Ep 8. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as a Transitioning Teacher

Ever felt like a fraud in your own classroom, or doubted your ability to take on a new career path? Trust me, you're not alone. On our latest journey together, we confront the all-too-common imposter syndrome that plagues many educators as they consider new professional horizons. In today's episode, I draw from the depths of my early teaching days to shed light on these daunting feelings of self-doubt and discuss how they can unjustly tether us to our current roles. We navigate the intricate web of stress, burnout, and anxiety that contributes to this psychological challenge, all while highlighting the importance of embracing our innate competencies.

Today we explore the power of transferable skills, the impact of mentors, and the significance of consistency over perfection. By the end of our talk, you'll see why reaching out for support is a strength, not a weakness. Whether you're contemplating a departure from the classroom or already advancing towards a new venture, this episode will guide you to a place where your qualifications shine brightly, unfettered by the shadows of doubt.

Resources:

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Transcript

Zee: 0:02

Hello teacher friends, Coach Zee, here and today we're talking about something that affects each and every one of us, whether we are in our career or changing careers at some point in our journey Imposter syndrome. It's a self-limiting belief that manifests itself in a transitioning teacher's mind so often that it causes them to get cold feet and decide to stay in the classroom, never realizing their full potential. So today we face our fears and learn strategies to combat these symptoms that we all feel at some point or another. Stay tuned.

Narrator: 0:36

Welcome to the UX Teacher Prep Podcast, the ultimate destination for educators who aspire to break into the field of user experience and product design. Your host, z Arnold, a 15-year teacher turned UX researcher, is here to guide, coach and mentor you through every twist and turn as you make your career transition into tech. If you're ready for a more satisfying career and lifestyle and you want the balance to unleash your creativity, this podcast is for you. Now for the show.

Zee: 1:14

Alright. So this topic has been on my mind for a bit and after my last interview with Sharon Ng, which was episode 7, I decided it is time to talk about imposter syndrome. If you haven't heard her interview, I encourage you to come back and listen to it after this episode. She's a former New York City teacher. She struggled with mental health and physical health issues imposter syndrome gaslighting from her administrators. Her transition journey was far from easy, but she did it. And on that note, I want to thank all my listeners and subscribers, because I just hit 250 downloads last week and that number has been on a steady increase. So I really appreciate you listening and I'm so glad I can support you all through this platform.

Zee: 1:54

So let's start by defining imposter syndrome. Of course, I did some research and, according to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, "mposter syndrome is the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own effort or skills. And according to Headspace Health, imposter syndrome is the belief that your achievements haven't been genuinely earned by skill or talent, but are instead the result of luck, manipulation or just working harder than others. And when left unchecked, it can promote an unproductive mindset causing stress, anxiety, perfectionism, avoidance or burnout. So, basically, it's doubting your abilities which makes you feel like a fraud. You're stressing yourself out and constantly trying to make things perfect because you don't believe you're good enough. When I read this, the first thing that came to my mind was teachers, teachers, teachers, teachers. And it's not your fault.

Zee: 2:54

For some reason, there are teachers across the country who are made to believe that they don't have what it takes to thrive as a teacher and, at the same time, they don't have what it takes to thrive in a career outside of teaching. In many cases, it comes from the top down. Many times, school leaders are not leading with grace, they're not supporting struggling teachers and instead they're making them believe that they're less than they. Use a rating of one lesson on one day to put teachers in a box, which then causes anxiety and makes teachers feel like they have to be perfect, flawless. So they go home and they spend endless evenings and nights trying to make the perfect lesson plan, only to receive the same negative energy, and the cycle continues. Now I want to say this is not the case for all administrators and all teachers, but this is the case for many, hence burned out teachers leaving the classroom in droves. So when I see that newer teachers are trying to leave the classroom after their second or third year because they're not getting adequate support from their leaders, they already have imposter syndrome and they feel like they're not good enough to teach. And that same imposter syndrome comes right back when they dare to think about pursuing another career. And that's scary. The research says that multiple factors contribute to imposter syndrome, including personality, your upbringing, society's pressures to achieve. So imagine all those factors playing a role and then someone intentionally adding fuel to that fire.

