www.fastcompany.com: Impostor syndrome is a well-known concept. It’s when you feel like a fraud despite having outward evidence of success. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, actress Natalie Portman, and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz have all talked about their experiences with it. It affects approximately 70% of people, but according to Valerie Young, impostor syndrome expert and author of The Secrets Of Successful Women, it is especially prevalent among those who are the first, the only, or the few–especially individuals who belong to a “group for whom there are stereotypes about competence.”
10 comments:
Impostor syndrome is something that affects most people at some point, if not at every point, in their lives. This article describes five methods that can be used to combat the symptoms of impostor syndrome. What I liked about the article was how proactive the speaker was and how she didn’t just wait for the feeling of being a fraud to go away; she made a conscious effort to project confidence in the hopes that it would manifest in genuine feelings of confidence. She does say that it’s important to acknowledge that feelings take a lot of work and time to change and it’s important to “normalize” these feelings but I also think that small things can be done to minimize the deleterious effect that they can have, even if you can’t get rid of them completely. I personally struggle a lot with these feelings and I try my best to remind myself that not everything I do has to be perfect the first time I try it. The article did a good job of expressing how normal these feelings can be and provided reasonable and realistic ways to combat impostor syndrome.
Imposter Syndrome may not be a term many are familiar with, but it is a condition many individuals experience. Especially at a high-ranking university, students can feel as if they don’t belong if they begin comparing themselves to others. This article provides five methods in which to improve one’s confidence in themselves, because it recognizes that not every method works for everyone. Some individuals could find all five incredibly effective, while others could be disappointed with the effects from each. The article stresses that overcoming Imposter Syndrome is a process, not a one-step solution. Personally, I found myself questioning if I belonged at CMU, and I occasionally continue to do. Simply knowing about this condition, and that other people feel it as well, makes me feel more at ease. The process of building up skills and talents should go hand-in-hand with the building of confidence, but that does not always occur. I’m hoping that I can find a way to do so.
“Imposter Syndrome: feeling like a fraud despite having outward evidence of success”(Horton). I know that deal with this kind of thing on a regular basis, and I have for a long stretch of my life. A lot of times I will put more time or work into a project than is probably healthy, and I will still feel like no matter how well received or how good of a grade it gets, I didn’t do it well enough. This is especially true with artistic projects and tech work. I even felt this way when I got accepted to Carnegie Mellon. I know I had done a pretty intense amount of work leading up to the interviews, and put countless hours into a multitude of different crafts and disciplines and yet I still feel like I didn’t deserve it. I thought, ‘people who’ve done more and who are a lot smarter have gotten rejected from their top schools. There is no reason I deserve to get into mine.’ I really like that this article covers ways of dealing with this kind of thing and why they might work.
-I can attest to the first one, since I know I do feel more confident in myself and as though I can achieve greater things when I put a little more effort into myself before going into my work.
-The second one is a little trickier, since pervasive negative thoughts are pretty rampid. Even telling myself positive things elicits negative responses; I’ll think that trying to tell myself something positive is stupid. But maybe if I keep trying it will work.
-The third one I do for the most part already, since that’s how I dealt with being so small, is for my body language to be bigger.
-I’m thinking about doing the fourth suggestion, maybe writing down the achievements in a journal of sorts. I know that being able to look at a cumulative list of things that I did well could boost esteem.
-Lastly, the 5th one is surprisingly true. Generally I’m pretty introverted and I don’t normally enjoy talking to people I don’t know, so it makes it fairly difficult to make new friends. But coming to college I made the decision that I’m going to do my best at putting myself out there, despite how uncomfortable the idea was, and I’ve made a fair number of good friends already. It’s helped to boost my confidence. I’m going to use some of the advice that Anisa gives in this article in hopes to further improve. :)
Impostor Syndrome is something I’m sure everyone has to deal with at one point or another and I am no exception. I’ve fell victim to the impostor syndrome phenomena particularly strong since starting grad school. Coming to CMU was certainly a big achievement but I felt out of place since orientation, being surrounded by older more experience professionals all coming here for there Master’s degree. I find it particularly difficult when the people surrounding me seemed surprised I’m a TD or assume I came for costuming during the orientation dinner. I can’t help but feel like the young inexperienced female who doesn’t fit in. Things like me making a joke about some technical procedure that I felt like was a very obvious joke only to be corrected and told what it would actually entail only adds to this feeling. However, the severity of this changes day to day, I’m coming to accept the fact that I have less experience but I am here to gain more experiences and insight. So maybe I am further behind where other people are but I am more than willing to work on my skills and keep getting better, not all these skills are applicable but it does grant some further insights to ways to possibly remedy the feeling somedays.
