Imposter Syndrome
You’re good at your job. You had an idea and you sat down at your computer every day and you worked diligently on your book. You typed The End and were able to say that you had your first/latest book-baby done and ready to publish. And publish you do. It’s successful, it receives good reviews and you start to make a name for yourself.
But what about those feelings that crawl inside of your head and take up residence there? You know the ones I’m talking about. It gives voice to those feelings of what if I’m not good enough? Do I even belong here? Are colleagues and readers going to discover that when you get down to the nitty gritty, that I am a fraud?
This is called Imposter Syndrome. And yes, it’s a psychological phenomenon that refers to a ‘pattern of behaviour’. It’s always been around but it was only named in the 1978 by clinical psychologists Suzanna Imes and Pauline Rose Clancy.
About 70% of people experience Imposter Syndrome at one point or another in their lives. It’s not limited to writing a book, it can be any profession. It’s basically the fear of being ‘found out’.
So what is it? Essentially, it boils down to the belief that your success is due solely to luck and no real talent on your behalf. Psychologist Audrey Ervin states they imposter syndrome is a person ‘who isn’t able to internalise and own their successes.’ It can happen to any one of us, once thought to affect only women, it’s now redefined as affecting both sexes.
Why do people feel this way? There’s often no real reason for it, it could be as simple as you never felt good enough as a child, never felt like you lived up to your potential, and now, when you do have success, you can’t process and own that success even if you do actually deserve it. It can be hard to get out of your own head and realise that ‘yes! I do deserve this!’
If you know someone who feels like this, you should ask yourself, how can I help them? How do you make someone understand that they really have done a good job and that they believe every success that’s coming to them? One way to help can be to talk to them. I know, talk therapy, but it can be a friend or a professional who can help you put your successes and hard work into perspective. Easier said than done, right?
Dr Valerie Young says ‘The only way to stop feeling like an imposter is to stop acting like an imposter.’ I love this quote. It’s so simple just such a hard thing to put into practice. If changing your feelings was that easy, then everyone would do it.
It can be done, but it takes a total shift of the mind to understand that you’re worthy. If you believe you are, then you are. Same goes for it you don’t believe then you are. So take stock of your work, understand that you have gained your success because you have earned it, not because you are posing to be somebody that you’re not.
If you are interested in reading and understanding more about Imposter Syndrome in women, Dr Valerie Young has literally written the book on this syndrome called The Secret Thoughts of Successful Woman: Why Capable People Suffer From the Imposter Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It.