Zee: 4:19

The other day I asked myself when was the first time you experienced imposter syndrome from what you can remember? And I sat for a while and I thought about it and I was taken all the way back to my first day of teaching. It was fall 2007, I was standing in the hallway outside my classroom door waiting to greet my seventh graders. An announcement came on the loudspeaker and the principal greeted the teachers and told us the students were headed upstairs to their home room classes. I remember taking a deep breath and holding on tight to my attendance clipboard. A few seconds later I saw a hallway crampacked with students headed down the hallway in my direction.

Zee: 4:54

Let me tell you, I could have died. I was so scared and so nervous. I literally started to think about ways to get out of that building. I wanted to sink into a hole. Why? Because I didn't believe it was actually happening. All I could think was who the hell you think you are? These kids are not going to listen to you. You know nothing. Mind you, I had gone through the training program. I was enrolled in my master's courses, but I felt like a total fraud. Thankfully, I didn't run away, but it was extremely scary.

Zee: 5:25

I still remember that, even as I tried to put on my game face and usher them into the room, I was still feeling like an imposter. But the funny thing was they all took out their notebooks. They were looking right at me with the expectation that I would teach them and I would tell them their roles and tell them the expectations for the classroom, and the belief that I knew exactly what I was talking about because I was their teacher. And, day by day, I had to overcome the imposter syndrome and believed that I was put there because of my skills and abilities and I could do the job that I needed to do as a teacher. But imposter syndrome isn't something you just kill like a bug crawling on your toe. It's more like a pesky fly that you swat away and then it keeps coming back. So of course it came back again and again and again and I had to face it and swatted away every time. A more recent time when I experienced imposter syndrome was when I first started my role as a UX Researcher.

Zee: 6:19

I remember one day I was sitting in my first PI planning meeting. Pi stands for Program Increment" Planning, and it's basically a meeting where a bunch of teams get together in a long meeting to plan for an upcoming set of design sprints. So everyone was talking super fast and asking each other questions and all I could do was listen to what sounded like a public car auction, I kid you not. I was like where am I? What did I get myself into? I had no idea what was going on. And then they called on me to answer how long a specific research task would take, and I just blurted out a number of days that made sense to me in a moment. Then I turned my camera off and started googling random terms. They were shouting out and scrolling back and forth through my onboarding packet to find the meaning of company specific acronyms. It's funny now, but it was not in the moment.

Zee: 7:10

I think back to how I had the right tools to succeed, but that feeling of self-doubt just took over me. In the moment I definitely felt like the biggest fraud on the planet. Of course, over time I learned the lingo and now I can sit comfortably in a sprint planning meeting, but talk about imposter syndrome. So with that, I want to talk about recognizing imposter syndrome when it actually shows up. It's important to recognize when imposter syndrome is creeping up on you so you can address it, and we'll talk about ways to combat it in a few.

Zee: 7:41

So how do you know when you're dealing with imposter syndrome? Well, burnout is a good sign. If you're constantly finding yourself going above and beyond to prove your worth and is stressing you out, you're probably suffering from imposter syndrome because you're overworking yourself to cover up your feelings of inadequacy, whether staying up all night to create the perfect lesson plan for an observation, or always looking for a new certification or degree just to prove your worth. Now, there's nothing wrong with upskilling, but if you're already qualified for the job, think about the real reason why you want to get another credential. That leads me to another sign, which is doubting your skills and abilities. If you downplay your achievements, no matter how small, or you think to yourself oh, that's a basic skill, everyone can do that, even after you've been told you excel in that area, you might have imposter syndrome. And another sign is if you avoid leadership roles and think that other people are more worthy of them than you are, and this can be in the teaching space or even while transitioning out of teaching. For example, if you've been in the same exact role for over five years and you haven't stepped up to take on a leadership role at your job, for example, being a lead teacher, you may have imposter syndrome. And if all you've done as a career is teaching and you feel like you couldn't possibly do anything else besides teaching, that's a red flag. There are other signs and I encourage you to do some research to learn more about the telltale signs and symptoms, but I just wanted to give you an idea of what imposter syndrome could look like. So now let's talk about overcoming self-doubt while leaving teaching. So, as a transitioning teacher, you've probably already faced imposter syndrome, or maybe you're dealing with it right now.

Zee: 9:23

I want to give you three strategies to build confidence and overcome feelings of inadequacy when entering a new field like tech or UX. So the first strategy is identifying and highlighting your transferable skills. So on your resume and in your conversations, you need to show others that the skills you acquired in teaching can be transferred and applied effectively in tech roles. I recently met with a client to revamp her resume and I couldn't believe how many transferable skills she had left out of her resume. And I discovered them by asking her the right questions and uncovering all the things she had never really thought about. So highlighting your transferable skills can help you combat those feelings of being unqualified, and a part of that process is also celebrating your achievements, no matter how small, to give yourself that confidence boost. Think about it when was the last time you listed out your achievements and praised yourself for your accomplishments? It's time to accept positive feedback from yourself and others. I actually have a whiteboard on my bedroom wall and I write down my goals and what I'm working on, and every time I accomplish something, I celebrate it right there on the board. It's something so simple, but it makes a huge impact.

Zee: 10:33

Now the second strategy is to look for mentors and support networks. So when you surround yourself with people who are in the field you want to transition to, and people like you who are teachers, who have made the leap. It's going to build your confidence so you can fight off imposter syndrome and I talk more about this in episode five, which is all about networking. But you really want to talk to people who were teachers and have made the leap out of teaching into UX or tech or whatever role you're looking into, because then you're going to start to hear the different stories and the different ways that they made that transition and start to get an idea of how you can make that transition too. Everyone's story and everyone's journey is different, but it's good to talk to people who have been through what you want to go through.

Zee: 11:17

And the last one is don't try to be perfect, but strive for consistency instead. Transitioning careers is a learning process and it's not about being perfect and it's not going to be perfect. Your resume won't be perfect, your interviews won't be perfect, nothing will be. So set realistic expectations and strive for consistency and hold yourself accountable. If you say you're going to do UX courses twice a week, work on them twice a week. If your goal is to reach out to two people on LinkedIn per week. Make sure you stay consistent. If you can't do two, do one and keep doing the thing that you said you were going to do. Here's the thing if you try to be perfect with everything you do, you'll start to tell yourself you're not good enough Because you're striving for this extremely high expectation. No one's perfect, not even the CEO of your dream company or the people interviewing you on the job that you really want. We're all human, and the more you can show your human side, the more you can relax and enjoy the growth process.

Zee: 12:16

So I want to wrap up by saying that overcoming a posture syndrome is a journey and it's normal to have setbacks along the way. So I want to encourage you that if you're questioning whether you belong in a room or a particular space because that feeling of fraud has crept up into your mind, you're not alone. And if you feel like a posture syndrome has gotten such a strong hold on you that it's impacting your mental health, I encourage you to seek professional help from a counselor or a therapist. There's no shame in that. I was seeing a therapist for a while during my teaching career and it changed my mindset in so many ways. Adding up to someone that you trust is a brave step, and it's a very helpful one.

Zee: 12:53

The truth is that we all experience self-doubt and self-limiting beliefs at some time or another, and it's not something that's ever going to go away. As long as we're learning and growing in a new space, we'll experience imposter syndrome because it comes with the territory. Regular, everyday people experience it. Celebrities experience it. No one is immune to imposter syndrome, and what we can do is focus on the positives and lean on others for support. All right, so I hope you gained some clarity and helpful tips for combating imposter syndrome, and if you need support on your career transition, feel free to reach out to me at uxteacherprep. com and we'll talk again next week. Be well.

Narrator: 13:34

Hey, thanks so much for tuning in. If you liked this podcast, hit, follow and scroll down to leave a five-star rating. Then share it with a friend. If you're looking for resources to help you on your tech transition journey, head over to uxteacherprepcom. Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at uxteacherprep for daily tips and motivation. Have a topic you'd like to hear addressed on the show? Send us a DM on Instagram. If you're listening on YouTube, like, subscribe and share. Until next time, be well.