Whether you realise it or not, at some point you will have suffered from imposter syndrome as a blogger. It might not have been obvious at the time, but I bet when you read this post you’ll be thinking “wow, this is me.’ Impostor syndrome is something I didn’t even know about myself until a few months ago. And after some research, I came to realise its quite common in various different aspects of life.
There have been countless times I have told myself I can’t do something, or I’m not good enough. Which we know is not true and is just a feeling. But having these feelings can really get in the way of success and us growing as people and bloggers.
WHAT IS IMPOSTER SYNDROME?
The name imposter syndrome is quite self explanatory isn’t it? It’s literally as easy as you feeling like an imposter at something you’re doing. Feeling like you’re not good enough, or that you don’t belong where you are. Having self doubt and lack of confidence, even though you are good at something. Have you ever achieved something and told yourself it only happened because of someone else? Or they contributed to it so actually it was their success not yours? Even writing this, I can list off countless times where this has happened to me.
Imposter syndrome can be really awful for some people. And especially in the blogging community. With there being so many other people in this field of work, easy to fall into the trap of comparison and telling yourself that you aren’t good enough.
In this post, I’m going to share some tips on how to overcome imposter syndrome as a blogger. And I hope it helps!
REMEMBER TO PRAISE YOURSELF & ACCEPT PRAISE FROM OTHERS
Something I used to struggle with often was not being able to accept compliments from people, especially when it came to work I had done. I don’t know if it’s just a British thing, or a worldwide thing. But the idea of someone praising me and telling me how great I did, made me want the ground to swallow me whole. I guess the same could be said for someone criticising work I had done too. But for some reason, any praise no matter what it is really made me feel uncomfortable. Which it shouldn’t. If you have achieved something and done something well, you should be praised for it.
One of the best things we can do to overcome imposter syndrome as a blogger is to praise ourselves. Lift ourselves up. You just did 100 followers on WordPress? PRAISE. You just posted your 200th Blog post? PRAISE. These achievements are important and ones that should be celebrated. All milestones you achieve on your blogging journey are important.
It’s not only important to praise yourself, but to willingly accept praise from others too. If someone tells you that you did a good job, try to just accept it with a ‘thank you.’ Not a ‘well, this other blogger helped me’ or ‘I wouldn’t have ever been able to do it without your help.’ No, you did this. ACCEPT THE PRAISE!
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TALK TO FELLOW BLOGGERS ABOUT IT
I have said this so many times before, but having blogging friends is so important on your blogging journey. Not only for support and encouragement but advice too. If you speak to other bloggers and ask if they have ever experienced imposter syndrome as a blogger, their answer will probably be yes.
Having a community of people around you, going through similar things will change everything for you. Often as a blogger, people in your real life don’t understand everything about your blogging career. It can be hard for others to understand if they aren’t directly involved. But if you have genuine, supportive blogging friends it can be life changing.
If you ever need someone to talk to about blogging, or anything else. My email and comment space is always open!
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SET ACHIEVABLE, REALISTIC GOALS
Alot of the time, imposter syndrome as a blogger comes after not achieving goals that you have set. And usually, these goals were never achievable anyway. Why do we do that? Why do we set ourselves up to fail? Setting goals we know that we won’t be able to achieve, and then feeling like a failure when we can’t achieve them.
I say this so many times to my readers and fellow bloggers. Always set goals that you know you will be able to achieve. Because then you aren’t faced with that feeling of failure and disappointment when you don’t achieve them.
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Have you ever exercised imposter syndrome as a blogger? If so, what’s been your experience? How do you overcome it?
I hope this advice helped if you are currently suffering with this awful imposter syndrome. As I said in the intro, alot of us have it and don’t even realise!
Olivia x
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Really good post thank you. I have experience imposter syndrome. I was just not aware of it. I have not reached any milestone yet.
I think alot of people suffer from it, but don’t know exactly what it is!
Throughout school I was constantly told that good writing is confident writing. No matter how I actually felt, I should express my point as if there can be no doubt. That led to a lot of imposter syndrome for me. Not only am I not that confident, but I was lying about it. It’s helped now that I’m up front in my writing about my confidence level.
Thats a good thing, and honestly confidence comes as you write and publish more. I think I have times still, where I think “will anybody even read this” or “will my readers enjoy this?” and honestly that should push you to do it anyway. Your writing is your writing!
Why do us British people find it so hard to take compliments 😂 but yes this is a really important issue to highlight. When I first started I set myself some ridiculous goals and was so downbeat when I didn’t achieve them it’s definitely hard to find a balance between working too hard and knowing what’s realistically achievable as a blogger
For real though🤣 It must be in our culture or something, because so many of us are like that!
I’m glad that you realised the goal thing you were doing. Honestly, we don’t realise that setting high, impossible goals really does just set us up for failure!
I think it’s definitely a British thing I’ve always found it really awkward. But I do struggle to set realistic goals for myself when it comes to blogging and find it much easier to criticise.
Its so awkward isn’t it!
Yep!
Thank you, Olivia. Impostor syndrome has been a big ache for me, but I’m glad am working through it and this will go a long way too. Also, the next blog post I am working on happens to be impostor syndrome ☺
So glad you are working through it!
So glad you addressed this topic. Having suffered from imposter syndrome I can say it is truly awful.
It really can be. I hope you are able to overcome it soon!
I’m new to blogging and found this encouraging. Thank you!
I am so glad! Thank you for reading!
Well thought out post! I agree with you..so many probably battle this. I know I have!
Thanks so much Aaron 🙂
Okay I didn’t know about this but it’s something I relate to, not just in the blogging world. Thanks for the tips, helpful as always.
I suffered more from this in the beginning then I do now. It helped when I started reading blog posts from other bloggers, I started making comments and developing relationships with people who have more experience than me. You pointed out how important is to have blogging friends. That is so true.
Blogging friends are life savers at some points. Its well worth spending time getting to know others😊
I can relate to this as well. I’ve always felt uncomfortable accepting praise from others and I am so guilty of being hard on myself when I don’t achieve my goals. I’m so glad you brought up the point of praising yourself. I definitely need to work on that and acknowledging even the smallest achievements. Thanks for sharing this post. It’s an important topic to speak about.
as a writer, i feel imposter syndrome so heavily. throughout my life, people have told me i have a talent / i’m a good writer blah blah blah…& I can never just agree. I guess in a way it’s being humble but there are some moments where I’m just shocked at the feedback. i’m always like “oh they are just being nice.” or “well, so & so edited it & told me to change this so it’s more so theirs.”
i also feel like “who do i think i am giving people advice?” haha! the struggle…
I love love love this post 💛💛 I am always feeling like I’m not very good at this blogging thing but I really enjoy it and your unwavering encouragement has been a rock for me 💛 I couldn’t agree more about having blogging friends.. It’s so important to lift each other up and remind everyone how amazing they are. Thank you for the gentle reminder how to get past that wretched imposter syndrome.
Awesome post! This is something we’ve all experienced and it’s hard at times to overcome it. But I think once you take a step back and put things into perspective, remember why you started blogging and set up small goals, it does help!
Tnx for this!
Thanks for sharing these tips. That makes me think of the best advice I ever received when receiving praise – If someone complements you on something you’ve done and you don’t know what to say, start with thank you.’
My main experience with imposter syndrome has been around sharing my writing when it gets published as I often avoid promoting work because I assume ‘no one wants to read that. I’m getting better at this though by putting myself out there on social media.
wow this was a refreshing read today and to see all the appreciative and honest comments, wow. that’s what makes WP and this entire community a wholesome place to learn and grow and get ahead. well done everyone.