What is Impostor Syndrome? How Do We Overcome It?

An Impostor syndrome is a feeling that your accomplishments are insignificant, and that you have only got where you are because of luck or deceiving others; you feel distrustful about your work and achievements, and you are always worried that others will discover that you are a fraud.

Note: This article is from the blogger Scott H Young and tells us about the impostor syndrome and his experience with it.

Arrogance is not a good quality, and the impostor syndrome is more prevalent than we think; because the fear of discovery makes those who suffer from it feel weak, as they are unwilling to admit their lack of confidence for fear that this will expose their worthlessness to all.

Impostor syndrome affects high achievers, modest successes and seems to affect women at higher rates than men, which makes sense if you don't see yourself suited to the stereotype of a successful person in your industry.

My struggle with insecurity

I'm actually embarrassed to write that as if admitting insecurity might reinforce the idea that I'm incompetent in other people's eyes, yet if I think about the past I can notice a pattern in my own life, and when I start looking at someone else who's accomplished something that I balance myself with, and I imagine it's successful, and I'm not.

If it happens later and I reach the level of success of that same person, I see that what I have done now seems simple, and there is a new standard to be reached in order to be qualified to accomplish something , and I have learned to suppress this intuition in front of people to some extent, but I find that it dominates many of my own thoughts and feelings.

One example is language learning, when I first started learning French, I was fascinated by Benny Lewis, his ability to speak many languages, and later when I did it myself, the accomplishment was no longer special; it was easy.

I am now concerned that my level may not be good enough , and while I was thinking earlier that the idea of having long discussions in French is good enough, now I feel that it is insufficient in parallel to the state of complete fluency; I must be able to understand everything perfectly, and speak without making mistakes.

This pattern dominates my private life; that is, seeking to achieve something, and after achieving it, underestimating it and counting it as a superficial achievement, and you may notice this pattern in yourself as well.

No problem in setting more difficult targets; the problem with imposter syndrome is that you erase your past progress by changing your success criteria.

Why would successful people feel like failure?

We need to understand the Impostor syndrome to know its causes, and here are two important factors that negatively affect the way you think about yourself:

1. Achievements are objective, albeit relative

Let's start with the first factor: the relative state

Obviously, It is easy to look at any area in which you can accomplish, so you can rank people at their level of overall success. Within the company, there are the level of beginner, manager and deputy executive director (CEO). While in academies, they have master's degrees, doctorates, professors and award-winning researchers, and in sports, there are regional, national, Olympic and international players.

However, our sensitivity to this absolute measure of excellence is less than our sensitivity to our relative position within this range, and as such we see the achievement scores close to our level in greater detail, and conscious awareness far beyond our level.

For me, all achievement that far exceed me were far enough away that I could basically ignore them, such as world-renowned authors, linguists who speak 40-language, and intellectuals who are famous for their brilliance in several topics, and these achievements are so far beyond my level that they cause me no concern at all.

The reason you feel insecure is to maximize levels that are near or just above your level

I am more aware of people who are slightly above me in rank, and when it comes to objective experience, I improperly balance myself with people who have studied subjects deeply at universities, and I balance myself with people who run real businesses with dozens of employees, and people who speak a language fluently, rather than those of my own average level.

The problem is that after you rise one rank, the rank above it suddenly emerges, and when I moved from working individually to working as a team, this new achievement quickly became the basis, and my level of balance rose, so if I was going to get a PhD in something, I would immediately realize that I was different from recognized university professors or experts.

In short, being aware of relative status means that there is always a higher level and a lower level than ours; therefore, insecurity can come from an excessive focus on the higher level rather than an appreciation of the levels you have reached and the successes you have achieved.

However, although the impostor syndrome is different, it tends to make the current level seem unacceptable to you. The position you have reached was by luck or circumstance or because others incorrectly understood that you did an impressive thing, so there is a constant fear that you will return to previous levels.

2. Not seeing others' lack of confidence in themselves

Another factor that contributes to impostor syndrome is that you do not realize that others suffer from it. The fact that others seem so confident, secure , and highly self-esteeming may reinforce your belief in your insignificance.

Overestimation is the result of a mentality called a situational mindset; people who appear to be fun and playful in life are very visible, while those who stay home are not.

This can lead to some depression as well, especially if you think that having fun and getting out of the house is an important goal, and if you can see the reality, you'll probably feel safer.

Similarly, if you can enter the private lives of most successful people, and see how they struggle with their fears or that they have reached levels of success beyond their competence, you are likely to be reassured that your feelings are normal, yet self-confident people are highly visible, and those with doubts never talk or appear.

Overcoming impostor syndrome

I think the first step to overcoming your fears

It is the realization of how they are in reality; and that is because much of the obvious confidence and courage that people show, hide doubts about themselves.

Once you see that self-doubt and insecurity are not unique disorders to which you are exposed; but it is something that affects so many people, it becomes much easier to get comfortable with these feelings.

I'll give you some helpful advice. You can read the biographies of successful people; You'll be surprised how many successful people have spent their entire lives facing extreme self-doubt and insecurity; The famous poet Maya Angelou once wrote: "I wrote 11 books, but every time I thought they would find out now, I tried to trick everyone and they would reveal me".

Next Step

Your focus should be consciously adjusted away from that degree of achievement right in front of you, It may not be normal, but focus on the scores you have already raised and the difficulties that have accompanied them, This can help to avoid counting your previous achievements as easy, and what you have ahead of you is really important.

In conclusion

I recommend you to take a more flexible opinion when evaluating others' actions and achievements. If you constantly attack and criticize others, you will end up attacking yourself, and when you start exaggerating the faults of others, your faults will start to worsen as well.

I don't know of any treatment that would give you lasting confidence in yourself, and I'm not sure if there is a cure for that, but adjusting your tendency to underestimate your achievements, and feel more comfortable in the location you've reached, is something we can all strive for.