Learn about impostor syndrome and activities for building your confidence with the Chic Geek.

1. Mentorship Workshop
Building Confidence and Defeating Impostor Syndrome
!
Presented by Heather Tovey
April 12, 2014

2. • Impostor Syndrome Discussion
Share your experiences with impostor syndrome
• Values Writing
15 minute activity: Writing about your values
• Let’s Talk About You
Practice talking about yourself for 2-3 minutes
• Personal Commercial
Create a 30-second personal commercial and practice
it with your partner
What are we doing today?

3. What is
Impostor
Syndrome?

4. Impostor Syndrome is the feeling that,
despite your achievements, you are a
fraud.
!
You may feel that your achievements are
due to luck or external factors, and not
due to you or your ability.
!
https://counseling.caltech.edu/general/InfoandResources/Impostor

5. 70% of people have suffered from
impostor syndrome.
!
http://chronicle.com/article/You-re-Not-Fooling-Anyone/28069

6. It’s very likely that you or
someone you know deals
with impostor syndrome.

7. Impostor Syndrome is especially
prevalent in fields with a lot of peer
review (like open source technology)
and fields with a minority group (like
women in technology or women in
startup culture).
!
http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2013/11/fraud.aspx

8. What are the
consequences?

9. Some people with impostor syndrome hold
back from:
• applying to jobs they want
• asking for promotions
• submitting talks or papers to conferences
!
They hold back from doing what they want to
do because they don’t think they have the
qualifications, even though they actually do
have the qualifications.
!
http://www.impostorsyndrome.com/book/overview/

10. Some people with impostor syndrome push
too far and burn out.
!
They try to do everything they can to get them
to where they think they should be. They push
themselves to learn and achieve more. The
issue with impostor syndrome is that they’ll
never reach “good enough.”
!
http://www.impostorsyndrome.com/book/overview/

11. Pop Quiz• Read through the following 8 questions on impostor
syndrome symptoms.
!
• Answer yes if you have ever experienced the
symptom.
!
• Answer no if you have never experienced the
symptom.

12. 1. Do you secretly worry that others
will find out that you're not as bright
and capable as they think you are?
!
2. Do you sometimes shy away from
challenges because of nagging
self-doubt?
!
3. Do you tend to chalk your
accomplishments up to being a
"fluke," “no big deal” or the fact that
people just "like" you?
!
4. Do you hate making a mistake,
being less than fully prepared or
not doing things perfectly?
5. Do you tend to feel crushed by
even constructive criticism, seeing
it as evidence of your "ineptness?"
!
6. When you do succeed, do you
think, "Phew, I fooled 'em this time
but I may not be so lucky next
time."
!
7. Do you believe that other people
(students, colleagues, competitors)
are smarter and more capable than
you are?
!
8. Do you live in fear of being found
out, discovered, unmasked?
!
Dr. Valerie Young, 2008

13. Now you have a better understanding of the
symptoms of impostor syndrome.
!
The following activities can help you to
manage impostor syndrome, and they’re also
great confidence boosters in general.

14. Activity One:
Form a Support Group

15. The first way to deal with impostor
syndrome is to form a support group.
!
Sharing your experiences with impostor
syndrome allows you to see your
achievements in a more positive and
objective manner.
!
https://counseling.caltech.edu/general/InfoandResources/Impostor

16. For example, I get nervous presenting
because I feel like everyone else knows
more than I do. I feel like I’m wasting
everyone’s time.

17. By talking to others and
reading what others have to
say on impostor syndrome,
I know that my experience
is pretty common. This
helps me to push on.
!
<———————————
Image from Iowa State University Admissions

18. Now it’s your turn!

19. Find a partner or group and share your
experiences with impostor syndrome.
Start with sharing your answers on the
Impostor Syndrome quiz and then
answer the questions on the next slide.

20. • Do you feel like you’ve experienced impostor
syndrome or a lack of confidence at some point?
• Have you ever held back from doing something
that you wanted to do due to a lack of confidence?
• If you feel like sharing that experience,
please do so.
• Can you find any similarities in your experiences?
Support Group Discussion Questions

21. If you find the Support Group Activity
helpful, consider forming your own
ongoing support group or join an online
group.

22. Activity Two:
Values Writing

23. Leigh Honeywell is an
advisor for the Ada Initiative
(a non-profit organization
that supports women in
open technology and
culture). She created this
activity to help people
defeat impostor syndrome.

24. Please take 15 minutes to do the
following four exercises. You will
either need paper and pen or a
computer.

25. Exercise 1:!
When you think of the times in your life where you’ve been the happiest, the proudest, or the
most satisfied, which of the following values come to mind?
!
Accomplishment Accountability Achievement Activism Adventure Affection
Ambition Autonomy Challenge Close relationships Commitment Community
Compassion Competence Competition Confidence Conformity Control
Coolness under fire Cooperation Courage Creativity Credibility Decisiveness
Economic security Effectiveness Efficiency Enthusiasm Environmentalism
Excellence Excitement Fairness Faith Fame Free time Freedom Friendships
Growth Having a family Health Helping other people Helping society Honesty
Hospitality Independence Influence Inner harmony Insight Inspiration Integrity
Intellectual status Introspection Justice Knowledge Leadership Location
Loyalty Meaningful work Mentorship Merit Money Movement Music Nature
Openness Order Patriotism Peace Persistence Personal development Physical
challenge Pleasure Power and authority Privacy Public service Purity Quality
Recognition Reputation Responsibility Romance Security Self-knowledge
Self-reliance Self-respect Serenity Sophistication Spirituality Stability Status
Tranquility Truth Vibrancy Volunteering Wealth Will-power Wisdom
!
https://github.com/hypatia/virtuoso

