Do you feel like an impostor?
May 27, 2021 10:52 pm
Hi
This week I cover two of the more serious issues that hurt performance and create distress.
If you can relate to either, I'd love to help with individual consulting and inside Success Stories Membership.
Be well,
Dr Eddie
Are You Faking It?
Obstacle:
82% of people struggle with the sense they haven’t earned what they’ve achieved and are a fraud. This is particularly true in high-achieving individuals fearing they will be unmasked and unable to replicate past accomplishments. These doubts get in the way and create a self-fulfilling prophesy, reducing risk taking and hurting your performance. It damages relationships when you have walls up, protecting yourself from being “found out.” Success can feel more like relief than joy in the accomplishment.
How to Overcome:
- Check the facts that support your success and remember your mind is built to look for threats. Then compare and ask, “Will I believe the objective evidence or my fears?”
- Take time to marinade in compliments and success to let them sink in as objective truths.
- Let go of perfectionism. Mistakes are a valuable part of growth.
- Avoid comparison. You are only seeing other’s successful results, not the prior failures that led to them.
What is the Ideal Body?
If you go to the Hall of Fame in ANY sport, you will not find an exact body type or weight that is “perfect” for the sport or position. Of course someone built like a sumo wrestler will have difficulty with gymnastics, but I know a lot of 6 foot plus people that can’t play basketball to save their life!
Deliberate practice, your heart, attitude, your mental game and how you handle adversity are all more predictive of your success than your body shape and size.
Look at what you are (or are not) putting not your body to achieve an “ideal body type.” If it involves excessive restricting or performance enhancing drugs, you are likely doing more harm than good. For example, trying to get more thin to run faster by restricting calories deprives your body of the energy it needs to train and increases your risk of injury.
Talk to a trusted sport nutritionist like www.facebook.com/NutritionwithWendi for scientific guidance on how to best fuel the body you have. www.facebook.com/runninginsilence is an excellent resource for education and awareness about eating disorders.
And if you are insecure about the body you have, and want help maximizing your performance, I’d love to support you with individual mental training at https://dreddieoconnor.com/telehealth-services
Check out “The Psychology of Performance: How to Be Your Best in Life” at www.thegreatcourses.com/dreddieoconnor for the 19th lesson, “The Dangerous Pursuit of the Ideal Body” and 23 other sport psychology topics that will make you better at what you do!
Dr. Eddie O’Connor