What struck me so much about this one was that she acknowledged what worked, what didn't, what worked immediately, and what took longer to affect her. I have felt impostor syndrome pretty much throughout my entire life, and it has taken 26 years for me to get a place where the energy I notice I am expending on feeling inadequate is so wasteful and draining, that I would rather put that energy into getting out of that go-to feeling. As the writer mentions, I started to overcome this by forcing myself to do thing that terrified me (eg: applying to and being accepted at CMU). This, in turn made my impostor syndrome temporarily worse (see: attending CMU). However, I continued to take these giant leaps of faith, sure I was only digging my own grave and that someone would soon call me out for being a fraud. But that didn't happen, and what *did* actually happen was that I started to change my perceptions of myself. When someone compliments me now, I say thank you instead of grimacing (mostly). It is such a difficult road, and things like power dressing, positive affirmation (self and accepted by others), etc. are definitely steps along the way to normalizing the feeling that you are enough, you are capable and competent, and you wouldn't be where you are if you hadn't gotten there yourself.
This article helped me realize that I used to experience imposter syndrome all the time, I’d just never been introduced to the term. I think it’s important to remember that imposter syndrome is a very personal experience and thus a very personal issue to counteract or fix. For as long as I can remember, I have used the tactic of “power dressing” that Horton describes. The confidence I would gain from dressing more carefully for special occasions eventually led me to apply that methodology to how I dress on a daily basis. I have always believed that how you put your appearance together and present yourself has a direct impact on self-image, and I think that “power dressing” has been my permanent solution to imposter syndrome. Horton finds instances of risk-taking more effective for her in the long-term. I think this article was important because it sheds light on imposter syndrome and encourages readers to be proactive about combating it in a competitive environment, but it should have also acknowledged that we all derive self-image and confidence from different sources and need to find individualized solutions to this issue.
A lot of our classmates and coworkers experience feelings of incompetency and fraud, yet they are seen as talented and brilliant people by the rest of us. The impostor syndrome is a tiny voice in our head telling us we are inadequate for the job, and if feed can be an insanely destructive force. Finding ways to fight it and mute it can be difficult, but freeing. Confidence is not a thing that grows overnight, it is like a muscle and has to be exercised, by putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations and overcoming them. I’m glad the author here speaks about short term solutions, like dressing up but also talks about how problematic that could be, and long-term solutions, such as normalizing the “impostor” feeling and using that normalization as a tool to deconstruct it. The more we talk about it, the more we realize that we are not the only people going through the same experience.
Imposter syndrome isn't something new but also isn't something old. It has been around for quite some time but only recently has it been studied and its impacts and symptoms are known. The fact that over seventy percent of people feel this in one way or another speaks to the pressures that we put on ourselves in this day in age. Fewer and fewer are we able to self-define our worth, and we need what we are doing and where we are at to define it for us. The fact that this article thinks it can treat such a deep and hard set issue like a five-step checklist to not getting wet when your house is flooding, and there's no place to go. Cutts the legs out from the deep underlying issues that this tends to stem from, and I think undercuts the actual severity of how this can affect people in this day and age.
I agree with some of the previous comments made that this is not a new problem but is most definitely a problem that has grown into a problem for many millennials. I don’t think that you could say it’s more prevalent, but is just recognized and discussed more. The transition from and education and early career can be difficult. But so is being a human being. I’ve been alive for 26 years now and still don’t feel like I even have that figured out. It hard to push past the mindset of doubt and disbelief in oneself and abilities. It really is a personal journey to find a way to break through all the noise and believe in one's abilities and revel in one's successes.
I remember the first time I learned about this idea in a psychology class in high school. I never fully understood the concept until coming to CMU and actually experiencing it for myself. I think that almost everyone feels some degree of this at some point in their lives, either during their education or once they graduate and enter the workforce, or even, as detailed in this article, after being promoted or changing jobs down the line. I appreciated how this article, instead of just describing the experience, which is also helpful as something to relate to, actually gave some suggestions as to how to combat this issue and gain more confidence in your position, whatever it may be. I do not think by any means that this article is an exhaustive list of how to combat this issue, but I think it is a great jumping off point for those experiencing this to take a few steps in the right direction.
Post a Comment