How One-on-one Coaching Can Help You Beat Imposter Syndrome

Many limiting beliefs can trouble people in life, but one of the most mentally challenging is imposter syndrome. However, it is something one-on-one coaching can help with.

While some beliefs stop you from fulfilling your potential or following your ambitions, imposter syndrome impacts those who are successfully doing a job or achieving feats that they are well capable of.

Despite the clear evidence that they are up to the task, they still suffer self-doubts and negative self-image, believing they are not really the high achievers they seem to be. That means imposter syndrome can even affect those who have reached the very top of their profession.

A good example of this is former cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins, the first-ever British winner of the Tour de France and a man with multiple gold medals to his name.

Despite all this, he suffered from Imposter syndrome, feeling unworthy as he collected his Knighthood at Buckingham Place among a collection of military personnel, many of whom wanted selfies with him.

Describing the experience as a “lesson in humility”, he told a BBC documentary: “Soldiers who were missing limbs wanted to take pictures with me, but I didn’t feel like a hero that day. I didn’t think I was worthy of being knighted.”

So bad did the rider’s feelings get that he ended up smashing all his trophies and he no longer rides a bike because “I don’t like the person I became”.

Sir Bradley has also opened up to the fact that he had some very difficult experiences in childhood, which may have contributed to his poor mental health.

If you have an outwardly successful life but feel negative and unworthy about it, you too may have imposter syndrome. What a counsellor can do in one-on-one sessions is help you work out where those feelings originated, why they are unjustified and why you should be free to enjoy your successes.

Whatever your equivalent of the yellow jersey is, you should always feel worthy of wearing it.