Why Does it Happen?
There is a high rate of occurrence of Pilates teachers suffering from imposter syndrome, as well as factors of perfectionism and self-comparison, which can make imposter syndrome more potent. Pilates teachers are particularly susceptible to this, as many are perfectionists, hypervigilant, and want to help clients succeed. Often, we tie our success as teachers to our client's success in perfectly executing an exercise, achieving a goal, or healing from a long-term injury.
In Pilates, perfectionism can include beliefs such as the client having to look a certain way in an exercise, if they don't achieve the exercise or understand our cueing that we are not good at teaching and that every session we provide is supposed to be the best. Teachers also commonly tend to compare themselves to other teachers, thinking everyone else knows more than they do, worrying that the chosen cues aren't good enough or that we can't make any mistakes.
As we've mentioned in previous podcast episodes, the teaching journey is exactly that; it's a journey. It's a process where we learn as we go, and it's important to always continue learning. We also learn from our mistakes when we make them, and no one is expected to know everything. However, it's easier said than understood when dealing with imposter syndrome.
One of the most helpful realizations when feeling insecure is how common this is, that we're not alone. These nagging doubts can keep us stuck, ruminating about our perceived lack of skills when teaching.
Breaking Free from the Imposter Cycle
Some teachers will occasionally deal with self-doubt and anxiety in teaching, and some deal with full-blown imposter syndrome throughout their careers. For anyone, in times of stress, changes in our teaching environment, moving studios, dealing with difficult clients, or losing long-term clients can all heighten these feelings of doubt and insecurities. Whether we're dealing with uncomfortable feelings from a recent change or stressful event, or if we constantly deal with full imposter syndrome, there are some self-care tools to lessen the distress and remove ourselves from the ruminating and negative cycles of thinking.
Acknowledge the thoughts: recognize when self-doubt creeps in, try not to judge, and remember thoughts aren't facts.
Challenge negative self-talk: instead of letting the thoughts spiral try to challenge them by replacing each negative thought with positive self-talk. Even if it seems silly, think of a positive mantra to yourself such as "I am a capable teacher", "my teaching is valuable", "I am good enough", or whatever feels right for you.
Celebrate the wins: especially when dealing with imposter syndrome it's easy to brush off successes, compliments, and achievements. However, celebrate every success, especially small ones to not overlook anything. Keep a list of positive feedback from clients and other teachers, and continually add to the list to look to when doubt gets heavy.
Shift the focus: instead of trying to be the best teacher focus on the client and what they need in their session each day. By changing the focus from ourselves to the clients, the external focus helps redirect our attention at least for a little while, making space to pause the negative thoughts. By taking our egos and needs out of it, we realize it's not about us at all, but that every session is about the client, and our job is to guide and support them, not to be perfect.
Embrace constant learning: every field is constantly evolving, but this is especially true for a science-based profession like Pilates. Staying up-to-date with the newest research, techniques, and trends, can be important for safety in sessions, but will also boost our knowledge and help grow our sense of mastery of our craft. Focus on areas that you might feel you are lacking or feel less confident in, and slowly build that sense of understanding in these abilities.
Build a support network: be vulnerable in discussing your feelings and insecurities. Imposter syndrome thrives on hiding our fears of being found out as a fraud, so when we can discuss it openly, it takes the weight off of us. Share with people who you trust, and if you have a mentor or colleagues/friends in the same field of work it can be extremely empowering to have support from people who understand the nature of the work.
Fake the confidence: We always believe in being authentic to ourselves as teachers, but sometimes the best way to get out of a cycle of imposter syndrome is to simply act confident, even if we don't believe it or feel it. Over time, this can become more genuine.
It's ok to not know: it is also fantastic to say "I don't know" when we aren't sure about something. Thinking we're supposed to know everything makes us feel worse when we don't know something. Being honest about what we know, and making mistakes are great ways to learn, and the ability to know what we don't know is a very self-reflective skill to have and can help clients trust us in being honest and open with them.
It is not only new teachers who are impacted by imposter syndrome and self-doubt, but it can be quite common for teachers fresh into the teaching world to feel very unprepared as they encounter new scenarios, types of clients, new conditions, and pathologies, and other types of teachers from different training backgrounds. As we teach longer, we experience many different types of client personalities with different injuries, pathologies, and fears, and we build confidence in properly guiding each one. The longer we teach and continue learning, we tend to specialize and focus on certain topics and can gain a sense of mastery in that niche. But even with very experienced teachers, we can all have cycles of doubt and anxiety, and for some, it's a life-long battle both in and out of the studio.
Remember that imposter syndrome is extremely common in Pilates teachers and all other professions, and many successful people experience it. Our sessions are not about us as the teacher, so shift the focus to the client and the positive impact we are making for them regardless of how perfect we think the session is or isn't.
Most importantly, we are helping our clients and we are valuable. Our knowledge, skills, and passion for the work make us great teachers no matter what our minds sometimes want us to believe. Find your mantras and your wins to repeat to yourself to build confidence in your teaching and career.
