"Comparing to others is actually a form of violence against yourself… it doesn’t do any good… The best thing we can do is to compare and compete against yourself. I want to my best. I want to be better than who I was last year. It’s not about competing with others and outdoing others, it's about competing with myself and making sure that I am constantly in that process of self development, self improvement, excelling and achieving." - Haleh Banani* Today we will be speaking to sister Haleh Banani. She has a masters degree in clinical psychology, a featured expert on a variety of platforms and also hosted her own TV show for Al-Fajr TV called ‘with Haleh’ which combined principles of psychology and Islam to help people reach their full potential. In this interview, we talk about the impostor syndrome, feeling like a fraud, tackling perfectionism and handling negative self talk. Questions Asked: - What is the impostor syndrome all about? - What causes a person to feel this way? Is it a result of low self esteem or a mix of issues? - If someone has been given the opportunity to take on a big role/project and still feels like they don't belong there (despite having the capability). What advice would you give them in terms of overcoming this internal conflict and doing their job well? - How does one tackle perfectionism? - How do you internalise your accomplishments? - How can we make sure that we are giving our best effort instead of getting caught up in aiming for unattainable perfectionism? - Do other people really do sit and think about our mess ups?