Impostor Syndrome: What is It? Why Do You Suffer from It?

There may be people you know who are clearly complete losers at their work. They  pretend to be a know-it-all, so they find ways to get others to do their work for them because they don't have the skills to get projects and tasks done, and they act confident about tasks they don't have any idea about how to get them done.

The irony is that imposters don't suffer from imposter syndrome, which means that if you suffer from it, you are not. Let's get to know it a little bit, its causes, and how to deal with it.

What is imposter syndrome?

The "impostor syndrome" is a feeling generated by thoughts, but they are thoughts that are never based on reality and are not supported by facts. Rather, they come from insecurities, fears, and self-doubt, and when they occur to you, you feel like an imposter.

You find yourself questioning whether you can live up to the expectations of others, comparing yourself to them in unrealistic ways and finding yourself inferior to them, and questioning your capabilities, skills, education, training, background and competence in performing your role effectively and successfully.

Impostor syndrome hinders you from performing your best and limits your capabilities. So, you focus on proving yourself rather than doing the job properly. Your main concern becomes how to prove to others that you are not an imposter, which impairs logical and creative thinking.

You stop trying new things and taking reasonable risks. You may even begin to distance yourself from the people in your life, either because you are obsessed with finding a way to do your tasks better or because you are avoiding them for fear that they will find out that you are an imposter, so you end up feeling stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with yourself and your work.

Why do you feel imposter syndrome?

A large part of why you experience this syndrome comes down to who you are as an individual. People like you who are accustomed to setting goals, working hard toward them, learning and growing to challenge themselves and ultimately expecting success are more likely to experience impostor syndrome.

This is because highly impulsive individuals like you tend to work with other highly impulsive individuals as well, which is why you may start to question yourself when you compare yourself to those around you because your standards are high.

Another reason may be your personality. Perhaps, you seek perfectionism and idealism, and you strive to give your best when you do anything, but you wonder if you really always give your all in the end.

When you set such high and unrealistic standards for yourself, you will never achieve success. This is because your definition of success is constantly changing, or you may feel that you lack competence, so you work hard trying to compensate for the deficiency caused by that feeling, or you aim to be an expert in a specific field.

However, you never feel satisfied because your information about it is sufficient, no matter how much you study and research. This is because you tend to underestimate your knowledge and experience.

For many people, the reason they feel impostor syndrome is due to a combination of the three factors mentioned above, and the truth is that if you feel like an imposter, it is because you have achieved a measure of success in your life that you are either afraid of losing it, or you attribute it to luck, which is often the case.

People without imposter syndrome

People who do not suffer from impostor syndrome are imposters for a number of reasons, namely:

• They have not seen success in their lives, so they have nothing to lose.
• Their perception of themselves is so unrealistic that they sometimes believe their own lies or misunderstanding of reality.
• They are real imposters or narcissists.

Imposters act so confidently, so their lies deceive us when we are around them. Also, we may never question them, and when we ask them, they cling to their lies even more strongly, so we doubt ourselves and wonder why we doubted them.

Generally, imposters are willing to exaggerate their skills through job interviews and resumes, embellish or make up stories about their past, or shine a spotlight on themselves to get the attention or prestige they want. When it is revealed that they are imposters, they may react in two ways. They either react agressively to defend themselves, or they run away from the situation in which their lack of abilities has been exposed.

How do you deal with imposter syndrome?

Fortunately, if the aforementioned description does not fit you, then you are not an imposter, and what you feel is common among highly intelligent, skilled, and impulsive individuals. But if you feel impostor syndrome, then that alone is proof that you are not an imposter.

The next step is to learn how to deal with impostor syndrome so that it does not negatively affect your performance. To do this, you must understand that impostor syndrome is based on irrational thoughts. To disprove those thoughts, present yourself with the facts, and reflect on your education, training, and the positive feedback you have received from your peers or your supervisors, make them evidence and replace them with illogical thoughts, and identify and record the cases in which you succeeded. Then, ask yourself what you did to produce effectively in those cases.

Repeat what you did. Since those actions were effective once, they will often be effective again, then record them as well. After that, define the meaning of success for you, and write that down too. In the end, make that your standard, and when the imposter syndrome tries to convince you that you are unsuccessful, use your definition of success to fall back on reality instead of trying to achieve perfection.

How do you use imposter syndrome to your advantage?

After acknowledging that you have impostor syndrome and learning how to deal with it, you can move on to using it as a tool to achieve success. The first step is to think about your strengths, what makes you unique, and why you are qualified to do your job. You can even review these details because you wrote them down in the previous exercise for this purpose. Then, get the adrenaline rush of imposter syndrome.

Instead of assuming that the physiological responses associated with imposter syndrome are caused by anxiety, stress, or fear, think of them as signs of excitement, enthusiasm, and readiness. Finally, remember that impostor syndrome manifests itself during times when you are in doubt or facing a challenge, which is great. That's because it means you're stepping out of your comfort zone into where you can grow.

The next time you look around you and compare yourself to the amazing and talented people around you, know that you are one of them instead of looking at yourself as an anomaly. These people chose you to be part of their group because you fit in and because they needed your talents and noticed your successes. When you notice someone who brings attention to their accomplishments, reminds everyone of them all the time, and gives false information, they are most likely the impostor among you.