Many of the things that limit us in life are more internal than external and most times we partner with the enemy to become a barrier on our own way to success.
Limiting beliefs, self-criticism, self-sabotage, negative mindsets, etc. are all obstacles that hinder us from being all that God wants us to be.
As a Christian, there’s no limit to how far God can take you, the Bible says He can do far beyond your thoughts and imagination.
But for Him to be able to do that, you have to align with Him spirit, soul, and body.
You must be deliberate about eliminating these barriers if you truly want to walk in the fullness of the plans and purpose of God for your life.
There are lots of people that God has positioned in great places, but they fail to maximize all that God has arranged for them because they’ve been crippled by this impostor syndrome.
I see the impostor syndrome play out in the lives of a few people in great places every time I visit them.
As someone who believes in the supernatural, I want to tell you that whatever position God has brought you into, His grace has qualified you to be there.
What exactly is impostor syndrome?
Impostor Syndrome or Impostor Phenomenon is a psychological occurrence in which an individual doubts his/her own skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.
This syndrome cannot be diagnosed by any medical equipment, it’s a battle that plays on and on in the mind of an individual.
As a result of this feeling, when you find yourself in a place of prominence, that God Himself has placed you, you show up with fear and a feeling of inadequacy.
You are unable to bring out the best in you or bring anything to the table.
The impostor syndrome can also be called ‘perceived fraudulence’ whereby despite your education, experience or accomplishments, you still have a crippling feeling of self-doubt and personal incompetence.
In a bid to counter these feelings, you might end up working harder and forever holding yourself to ever higher standards.
I believe you understand what impostor syndrome means now that it has been established?
What then are the steps to take in order to combat this syndrome?
step 1: Focus on the facts
Since you know for a fact that you are not a fraud, why don’t you focus on that?
The fact here is that you are already in that position, so instead of thinking of yourself as fraudulent, why not do the best you can do in that position?
You know for a fact that you are not a fraud. You know that you didn’t get there through fraudulent means.
You worked hard and worked your way up to that position, this is the fact that you should focus on.
Your mind has a lot of power and it is capable of playing games with you. But you must be able to gain control over it.
The best way to do that is to sit down and meditate on these truths:
“I am not a fraud”
“I worked hard to get here”
“The favour of God brought me here”
When you meditate on these things, you’ll begin to see a difference because whatever you meditate on is amplified.
step 2: acknowledge, validate & let go
Acknowledge the fact that you’re going through impostor syndrome.
Don’t try to deny it, you know you are going through the feeling of perceived fraudulence, and what you want to do is to validate that it’s just a feeling.
As I mentioned in point one above, focus on the facts, which is you’re not a fraud. Then validate this fact by thinking of how you got to where you are in the first place.
Once you’ve validated that fact, let go. Let go of the feeling, and don’t keep dwelling on it because, remember, whatever you meditate on is amplified.
step 3: reframe your thoughts
Stop thinking of yourself as just an ordinary person. You are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a body.
According to the Bible, when your soul prospers, every other part of you prospers (3 John 1:2)
This is because your soul is the driver of every other part of you. But what then is the prosperity of the soul?
Your soul has 4 compartments: your mind, your will, your emotion, and your intellect.
Your mind is to your entire being what the CPU is to the computer. Every battle or win that you experience springs forth from your mind.
In fact, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, it wasn’t as if the devil held Him by the hand and led Him to be tempted, it was actually a battle that played on in Jesus’ mind.
Many of the battles that you face are actually battles of the mind.
Your mind itself has 3 windows. One window opens to the past, which is called the ‘memory’ window.
Another window opens to the present, the ‘contemplation’ window.
And yet another window to the future, this is the ‘imagination’ window.
When you open up your memory window, it takes you to either a painful past or a pleasant one.
The contemplation window helps you to do analytical thinking or scenario planning so that you can make decisions in the now.
The imagination window gives you the ability to travel into the future and then come back to decide whether you want that future to come to pass or not.
The ability to get your mind, will, emotion and intellect to grow holistically is what the prosperity of the soul is all about.
Because of the power the mind wields, it’s important that you reframe your thoughts and renew your mind daily (Romans 12:2a)
step 4: share how you’re feeling
“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind” – 1 Corinthians 10-13 (NIV)
One of the traps of the enemy is to make you believe that you’re the only one going through what you’re going through.
When you fail to share your problems or challenges with others, you would think you’re the only one going through what you’re going through, you will not realize that someone has come out of it and they are a sign that you can too.
Share what you’re going through. There’s no problem peculiar to anybody.
If you are battling with the syndrome, speak to people who are in even higher positions than you and find out what they are doing to overcome it.
Although sharing your feeling is an intimate thing to do, you must share them nonetheless.
Look for accountability partners or prayer partners, friends who can stand in the gap for you or ease your burdens with their words.
“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” – Proverbs 18:24 (KJV)
step 5: learn from your peers
When God wants to empower a man, He brings him to a place of retreat, isolating him from others so that he may be lifted up.
But as great as this sounds, isolation is also one of the greatest weapons of spiritual warfare that the devil uses. When he wants to mess people up, he isolates them.
When the devil isolates you from others, he makes sure that you do not listen when people talk to you. He blinds your eyes so you cannot see what your peers and doing and learn from them.
Eventually he surrounds you with people who only tell you what you want to hear.
If everyone around you suddenly starts to flatter you, know that you are in trouble.
step 6: pat yourself On the back
Honestly, you are doing well. You’re doing better than you think so pat yourself on the back once in a while.
Don’t be too religious and start to think that commending yourself for good work means that you’re taking the glory that belongs to God.
“But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD” – Jeremiah 9:24 (KJV)
Many people have lost their minds by the virtue of what they went through, many people have stopped serving God, and many have given up but you are here and you’re still standing, so pat yourself on the back once in a while, you’re doing well.
step 7: engage in covenant weapons
Spend time with the word, spend time in fasting and prayer.
Every time you do these things, you forget your worries and you just rejoice in the presence of God.
If you are going to overcome the impostor syndrome, you must engage in covenant weapons. And understand that anywhere God brings you to, you have been qualified by grace.
I prophesy over your life, you will fulfill your purpose, and you will become all that God has planned for you to be in Jesus’ name.