Who Gets Imposter Syndrome, And How Do You Deal With It?

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Do you ever get that feeling that you just don’t belong? That you’re a fake who might be found at any minute? There’s a term for that -- imposter syndrome. In this video, we explore why this feeling exists and what you can do to fight against it.

**So what, exactly, IS imposter syndrome?**
Imposter syndrome is the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills. But, it’s not its own, diagnosable condition. You won’t find it in the DSM, which covers all the different categories of mental health disorders. That’s because it’s usually thought of as a symptom of a larger problem like depression or anxiety. Because of this, mental health professionals actually prefer the term imposter phenomenon.

**Why and how do people feel like imposters?**
Researchers call it the imposter cycle. You might successfully complete a project, but people with imposter syndrome push away any positive feedback they get. It wasn’t skill or talent or intelligence that created the success. It was over-the-top effort or sheer luck. That leads to self-doubt and feeling like a fake. And when it’s time to tackle the next project, the cycle starts all over again, trapping you in this feeling of being an imposter.

And imposter syndrome can be a result of factors outside of the individual, too. Like being part of an under-represented group. For example, a woman in a male-dominated profession or the first person in their family to go to college. Feeling a sense of belonging helps with confidence, but if there aren’t people around who look like you or sound like you or have similar experiences, it can be easier to feel like you don’t belong.

**How do you fight imposter syndrome?**
There is no silver bullet, but adopting a growth mindset can help. With a growth mindset, your beliefs about yourself aren’t stuck at a certain level forever. They can change and grow. Failure isn’t evidence that you’re not intelligent or talented. It’s an opportunity to learn and stretch your abilities. In the end, a person’s true potential is unknown. And that is kryptonite for imposter syndrome.

Talking about imposter syndrome with others can help, too. Remember - feeling like a fraud requires you to think that you’re fundamentally different and not as good as the people around you. If those other people ALSO feel like an imposter sometimes, you might be less likely to feel like an imposter, too.

SOURCES
What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means

5 Types of Imposters

Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: a Systematic Review

Feeling Like an Imposter: The Effect of Perceived Classroom Competition on the Daily Psychological Experiences of First-Generation College Students

Contextualizing the Impostor “Syndrome”

First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes

CHAPTERS
0:00 Imposter Syndrome Defined
2:17 The Imposter Cycle
3:15 The 5 Imposter Types
5:12 The Research
6:41 How Competition Affects Imposter Syndrome
7:51 Solutions
10:36 Info Recap

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#impostersyndrome #mentalhealth

[AboveTheNoise]

Do you ever experience imposter syndrome? What are some ways that you overcome those feelings of self-doubt and anxiety? Let us know in the comments below!

[kenster]

7:59 Hey Miles - You're AWESOME! You're smart enough. You're good enough. And darnit: People LIKE you!

[peterhooper]

A variation on “the soloist” takes the form of “I’m on my own here. If I don’t do it, it won’t get done.”

It would have been good for me to learn of this entire phenomenon years ago.

[centerededgedesignusa]

I had a breakthrough moment once when I was feeling some deep DEEP imposter syndrome when I was pulled into a high-level project. The people that pulled me into the project always came to me for my skills and knowledge. Pulling me into the project was just saving a step in the process. I'm the type that if I can't find an existing solution, I'll come up with a new one, and my peers realized this! It just took me longer to give myself the credit.

[shannonthewise]

My parents made sure I didn't feel confident. Meditation and being present help me realize none were calling me an imposter

[tehNashty]

Steven Li is going to be a super star! Keep it up Li!!!

[juliegolick]

I am so much The Expert, it's not even funny. I feel like I need to know absolutely everything about a topic before I am comfortable speaking about it. Sometimes that's helpful (because when I *do* speak, I'm generally coming from a well-informed place), but sometimes it's very much not (like when I objectively have enough information but don't *feel* like I have enough information). It's very frustrating sometimes!

[cyndaguy]

living in silicon valley trying to enter tech and everyone's dad is an engineer while both of my parents are college dropouts just hits different

[TheMichelex]

Very timely. I have been trying to finish the same blog post for several months now. I think I’m the perfectionist.

[skrdman]

Watching this video I tried to sympathize with you and consider when I might have experienced this phenomenon, but I'm not really feeling it.

Maybe I've just not been abitious or successful enough to find myself on these situations. I'm usually pretty confident in my skills and abilities, so that's probably part of it too. This imposter phenomenon seems pretty foreign to me, but I guess it's still a good thing to be aware of.

[TheKathy]

Yes.. This is me in a nutshell! As a hopeless combo of Expert and Perfectionist I get lost in knowing everything, and never accepting praise. My most important advice is be conscious and alert when comparing yourself to others. Under the influence of impostor syndrome you never compare yourself to the failure and struggles of others, only their victories. Obscuring that they surely faced challenges of their own leading up to their victory, you hold your own failures and weaknesses up as proof of your incompetence. Its like comparing your morning sleepyfaced reflection to an instagram model, filter, ringlight and all. You're bound to come up short.

[Jarom.M]

What if we hit on all five types in different scenarios? No wonder I feel like an imposter in nearly everything I do. Thanks for bringing this up as it makes me feel less like an imposter, all alone.

[madao]

Expert and Soloist for me. Although, I don't really struggle with Impostor syndrome anymore. What helped me was getting enough expertise in at least one area and then branching out from there. It feels ok not knowing everything about things that are not in your main area of expertise. That was not really an option at university because there were so many interesting directions and only so much time and energy. Now, in the job, it's way easier.

[TheDoccMan]

He should be more famous
That would help a lot of people

[scottjackson]

I experienced a bit of imposter syndrome when I was at Stanford.

[thomasr.jackson]

Work and academic environments are big factors. Both contribute to unrealistic expectations, as well as fear of not “measuring up”. This means not only imposter syndrome, but dysfunctional support and assessment environments. You can’t be honest about struggles and mistakes in a group of people who pretend they never make them, and punish you for “weakness”. One is bound to internalize such an ethos.

[AlisterPuddifer]

My problem is that I have intelligent, privileged friends, who are good at recalling facts. Whereas I have physical, mental, and learning disabilities, so it takes me longer to do things, and I don't recall facts as well as they do. I just like to remind myself that, given enough time and the right tools, I can do just as well as they can, and I'm better at some things than they are.

[hippieduck]

I'm curious about how schools (or any system or program involving teaching kids) tackles this issue. Are teachers taught to avoid "accidentally" enforcing a fixed minset in their students, and to be aware of their own biases? Like, suspecting a student has limitations in a certain area or no limitations at all and subliminally communicate that to them? School should be enforcing a growth mindset, but I'm personally not sure all of them are doing a good job of actually making sure that's what they are teaching to ALL of their students any given day. Again, just curious!

[GameTesterBootCamp]

Jesus-forking-Christ! I have shades of all FIVE of those architypes!! No wonder I'm a constant ball of anxiety and stress.

[valeravalik]

Perfectionist, Expert, Natural Genius and... Soloist? For being stubborn about not asking for help when there are clearly people who are able to relief some of my workload? Too many reasons to doubt oneself. Should have asked for help earlier... and more often too.