How to overcome
IMPOSTER SYNDROME
If you’ve ever felt like you’re not a good enough runner, it’s time to change your mindset
Words: Lucy Waterlow
Have you ever stood on a race start line and felt you weren’t good enough to be there? Or told someone: “I run, but I’m not really a runner because I haven’t run a marathon.” Or perhaps you've felt you’re not a ‘real’ runner because you don’t run fast, or look how you think an athlete should look?
Such feelings are often associated with a condition known as Imposter Syndrome – and it could be holding you back from truly enjoying running and competing.
And, more serious than that, failing to deal with Imposter Syndrome can lead to feeling depressed and anxious, or pushing yourself to burn out.
What is Imposter Syndrome?
The term was first coined by American clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978, who described it as an ‘internal experience of intellectual phoniness’.
Their research referred to high-achieving professional women who experienced it in the workplace. They found that, despite being in top positions and high-earning roles, these women felt inadequate and like ‘imposters’.
Instead of attributing their success to their own abilities, talents and competence, they felt they were in the top jobs due to luck, timing, or by ‘fooling’ others into believing they were someone they were not.
The pressure we sometimes put on ourselves is damaging, but the root of the feelings often goes way back
While Imposter Syndrome was originally associated with happiness and progress in workplace, it can also present itself in many other walks of life, including running.
Lauren Malone, a mindset coach and founder of Lemon Tree Coaching and Development explains: “Interestingly, Imposter Syndrome isn’t a syndrome, it’s a phenomenon. It is not with us all the time and may only show up in certain situations. For example, someone may feel very confident at work, but when it comes to their running, they experience thoughts that tell them they shouldn’t be doing it, or feel as if someone’s going to call them out.
“The thoughts are often similar for many people – such as, ‘I’m a fraud’, ‘I’m not good enough to be here’, ‘I don’t deserve this’ – but how it manifests can be very different,” continues Lauren.
“Thinking about the running as the example, two people may experience imposter-like thoughts of ‘I’m not good enough’, and this could lead one to train more, and the other to train less and to feel completely demotivated.”
For the first runner in Lauren’s example, they could end up pushing themselves too hard and becoming stressed, ill and injured. Meanwhile, the second type of runner could be missing out on all the fun of training with a group, or taking part in a certain event, because they feel they aren’t good enough to join in.