What Is Imposter Syndrome? And do I have it?

Imposter Syndrome is the feeling you have of not belonging or feeling like you don't deserve to be in the situation you find yourself in.

The term first originated from a study conducted by Dr Pauline Rose in 1978 which looked at how it affected high achieving women.

It is now a well recognised term and one that many people can identify feeling at some point.

The reason it was first developed to explain the feeling high achieving women have is because they would usually be in situations that were heavily male dominated. Being in these situations would make them feel like they stand out and of course more self conscious.

With this self consciousness brings self doubt and other negative emotions.

Do I have Imposter Syndrome?

These are some of the symptoms of Imposter Syndrome. If you have any of the following then it could be Imposter Syndrome:

• Being self conscious about being different to everyone else.
• When you get recognised for something you feel like you don't deserve it.
• Overly self critical
• Finding excuses for your success

You would not be in the minority if you do have any of these. Imposter Syndrome is not exclusive to females or high achieving people. Yes if you belong to a minority group you are highly likely to experience it but this can affect everyone.

The more extreme the situation the more you are likely to feel it.

Examples Of Imposter Syndrome

Here are some examples of what Imposter Syndrome could look like:

1. Feeling like I was given a job because of the way I look, not because I deserved it.
2. I was in the right place at the right time and that's why I have got to where I am today.
3. My success is due to others helping me not because I worked hard for it.

Now if we look at each of those examples above in an objective way:

1. No one is going to give a job to someone that they believe are incapable of fulfilling the requirements.
2. To be in the right place at the right time was a result of your efforts. No one picked you up and placed you there, it was down to you.
3. My success is because I am great at building relationships which is a key requirement to being successful.

Can I Stop Having The Feeling Of Imposter Syndrome?

I don't believe you can stop the feeling but you can control and manage it. I have written about the techniques I use to try and control them in this post below.

Imagine if Einstein had Imposter Syndrome...

The definition of Imposter Syndrome is: a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. According to the man himself: “the exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.” Albert…

GavSingh.comGav Singh

The more you can manage it the less of a problem it becomes and the more you deal with it without even having to think about it.

I did quite a bit of research in to this topic as I found it really interesting and was something on my Personal Development Plan. I would highly recommend this book if you wanted to delve in to the topic further.

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Thanks for reading,

Gav