Set extremely high standards for yourself and often link your self-worth to your ability to meet these standards. This can lead to a cycle of overworking and burnout, as you push yourself harder and harder to avoid the feeling of inadequacy.
You may delay starting tasks, projects or decisions because you’re afraid of not performing well. This can lead to last-minute work that, while often successful, leaves you feeling stressed and reinforces the belief that you’re not capable.
You may often feel inadequate or envious when you see others succeeding. This can lead to a cycle of self-doubt, where you downplay your own accomplishments because they don’t seem to measure up to what others have achieved.
You might find yourself holding back from pursuing your full potential due to a fear of the changes that success could bring. You may worry that success will increase the pressure to maintain high standards or that it might alienate you from others.
Someone who deeply values harmony in relationships and fears disappointing others. May often put others' needs ahead of own, sometimes to the point of neglecting well-being. This tendency stems from a fear that if you don't keep others happy, you won't be valued or accepted.
If you've ever felt like a fraud despite your accomplishments, you’re not alone. Many high-achieving professionals experience imposter syndrome, where they question their abilities and fear being 'found out.' This persistent self-doubt can hold you back from reaching your full potential and achieving the success you deserve.
This assessment will help you:
I'm Aoife O'Brien, the founder of Happier at Work and the host of the award-winning Happier at Work® podcast. Since 2018 I've been working with global organisations to support their employees to thrive and to reach their full potential through the 3 C's of my Thriving Talent framework - Career, Culture, Capabilities
Confidence is such an important part of our career development, but is often neglected or overlooked. I grew tired of seeing so many capable people diminish their accomplishments or not reach their full potential, so I decided to carry out some research into what was really going on.
These 5 Imposter Identities are based on this research. Imposter syndrome does not have a 'one size fits all' approach, each of the identities needs a different approach, which is why it's so important to understand your Imposter Identity.
Once you know your Imposter Identity, you can start using tools that are specifically tailored to your specific needs.
Aoife was extremely flexible and friendly when working with us and was happy to customize the Imposter Syndrome session to meet the goals and outcomes of our Thrive development program, including inviting our Ciena leaders onto the session and engaging them in the discussion so our participants could hear their experiences!
Mandeep Saini
DEI Specialist, Ciena
It was a pleasure to work with Aoife leading up to IWD. She is creative, positive and solution focused. The session she delivered to colleagues was impactful and thought provoking and challenged us to better understand ourselves and our motivations. I would definitely recommend working with Aoife and hope to do so again.
Michelle O'Donnell Keating
Chair of the Women's Network, Central Bank of Ireland
This assessment has been designed to show professionals their blind spots surrounding imposter behaviours and provide instant, actionable steps on how to improve
It’s free and only takes 5 minutes