What Is An Imposter Syndrome?

Personal Development

Impostor syndrome (IS) is a belief that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. It’s a feeling of self-doubt and a fear that others will view them as a fraud. Such people have an irrational fear that they are phony, may get exposed as a fraud, or they don’t really belong where they are, they got there through sheer luck and not capability, and so on. For example, if they receive good news like a new job or a promotion, instead of feeling joy they become worried that they didn't deserve it.

Symptoms of Imposter syndrome

Some of the common signs of imposter syndrome are,

Self-doubt and an inability to realistically assess your competence and skills.

Attributing your success to external factors and not your contribution.

Berating your performance even though is good or excellent.

Fear that you won't live up to your own or others expectations.

Overachieving.

Sabotaging your own success.

Setting very high goals and feeling disappointed when you can’t accomplish them.

Impostor syndrome is not to be taken lightly as it comes at a cost of high and constant anxiety. You might over-prepare or work much harder than necessary to ensure that you pass when such extra effort is not actually required. This creates a vicious cycle and you start believing that the only reason you passed an exam or prepared some report was that you slogged for days and weeks and rehearsed endlessly. The more you accomplish, the more you just feel like a phony. It's as though you still can't accept that you are good or efficient even when you are actually good and efficient more than your peers. Eventually, these feelings worsen anxiety and may lead to depression.