The symptom You want 100% output 100% of the time

You don’t celebrate achievements as you think that’s

The Consequences baseline expectation but REALLY hate anything less than
perfect because that feels like a let down

• Celebrate other people’s small victories – that will

slowly help you celebrate your own
• When you don’t end up giving your 100%, don’t ask
The solution
other people if that resulted in something truly
horrible – if not, then you’ll start accepting 95% as
more than good enough as well!
 You push yourself extra hard because you think
The symptom
everyone else is awesome and you are not

The Consequences Burnout, stress, shame, guilt and so on

• Compare yourself with yourself and identify areas you

have improved in
• When criticized, ask people for a solution as well
The solution • Start critiquing other people but offer a solution along
with it – that way, you’ll learn that criticism isn’t
always personal and need not be a reflection on
another person’s full character
 You think that if you’re not naturally good at something,
The symptom
you are dumb

You stop taking on new challenges fearing that you might

The Consequences not be ‘naturally’ good at them and hence not succeed in
the first attempt

• Don’t aim for ‘success’ in the first attempt – instead,

see that as an experiment and note down your
‘failures’ and way to overcome them
The solution • Talk to people who put in ‘work’ to learn something
and follow their path
• Start looking at yourself not as a final product but a
WIP, with versions and variations
 You think people are helping you because they pity you
The symptom
or think you can’t do something by yourself

You refuse assistance and support and overburden

The Consequences
yourself

• Start asking for help from friends and family and

people whose judgement you don’t worry about
The solution • Offer help to others – that will take away your
internalized taboo of equating help with pity
 The symptom You think you don’t know enough

You don’t try new things, you don’t apply for jobs, you
The Consequences
fear being exposed as ‘inexperienced’

• Practice Just In Time training

• Start mentoring other people, to get confidence in
your own abilities
The solution
• Don’t be afraid to ask for ‘advice’ – it doesn’t show
you don’t know, it shows that you want to know more
 Imposter Syndrome will make you feel less of yourself.

And a LOT of people suffer from it, so you’re not alone.

But also, its something you can work on overcoming.

I hope this would help you identify and overcome some of it.

PS: Please note that I am not a therapist, so my advice is not medical or scientific –
merely based on my experiences.