Impostor Syndrome, Confidence, and Conservation

In this episode, I talk all about imposter syndrome. Part of the reason why I am talking about imposter syndrome is because we’re starting off in a new year!

I also just started my second cohort of students in my Confusion to Clarity course and it’s really clear they are struggling. It just makes me so sad how rampant imposter syndrome is in our community, our science community, our conservation community.

But finally – I think it affects conservation – hear me out!

I’ve been there – I know what it feels like, AND I’ve overcome it. I can help you I promise.

What is imposter syndrome?

It is the feeling that you don’t belong and that the accomplishments that you’ve had in life were somehow by accident or by mistake. You doubt yourself and your experiences. 

We are essentially filtering out people that suffer from it more, as they will likely to drop out of this field. Impostor syndrome particularly affects women and our field already struggles with diversity.

In addition to it being worse for us and our psyche, I also think it affects our ability to do conservation work and advocacy.

How can we get the rest of the world excited about conservation if we are down on ourselves?

I’ve been there – I know what it feels like, AND I’ve overcome it. I can help you I promise.

Specifically I go over:

• How impostor syndrome is debilitating you and your conservation efforts
• My experiences with imposter syndrome
• Why changing your thoughts is so important and really the first step
• To not be afraid of therapy
• Embrace and reclaim Stupidity!
• Find evidence that you belong and are deserving
• How visualizing your future self can help
• And MORE!

Want to learn more about wildlife biology, being a scientist, and conservation? 

Order “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” now:

https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/

Let’s Connect:

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For full show notes: https://stephanieschuttler.com/38-impostor-syndrome-confidence-and-conservation/