Getting Real About Imposter Syndrome

Double Rainbow over More Barn, Steamboat Springs - May 2024

​What is it?
Imposter Syndrome (noun): anxiety or self-doubt that results from persistently undervaluing one’s competence and active role in achieving success, while falsely attributing one's accomplishments to luck or other external forces. (Dictionary.com)

First coined in the 1970’s, the term imposter syndrome is used to describe feelings of self-doubt and being “found out” to be a fraud. Often associated with career, people can experience imposter syndrome in just about every area of life, including schooling, parenting and social situations.

From this VeryWellMind article, some common characteristics of imposter syndrome include:

• An inability to realistically assess your competence and skills
• Attributing your success to external factors
• Berating your performance
• Fear that you won't live up to expectations
• Overachieving 
• Sabotaging your own success
• Self-doubt
• Setting very challenging goals and feeling disappointed when you fall short

Who experiences it?
There used to be a general perception that only women experienced imposter syndrome, and only high-achieving women at that. But research has demonstrated that anyone can experience imposter syndrome, regardless of gender, age, and socioeconomic status. A greater percentage of millennials are thought to experience imposter syndrome due to the prevalence of technology/social media from the time they were born, as well as being raised by parents who swung from over-praising to over-criticizing. 

This BBC.com article discusses how although anyone can experience imposter syndrome, women, and especially women of color, are more likely to experience it. Why? The article mentions a number of factors and I’ve listed three here:

1. Lack of role models (in 2019 in the US, only 26.1% of women held directorship positions and less than 5% of corporate board seats are held by women of color)
2. Systemic oppression (experiencing that one is “less-than” makes it tough to buck the narrative) 
3. Racist and sexist stereotypes. 

How to deal with it?
Small steps seem to be key in overcoming imposter syndrome. Here are a few, you can find more in the VeryWell Mind article:

• Make a list of believable accomplishments that are close to home, like completing a project or caring for an ill family member. With that solid foundation, start to build upon that list to grow realistic confidence in achieving goals.
• Talk with trusted people about the experience. This not only allows the fear and doubt to be expressed, but hearing other’s experiences helps with knowing you are not the only one going through this.
• Try not to put yourself in a situation of comparison (social media, anyone?)

Source Articles

• VeryWell Mind: What Is Imposter Syndrome?
• BBC.com: Why imposter syndrome hits women and women of colour harder
• BuzzFix: Is Imposter Syndrome Exclusive to Millennials or Are We All Just Human?

Originally published October 2022