In our fast-moving culture of speed dating, social media posturing, and a constant bombardment of marketing that requires us to look great, eat right, exercise smartly, and achieve success, a new malady has arisen that people are aptly calling impostor syndrome. Harvard Business Review defines it as suffering from "chronic self-doubt and a sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any feelings of success or external proof of their competence. People who feel this seem unable to internalize their accomplishments, however successful they are in their field. High-achieving, highly successful people often suffer, so impostor syndrome doesn’t equate with low self-esteem or a lack of self-confidence.”

In other words, it's often not a reflection of any real mistakes or failures, but it has to do with their perceived inadequacies. What this really means is that, regardless of the social and economic status or personal and business accomplishments achieved on the outside, a person can still feel like a fraud on the inside.

There is a daunting fear that "maybe others will find out who I really am." A subconscious memory of a single moment—the second grader who stuttered reading aloud while his classmates laughed and mocked him, the seventh grader who tried to make some new friends but was ignored three times in a row—can become branded onto our identities. Instead of fading into a passing memory, it becomes the "truth" about who we really are.

Here are some tips to help you manage the moments when you find yourself sinking into the waters of these toxic thoughts and fears: