Yes, And … Until You Make It: Improvising Through Imposter Syndrome

“… I’ve run a game on everybody, and they're going to find me out." - Maya Angelou.

Imposter syndrome is a phenomenon where someone has the feeling that they are inadequate and their successes and accomplishments are gained through luck, not skill and experience. This belief is unfortunately something that is widespread in the tech industry affecting everyone from junior devs fresh out of coding bootcamps to executives at Fortune 500 companies. Improv is the art of creating unscripted and spontaneous performances. Although it’s closely associated with comedy, improv techniques are often used outside of that setting to teach public speaking, problem-solving and skill reinforcement. In this session, we will take fundamental improv techniques and exercises and apply them to real world work situations to learn how confront and overcome the feeling of being an imposter.

Transcript

1. Yes, And … Until You Make It Improvising Through Imposter Syndrome
2. Crystal Preston-Watson Quality Engineer Spruce Labs
3. @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
4. @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr2019
5. Social Anxiety Disorder @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
6. • What is Imposter Syndrome? • Improv Fundamentals • Techniques and Exercises We’ll talk about: @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
7. What is Impostor Syndrome?
8. Imposter syndrome is a psychological term referring to a pattern of behavior where people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, often internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud. - Psychology Today @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
9. High level of self-expectations = High level of self-doubt
10. 5 Types of Impostors • The Perfectionist - focus is on “how” something is done • The Superwoman/man - measures competence based on “how many” roles they can both juggle and excel in • The Natural Genius - cares about “how” and “when” accomplishments happen • The Soloist - cares mostly about “who” completes the task • The Expert -the knowledge version of the Perfectionist. Here, the primary concern is on “what” and “how much” you know or can do Dr. Valerie Young @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
11. @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr2019 The Fundamentals of Improv
12. Improv, or improvisation, is a form of live theatre in which the acting, plot, dialog, and characters of a story or scene are made up in the moment. Often improvisers will take a suggestion from the audience, or use something else to inspire them. @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
13. @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
14. Techniques and Exercises
15. Yes, And … (Save Blocking for Twitter) @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
16. Be Present (Get Out Of Your Head) @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
17. Trust your instincts (Make Honest Choices) @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
18. Show, Don’t Tell (Just Do It) @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
19. Status (A Change Is Gonna Come) @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
20. –Stephen Colbert “Life is an improvisation. You have no idea what's going to happen next and you are mostly just making things up as you go along.” @ScopicEngineer #dvlpdnvr
21. Thank You! Website: https://crystalprestonwatson.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalpw Twitter: @ScopicEngineer