Understanding self-doubt
Imposter feelings, their roots and the science of confidence.
Three hours on understanding self-doubt: what impostor feelings are, where they come from, and how confidence is really built from evidence.
- Level
- Focus
- Learning time
- 3 hours
- Where
- Imposter Syndrome and Confidence
- Price
- £69
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Leaders and managers who quietly doubt themselves despite a record of achievement
Overview
This Focus takes self-doubt seriously and examines it with evidence. It begins with the impostor phenomenon as Clance and Imes described it in 1978, Bravata and colleagues' 2020 review and Clance's impostor cycle. It then explores Valerie Young's five competence types, Gaudreau's distinction between perfectionism and excellencism, and Dweck's growth mindset. The third module traces the personal, transitional and structural roots of doubt, drawing on Tulshyan and Burey, role congruity, stereotype threat and Walton and Cohen's belonging study. It then sets out Bandura's four sources of self-efficacy, the contested Dunning-Kruger effect and calibrated confidence, and closes with Tewfik's research, Ellis's ABCDE model and Kristin Neff's self-compassion.
Aims
The aim is to help leaders read their own pattern of self-doubt accurately, separate what is theirs to work on from what the organisation should change, and build confidence that is calibrated to the evidence rather than waiting to feel ready.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Explain the impostor phenomenon and its cycle accurately, distinguishing a recognised experience from a diagnosis and testing popular claims against the research.
- Diagnose whether a particular doubt is personal, transitional or structural, and decide what to work on yourself and what to raise with your organisation.
- Apply evidence-based tools, from Bandura's sources of self-efficacy to Ellis's ABCDE model and self-compassion, to build calibrated confidence and answer a harsh inner voice.
What you'll develop
Through this Focus course, you will build the ability to:
- Explain the impostor phenomenon as Clance and Imes described it, including why it is a recognised experience rather than a medical diagnosis.
- Compare perfectionism with Gaudreau's excellencism, and use the difference to set good-enough standards in advance.
- Apply calibration questions to separate what is yours to work on from what you should raise with your organisation.
- Distinguish calibrated confidence from underconfidence and from Moore and Healy's three forms of overconfidence.
- Use Ellis's ABCDE model and Neff's three components of self-compassion to examine and reframe a harsh inner voice.
- Plan an evidence file and a set of prompts you can use to test impostor thoughts against the facts.
Built from 2 parts.
3 hours of learning.
- 01Naming the doubtWhat imposter feelings are, their five faces and their rootsBitesize3 modules
- 02Quieting the inner criticThe science of confidence and rethinking the inner voiceBitesize2 modules
Keep going.
Part of the Imposter Syndrome and Confidence topic, also sold whole as Owning your place.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereFocus, 3 hours, £69
- The whole topicExplore, Owning your place, 5 hours 30 minutes, £129. Already own the Focus? You pay £60.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms