Imposter Syndrome 101
What if, I’m not good enough? What if, I try it and fail? What if, I speak up and say something dumb? Surely, I’m out of my league here.
Sound familiar? That annoying inner-voice is more common than you may think.
Here’s Imposter Syndrome 101...
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1/ First, what is it?
Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which a person doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud.
Essentially, you attribute your success to dumb luck and/or believe it is undeserved.
2/ A pair of psychologists, Suzanna Imes & Pauline Clance, first noted this phenomenon in the 1970’s while observing 178 high-achieving women.
Inexplicably, the women had convinced themselves they were not that smart, instead they had simply fooled anyone who thought otherwise.
3/ Initially, Imes & Clance believed this ‘imposter’ feeling was exclusive to women.
They theorized that since women were (wrongly) stereotyped as less capable at the time, these high-achievers rationalized their accolades by concluding it was all fake or perceived.
4/ In the time since researchers have established imposter syndrome can affect us all.
And, as many as 7 out of 10 of us have our own internal struggles with this self-defeating belief system.
As it turns out, high performers by their very nature are prone to imposter feelings.