Impostor Syndrome? Stand Up Straight!

I have just returned from a weekend away in Anglesey with my partner and a groups of her friends.  I am feeling well rested, and enthused with the great feedback I am getting regarding the impostor syndrome (IS) blog I posted last week.  To follow up on the first instalment, I would like to talk this week about an intervention that is easy to instigate, though on the face of it, has little to do with feeling like an impostor: good posture. 

It might seem a strange place to start when you think about trying to feel more authentic, but the relationship between mind and body is well established.  If someone is depressed, often the symptoms will manifest themselves in a physiological reaction, as well as a behavioural one.  Equally, if someone is suffering chronic pain, the psychological effects can be the most acute problems.  When you have considered all of that, it is pretty obvious that the way command your body has the potential to create a positive feedback loop on your brain.  

So, here is the first intervention that I suggested to my study subjects: whenever you pass through any portal (doorway, gate, entrance to a park, anything you enter or leave), make a conscious effort to stand up as straight as possible and pull your shoulders back.  This will create a dominant posture that will be noticed, consciously and unconsciously, by those around you.  Why is it dominant? Well, it makes you vulnerable.  Your body language is open and therefore exposed to danger.  By showing the world that you are confident enough to hold yourself like this, you are demonstrating your dominance in the social hierarchy and therefore as a leader.   The psychological pay off is massive.  The science tells us that when you take this approach, you release a huge amount of serotonin in your brain; that’s the same drug that is released when people take ecstasy, but for free and safe.  The more confident you feel, the less likely you are to feel like an imposter in your work environment.

Now it is worth mentioning at this point that this approach had mixed results in the study; in fact, the quantitative data suggested that this method had little to no effect.  However, the qualitative data presented two anecdotal pieces of evidence that were both fascinating and too similar to be coincidental.  

The first came from a manager who was leading a new project.  While walking to the water cooler, she had made a conscious effort to improve her posture.  Up until then, she felt that there were few positive effects, but what happened next made her question the approach.  Returning to her desk from the water cooler, a junior colleague turned on her heel and approached, asking to be included in the project she was leading.  The manager was completely taken aback; this had never happened to her before.  This was a request for leadership, for mentorship and for inclusion in this woman’s professional circle.  

The next was an HR manager who was practicing improving her posture as she walked back to the office from lunch.  Again, she was sceptical about this intervention but as she was walking, once again, someone turned on their heel to talk to her.  A man stopped her in the street, apparently apropos of nothing, and offered her his phone number.  She was shocked, this was the sort of thing that happened to other people.  However, she looked confident, regardless of how she might have actually felt.  How she held herself made her someone that people wanted to be around.  The science is out on this one; attractive people are better persuaders, and therefore find leading easier.

You could argue that these instances were due to other factors, and there is good reason to think this.  The first manager was obviously good at what she did and so why wouldn’t a subordinate want to be part of her team and learn from her?  Equally, there was no reason why a man should not have found the HR manager attractive.  However, the fact that they both had such similar experiences while practicing the same intervention indicates that developing good posture makes you look like a leader, and that positive feedback loop can make you feel like one too.  

So, you might well ask, why did this intervention appear to have little quantitative data supporting its efficacy?  Simple; the subjects simply forgot to do it.  I am going to out on a limb and say that if this intervention had been applied more regularly, it would have had a more acute effect.  

What went wrong then? If one subject had forgotten, this could be put down to thoughtlessness.  But when all of them report the same issue, there can only be one common denominator.  The reminding trigger was meant to be walking through doors etc.  However, for what ever reason, this did not serve the subjects well at all.  Therefore, another solution has been suggested and, surprisingly, it comes from the game of golf.

Louis Oosthuizen was an excellent golfer, but he remained a rank outsider because he would regularly crumble at crucial times during his game.  His team of trainers and sports psychologists knew there was nothing wrong with his swing.  He could play any given course well below par and on paper could take on the best in the world.  It appeared though that the situation, that pressurised point just before the winning line was creating the problem. The solution? The team placed a small red dot, just below the thumb point on his clubs.  Each time he was taking a stroke, Louis would look concentrate on the spot and focus on nothing else but the golf.  The media, fans, opponents, all went out of the window.  As a result of this, the rank outsider won the Open Championship at St Andrews in 2010.  

Golf is certainly not my game, but I am happy to take suggestions from any corner if they help.  The suggestion for this context being that, in order to remember to continually adjust your posture, stick a red dot on your computer screen, your note book, or something else you continually have around you in your workspace.  When you see it, be aware of how you are sitting or standing and then adjust; head up, shoulders back.  You will be astonished at how others will respond to you.

I hope this gives you somewhere to start, however you choose to remember to do it.  Next week I’ll talk about an intervention that had a massive impact on all the subjects.  Take care, and be sure to share this with anyone you think it might help.

Additionally, I am expanding my research into new areas, with the intention of writing a book for both IS sufferers and coaches who deal with the issue.  Therefore, I have created a package which targets IS, alongside developing leadership and management skills.  If you, or someone you know suffer from IS, and you are willing to be involved in further research, I am offering this package at a greatly reduced rate.  Please get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more details.