3 Ways Impostor Syndrome Impacts the Way You Communicate (and What To Do About It)

Without inner confidence and self esteem you cannot reach your true potential. I spend a lot of time helping my speech coaching clients build up their confidence. It’s so essential that you believe in yourself, especially before a sales presentation, interview or keynote speech where you’ll be under pressure anyway. Impostor syndrome will make you feel worse during the event and long after it’s over. If you let the negative voice inside your head win, it will shatter your confidence, your performance will suffer and so will your reputation.

Impostor syndrome has a greater immediate impact on public speaking and presentation skills because it’s something we do in front of other people. ~ Narges Nirumvala

So here are three negative thoughts and what to do about them:

They’ll see how scared I am. Everyone experiences fear before they go on stage, go for an interview or give a presentation. It’s perfectly normal. But if you let it overwhelm you, then this negative thought will become your realty and they WILL SEE how scared you are. So take a deep breathe and push out this thought from your mind. It’s not your fear, but how you respond to it and interpret it that’s important.

If you let the negative voice inside you head win, it will shatter your confidence, your performance will suffer and so will your reputation. ~ Narges Nirumvala

I’m not good enough and they’ll see right through me. I work with some pretty high flyers and I still hear this one all the time. There are times when we all feel inadequate depending on the situation and audience. Perhaps you’re speaking to more senior executives, people who are more educated than you or in a different industry. In any of these situations you are going to feel uncomfortable. The key here is to get used to feeling uncomfortable and see it as a sign of growth. Regardless, you are good enough. I could tell you till I’m blue in the face, but it won’t make a difference unless YOU believe it. 

I won’t be taken seriously. This is slight different from the negative thought above. ‘I’m not good enough’ puts the emphasis on you and the ‘I won’t be taken seriously’ puts the emphasis on everyone else. I hear this one a lot more from Millennials and professional women in male dominated industries. You deserve this moment in the spotlight. Don’t let your doubts and fears undermine the final outcome. Be driven by your goals not stopped by your fears.

Always strive for excellence and build world class communication skills. Be so good that NO ONE will be able to ignore you. ~ Narges Nirumvala

There is only one way to build confidence in this or any area – SET GOALS AND TAKE ACTION. I do this myself by focusing on education, mentoring and professional development. Overcome that negative inside voice by silencing it with decision action to become the best version of yourself. Once you have that strong inner core of confidence that is built on experience and struggle nothing can break it.

Narges Nirumvala, is the CEO of ExecutiveSpeak Coaching International. She is one of Canada’s leading executive speech coaches, a presentation skills trainer, an award winning entrepreneur, international keynote speaker, author of the Amazon bestselling book “Capture the Spotlight” and a humanitarian.