“Imposter syndrome will affect seventy percent of the population at some point in our lives. So it is actually more normal to experience it during a lifetime than not to.”
Most fundraisers and leaders have experienced it. The feeling sometimes that you’re not quite good enough or that it’s only a matter of time before someone finds you out. It’s uncomfortable and it can quietly limit both what you do and how boldly you do it.
The good news? You’re in very good company. Coach and trainer Lara Roche shares why these feelings are far more widespread than we tend to assume. And she offers practical tools to help you reduce how often they arise and find your way back to feeling confident.
Timestamps
Lara’s background (00.01.07)
After studying occupational psychology and heading up HR at board level, Lara experienced a pressure to treat people more as numbers on a spreadsheet than as humans. That prompted her to set up Brilliant Learning 13 years ago, working predominantly with not-for-profit organisations.
A surprising truth (00.04.40)
Imposter syndrome affects 70% of us at some point, making it more normal to experience than not. And rather than signalling failure, Lara explains it tends to strike precisely because we’ve become successful. Higher stakes and a bigger spotlight mean more room for self-doubt.
Famous imposters: (00.05.37)
Albert Einstein called himself a swindler. Sheryl Sandberg said she always expected someone to tap her on the shoulder and tell her the gig was up. Tom Hanks has said he sometimes considers himself a fraud waiting to be exposed. Lara uses these examples to show the feeling has no respect for achievement.
Comparing our insides to other people’s outsides (00.07.00)
We judge how we feel inside against how others appear on the outside – their polished LinkedIn post, their confident stage presence – without seeing their private doubts. As Lara puts it, we’re all doing the same thing to each other, which gives the imposter a wide open door.
When impostor syndrome is useful and when it tips into overdrive (00.10.18)
A dose of it can motivate us to prepare harder and push through early struggles. But it becomes unhelpful when it tips into excessive over-preparation or over-analysis, actually making our performance worse rather than better.
Practical tool #1 – Small goal setting (00.12.01)
Rather than setting one enormous goal and leaving vast space for the impostor to strike, Lara recommends building in milestone goals along the way. Each small win establishes you as a goal-achieving person, so if something goes wrong near the finish line, the imposter has far less to work with.
Practical tool #2 – The “done list” and the confidence bank (00.13.43)
Instead of ending the day cataloguing what’s still on the to-do list, Lara suggests two practices: a daily “done list” of three things that moved forward (15 wins a week, 60 a month), and a longer-term “confidence bank” — a file of qualifications, successes, and positive feedback you can open when the impostor strikes and you can’t see your own worth.
Making new habits stick (00.17.16)
Lara recommends “habit stacking”. Tying the new practice to something you already do at the end of the day so you never forget it. She also flags a two-week tipping point at which habits are much more likely to stick. Rob adds the insight from Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg: deliberately attaching a good feeling, even just a smile, conditions your nervous system to keep coming back to the habit.
Practical tool #3 – Getting outside yourself (00.27.24)
Because imposter syndrome is a deeply internalised experience, directing energy outward is one of the most effective antidotes. Mentoring, buddy schemes, or knowledge-sharing all place you in situations where you clearly have something to offer — powerful counter-evidence to the imposter. Rob suggests fundraisers consider becoming a trustee elsewhere to re-connect them to how much expertise they’ve built up.
Further Resources
Fundraising Bright Spots – How to create a happy, rewarding career with Liz Tait
Fundraising Bright Spots – Think and grow rich results with Jhumar Johnson
How to be more confident when making calls to supporters – four tips to help
Stay in touch
To join our mailing list / get access to our newsletter, including to hear about our popular Breakfast Club for Fundraising Leaders, which happens every 3 months, follow this link.
Inspire your team with Bright Spot Training.
If you find these podcasts, Rob’s Breakfast Clubs or blogs helpful, imagine the difference it would make if your whole team spent a day learning Bright Spot fundraising techniques. We’re immensely proud of the way these bespoke team training days boost your team’s skill, mojo and results. To find out more, or request a chat to think it through, here’s the link: Team Training.
Want to transform your Corporate Partnerships or Major Donor fundraising?
To learn tried and tested techniques for growing corporate partnerships income, and get help in implementing them, check out our ever popular Corporate Partnerships Mastery Programme. Or to grow your skills, confidence and results in Major Donor or Trusts fundraising, check out our flagship Major Gifts Mastery Programme, now in its eleventh year.