26. Exercise 2:!
Pick one value from the previous
exercise and write a couple of
sentences about why it is
important to you.
!
https://github.com/hypatia/virtuoso

27. Exercise 3:!
In general, I try to live up to the values that
I chose in the previous two exercises:
!
Disagree 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 Agree
!
https://github.com/hypatia/virtuoso

28. Exercise 4:!
What was the last topic that
someone asked for your advice on?
!
https://github.com/hypatia/virtuoso

29. Leigh Honeywell created
this activity on the
hypothesis that impostor
syndrome is a manifestation
of stereotype threat.

30. So what is
stereotype
threat?

31. Stereotype threat is the feeling of anxiety
that you get when you’re in the position
to confirm a negative stereotype about a
group that you identify with.
!
http://www.reducingstereotypethreat.org/definition.html

32. If a woman is aware of the
stereotype that women are
bad at math, she may feel
anxiety when taking a math
exam because she’s worried
about confirming the
stereotype. The anxiety can
negatively affect her
performance.
For example:
From https://xkcd.com/385/

33. Research by Akira Miyake
has found that writing about
your values helps to combat
stereotype threat.

34. I recommend repeating
this activity whenever you
need a confidence boost
(like before a job interview
or business presentation).

35. Activity Three:
All About You

36. This activity is inspired by the article
Why I’m Glad I Was Forced to Brag by
Jennifer Blumberg.

37. It’s really hard to talk about yourself,
and yet it’s really important to share
accomplishments and promote yourself.

38. Talking about yourself can be
especially difficult for women. There
seems to be a fine line between
sharing your accomplishments and
over-promoting yourself.
!
Practicing helps to make talking about
yourself more natural.

39. So find a partner or
group because it’s
time to practice
talking about yourself.

40. Take some time to brainstorm using the
following instructions.
• List three things that you have accomplished.
• Why are you proud of these accomplishments?
• List 2 skills that you possess.
• List 3 personal qualities that you possess.
Let’s Talk About You (part 1)

41. 1. Share your achievements with your group
for 2-3 minutes.
2. Discussion Group Questions:
• How did talking about yourself feel?
• Do you have any tips to share about talking
about yourself?
• How do you make talking about yourself feel
more natural?
Let’s Talk About You (part 2)

42. Did you find that you have a
tendency to downplay your
achievements?

43. It’s good to monitor your thoughts and
practice taking proper credit for your
achievements.

44. Activity Four:
Create a 30-Second
Personal Commercial

45. “So, tell me about yourself!”

46. I’m not a big fan of this request. I never
quite know what the other person really
wants to hear. So having a ready answer
to this request is a great confidence boost.

47. What goes in a 30-second
personal commercial?

48. For this activity, your 30-second personal
commercial should answer the question:
!
“So, what do you do?”!
!
Answer with:
• Who you are
• What you do
• Why you enjoy doing it
• A question to keep the conversation going.

49. Your personal commercial should
be flexible. Know what you want to
say so well that you can use it in
whatever situation you’re in.

50. If someone asked me what I do, I could say:
!
“I run the Mentorship Program for the Chic Geek. The
Chic Geek is a Calgary-based non-profit organization
that increases diversity in the high-tech and startup
communities by offering coding workshops, speaker
events, and other programs and resources for
women. I’m excited to be able to connect women
with mentors that can help them with their career
goals. Have you ever had a mentor?”

51. Your personal commercial should
also be tailored to your audience.
When I go to coding workshops, I
use a different commercial about
my web development background.

52. Now it’s your turn!
!
Grab a partner to help
you refine and practice
your 30-second personal
commercial.

53. • Who is your audience?
• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• Why do you do it?
• What do you like about your work?
• When are you having the most fun?
• What questions can you ask to keep the
conversation going?
Create Your Personal Commercial

54. • Deliver your speech to your partner.
• Give feedback and ask for advice.
• Did it make sense?
• Did it make you want to keep the conversation
going?
• Was it delivered at a good pace?
• Can your partner remember what you said?
Practice Your Personal Commercial

55. Additional Reading

56. Check out these articles and resources for
more information on impostor syndrome.
!
• http://www.reducingstereotypethreat.org/
• http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
• https://www.usenix.org/blog/impostor-syndrome-proof-
yourself-and-your-community
• http://empresshasnoclothes.com/
• https://adainitiative.org/2013/06/kicking-impostor-
syndrome-in-the-head-lessons-from-adacamp-dc-and-sf/
• http://paulineroseclance.com/pdf/IPTestandscoring.pdf
• http://www.impostorsyndrome.com/

57. Thank you
for your
participation!
If you have any questions, contact me at
heather@thechicgeek.ca