What people get wrong about imposter syndrome

If something feels off, pay attention. (Photo by Major Clanger, licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0.)

I don’t remember when I started hearing about it, but soon I started hearing about it everywhere.

Suddenly, imposter syndrome was the thing, even though the term has been around since the 1970s. So many people in my circle were writing about it, talking about it, and apparently suffering from it.

However, I have observed a distortion in our collective discussions about imposter syndrome. People are using the label to describe feelings of insecurity about their inexperience or lack of qualifications.

That’s not imposter syndrome — that’s just self-consciousness or insecurity.

The classic experience of imposter syndrome describes a young doctor, newly in residency, who feels unqualified to be called doctor despite attending medical school.

Or the director of a film who lies awake at night feeling like she conned the studio into agreeing to her $25 million budget.

Or the scientist who was recently given an award for her groundbreaking research and struggles to feel worthy of it.

These people are, in fact, highly qualified based on their education, credentials, or track record. They know what they’re doing, but they don’t feel like they do. They feel like the kid in Big, Freaky Friday, or 13 Going On 30, somehow inhabiting an adult body.

Imposter syndrome is tricky. It seems to me like the supposed “imposter” is like the person who hasn’t updated the operating system on their mobile phone. Some of the apps are sluggish or don’t work at all. Everyone else has new and cool emojis. Things run slowly, but it happened so gradually that the person doesn’t see the problem.

The solution is to update the OS. The person with the poorly-performing phone will suddenly be up to date. And the imposter, whose identity is still that of the struggling med student, artist, or research assistant, will be up to date, too.

It surprised me when I realized that I had acquired twenty years of experience as a teacher. When did that happen? Without an “update,” I might still feel new and green. Instead, I took the time to consciously and objectively assess my career position, the way one might do when updating a resume. This recognition of my own long experience gave me the confidence to address challenging issues with an air of authority, which was what my students and their parents needed from me.

It would be problematic if a person with a PhD in nuclear physics and twenty-five years in the field were to panic in a leadership position as chief engineer of a nuclear power plant (“I can’t do this! Why did they pick me?”). It would be positively dangerous if they were to paper over their feelings of inadequacy by faking a sense of authority, getting defensive when challenged and dealing harshly with critics. This is when imposter syndrome needs to be addressed, because the leader’s distorted thinking is out of touch with reality and is impairing their ability to do their job.

On the other hand, the person who is interested in starting a business who feels unqualified and inexperienced is not suffering from “imposter syndrome.” They are perfectly in touch with reality. It is understandable that they might be intimidated by the success of others, frustrated by their own lack of knowledge or skill, and questioning their ability. It’s a reasonable response to their circumstances.

As uncomfortable as it can be to feel inadequate or unqualified, these are the feelings stirred up by doing something new. The person with imposter syndrome needs a reality check to see that she actually is up to the task; the person who actually is unqualified needs to gain experience to gradually become someone who is up to the task.

If you have imposter syndrome, it can be a relief to realize you are not alone in feeling like a fraud. You can deal with the discomfort instead of trying to conceal it.

If, on the other hand, you are simply a beginner, it can be a relief to acknowledge that. You can focus on learning the ropes without the sense that you should already know everything.

Not every feeling of self-doubt is an indication of imposter syndrome. You might just be new at what you’re trying to do. Nothing wrong with that.