Tag: Ellis Vyth

What is “imposter syndrome” and how does it impact you? These are the questions that attendants were asked at the beginning of the Imposter syndrome workshop provided by Ellis Vyth (Hertz).

“It is the feeling that ‘I don’t deserve it’.”

“I think my peers are smarter and more talented than me.”

“I don’t feel people’s compliments to me are genuine.”

“It demotivates me to do my work.”

…….

After attendants shared their personal stories about “imposter syndrome”, trainer Ellies Vyth pointed out that imposter syndrome is very universal in academia among both male and female researchers. Therefore, don’t feel alone.

To beat the imposter syndrome, three main steps are suggested and practiced in an interactive way during the workshop: First, notice your success and ask/accept positive feedbacks; Second, stop comparing with peers and remember that each person has their own strengths and expertise; Third, speak out mid- or long-term dreams, name the potential barriers, and take small steps to achieve the goal.

You can read more about Ellis Vyth at https://www.ellisvyth.nl/

“Today, I was told that I have a lovely smile. Yes, I should smile more often”

Anonymous participant

“Hearing stories from peers, I realised that I am not alone”

Anonymous participant

“I really enjoyed the three hours workshop”

Anonymous participant

Having the feeling that we don’t belong to a group or that we don’t deserve our success is unfortunately common in academia. Talking openly about this make can make us realize that we all face the same challenges, which already tell us how weak the fundamentals of this concept are – there is then no point of “disregarding our work” or “constantly compare it with others”. In this workshop, Ellis Vyth from Bhertz explained what the imposter syndrome is, how it can affect us and what strategies can be adopted to tackle it.

During this workshop participants interactively learned to take ownership of their success, embrace compliments and identify their qualities. In a first activity participants were asked to share a story and complement each other. Understanding what our ambitions and dreams are can help us find our place in the ‘now’ and pave our way forward. So, in a second exercise participants shared their future projects. The group had deep conversations and people were actively engaged in the activities!

http://www.bhertz.nl

“I really liked the event and Zoom worked very well. I think, it was even better to connect via Zoom since we shared some personal stories that are not easy to share”

Anonymous participant

Many PhD-students and postdocs experience difficulties in maintaining a balance between all the different projects and tasks they have. This is not to mention the difficult balance between work and private life. It is all about making the right decisions, but these are often not very clear and are always very personal. In this workshop Ellis worked with us on deciding on the tasks to definitely pursue and those that could be discarded. We practiced different ways of convincing our colleagues and supervisors and learned to say no in an effective and friendly way.

https://www.bhertz.nl/home-en/

“I liked that the speaker had a background in academia!”

Anonymous participant 1

“I liked that the there was room for everyone to speak”

Anonymous participant 2

“Very nice workshop and very useful”

Anonymous participant 3