Imposter Syndrome

Previous articles I have written can come back to Imposter syndrome. My article on mental health looked at men’s stubbornness when it comes to admission of needing help. Then later we looked at a modern trend of “fake it till you make it”, which is covered again later in this article.

So, as I have said before, I am not a mental health professional but have been forced to use such services in the past. Life experience has enabled me to recognise and help friends and colleagues who try to suffer in silence with many issues. My article on mental health covered some of the reasons behind this. The opinions in this article are my own and based on my experiences within the University of Life.

What is Impostor syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome, impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological occurrence in which people doubt their skills, talents, or accomplishments and have a persistent internalised fear of being exposed as a fraud.

Although not a mental illness, it can seriously affect careers and personal life. Whilst suffering from imposter syndrome, you don’t believe you deserve the success you have, and you are your own worst critic.

Anxieties, insecurities, and dread are some of the feelings that follow suffering from Imposter syndrome. So, with all these feelings you can see how bad they can be to a career or personal relationship.

Two psychologists, Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, first identified and named the phenomenon in 1978.

In layman’s terms, with imposter syndrome, a person does not feel competent or confident regardless of their achievements. They don’t experience the joys of success because they are always waiting for their fraud to be discovered.

Characteristics of imposter syndrome

Self-doubt.

A lack of self-worth results in constant feelings of anxiety regarding their ability to succeed. Success at work is viewed as an unattainable and risky goal, not a reality that can be achieved even with focus and dedication.

Undervaluing contributions

People experiencing imposter syndrome undermine the worth of their achievements, resulting in a persistent sense of incompetence.

Attributing Success to external factors

Imposter syndrome causes people to credit their achievements to situational factors beyond their control.

When team members offer positive feedback through praise, pay raises, or promotion, people will struggle to accept responsibility for their success. Instead, they may attribute the positive impact they created to chance, coincidence, luck, or the contributions of their co-workers.

Sabotaging self-success

Imposter syndrome reinforces feelings of inadequacy. It pushes people to go out of their way to make poor or risky decisions.

The imposter phenomenon causes people to experience a fear of success. They believe it is unattainable no matter how hard or often they try to attain it — success isn’t meant for them.

They tell themselves that their contributions will consistently be poor, insufficient, or purposeless. This self-doubt can cause them to apply less effort, attention, creativity, and persistence until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Setting unrealistic expectations

Imposter syndrome creates the sensation that our best isn’t enough. It pushes people to set unrealistic standards to accommodate for feeling inadequate when accomplishing realistic, timely, complex, and challenging goals.

Continuous fear of not living up to expectations

No matter what goals people set, imposter syndrome negates their ability to achieve them. It causes people to feel as if they cannot fulfil the expectations they set and others set for them, despite their best efforts. They perceive these expectations as a burden they cannot shake instead of a challenge they’re excited to overcome.

Burnout

To overcome a sense of incompetence, people push themselves. They expend their energy quickly. Work becomes more of a chore than a source of meaning and purpose, and they lose much of their passion for what they do.

Becoming a Target

Unfortunately, people suffering from imposter syndrome open themselves up to attack from the dark side of emotional intelligence and gaslighters. This is why whilst reading this article, you need to take a look at yourself and see if you see any traits within your own personality.

Humility

Humility is another aspect of a personality but a good one. This stems from an accurate assessment of one’s own capabilities in a given situation. In contrast, imposter syndrome stems from a feeling of inadequacy despite being competent.

Humility is a requirement in any leader, manager, friend or partner. Some of the best people I have worked for have the humility to ask for help when presented with a task they need to gain knowledge of.

Be confident in your own abilities, but don’t be boastful or conceited. It does not matter how good you think you are. There is always someone better. If you don’t believe me, ask Mike Tyson.

The Dunning Kruger Effect.

With any personality trait, there is a good side and a dark side. We looked at this previously with emotional intelligence. With imposter syndrome, the dark side is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. And in the same way that the dark side of emotional intelligence can be destructive to other people, the Dunning-Kruger effect is the same, if not worse.

Every now and then, you may come across someone who thinks they know more about a topic than others when they actually have little to no background to support that belief. If so, you have probably encountered the Dunning-Kruger effect. It’s when underperformers grossly overestimate their ability to do something.

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby people with low ability, expertise, or experience regarding a certain type of task or area of knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge.

How to spot the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

• tend to overestimate their level of skill
• fail to recognise genuine skill in others
• fail to recognise the extremity of their inadequacy
• claim expertise without providing evidence.
• tend to lack credibility or relevant experience.
• tend to have limited education or work experience in the field, or they may have a history of making false or misleading claims.

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge. — Stephen Hawking