In this article, we’ll define Imposter Syndrome, discuss how a better understanding of Imposter Syndrome can help us become more confident, explore why we often feel like frauds in our lives, and talk about my personal experiences with Imposter Syndrome. All of this is a part of my journey of learning and sharing information about mental health, to deepen our understanding, so that we can improve our lives, and all while sharing my personal stories of hardship, so that you can grow from it too.
Defining Imposter Syndrome
“Imposter syndrome (IS) is a behavioral health phenomenon described as self-doubt of intellect, skills, or accomplishments among high-achieving individuals.” -National Library of Medicine.
It’s a bit ironic to think that by definition, Imposter Syndrome essentially proves that you in fact are not a fraud. Because if you were a fraud, you wouldn’t have Imposter Syndrome, you would just be an imposter. Knowing this isn’t all that helpful, because to the anxious mind, we wonder if we could be that imposter and just aren’t aware of it.
Naturally, having Imposter Syndrome can lead to what we consider negative emotions like anxiety, self-doubt, depression, and the fear of being exposed. All of this is despite objective evidence that you are in fact, not an imposter.
How Understanding Imposter Syndrome Makes us More Confident
Perhaps you’ve caught on to the benefit of understanding Imposter Syndrome already, but let’s lay it out to make this as digestible as possible. If you understand what Imposter Syndrome is, it means you can ask yourself a simple question.
That being “do I have objective evidence that I am not an imposter?”. We’ll get to my personal experiences later, but for an example, if you are talking about mental health (like me), you have to ask yourself a few additional questions.
“Am I creating a false narrative about who I am and what my knowledge is?” to that I would say no, assumptions could be made, but I never claimed to be an expert. I did claim that I’m on a journey of learning and sharing about mental health for the purpose of self-improvement.
If I was creating a narrative that I am an expert, then I would be lying, because I’m not and therefore I would be a fraud. In this scenario, my feeling of Imposter Syndrome would actually be justified.
Although, it wouldn’t technically be Imposter Syndrome anymore, as like I said earlier, Imposter Syndrome is when there is objective evidence that you are what you say you are. And if you aren’t, then you are just a fraud that is struggling with feeling like a fraud.
In this case, you might be better off reading an article about delusion. But a question still remains “if I don’t claim to be an expert, then am I still required to provide the truth? The answer to this could vary depending on who you are.
I would answer by saying yes and no, you are intellectually required to provide an attempt at the truth, but since you are not an expert and don’t claim to be one, then I believe it is fair or rather to be expected to fall short. This does not free you of consequences, but I believe if you fall short with good intentions, then this should free you from being publicly executed, as is often done online.
Obviously, I am not referring to a literal execution, but the online “cancel culture” that we see rampant today. I believe that we should be given some room to make mistakes and grow, especially when someone is just a novice (and no, I don’t say this just to cover my behind).
I would say that it’s valid if your articles receive constructive criticism, loss viewers or lack of gained viewers from unreliability, etc. I say all of this not as a rant, but as a lesson to be learned.
Whether we are discussing writing articles, being a finance manager, or simply a YouTuber. All of this is still valid, by understanding this concept, you can build authentic confidence.
As long as you are truthful and good intentioned, then Imposter Syndrome is nothing more than a false prophet in your head, and you should simply turn away from it.
Why we Feel Like Frauds in Our Lives
The prior topics cover much of the answer to this question, but to put it simply, there are two truths you will either fall into.
- You are a fraud: You claim to be something you aren’t, you don’t actually know what you’re talking about, you didn’t put in the work to know, so you act as if you do. Alternatively, you don’t claim to be something you are and you don’t express when you don’t know something.
- You aren’t a fraud: You claim to be something you are, you know what you’re talking about, you put in the work to know, so you act as if you do. Alternatively, you don’t claim to be something you aren’t and you express when you don’t know something.
My Personal Experiences
Imposter Syndrome was a foreign concept to me for most of my life, but once I learned about it, I realized that it had been present throughout most my life. My memory of Imposter Syndrome starts in high-school, it’s very possible that it was present in the earlier years of my life, but I can’t recall that time with much accuracy.
My first prevalent taste of Imposter Syndrome was in grade 11 Pre-Calculus, before this year of math, I had identified as someone who was fairly good at math. Grade 11 though, it hit me like a truck, this was the first time I had severely struggled with math.
Before I knew it, I was being left behind by the rest of the class, or at least it felt that way. My friends could no longer make up for my gaps in knowledge and before long, I was feeling like a burden to them.
My grade 11 year was actually the year that Covid hit, this meant that in-person school was cut short and we would spend the last few months doing online school. Before online school, I was barely passing math, but by the end of the year I had finished with a seventy-three percent, give or take, which is a low B here in Canada.
My miraculous recovery wasn’t due to a sudden brain blast, I had begun cheating on my exams. I did so with the intention of learning the work as I did so, but nevertheless, I was cheating.
There wasn’t many preventions to cheating at the time, I was supposed to have a parent watch me do it, but of course I didn’t. You would think that this would act as some sort of realization that I might not be built for this course, or at least that I would need to come up with an entirely new game-plan.
But nope, when it came to picking courses for the next year, I chose Pre-Calculus 12. The reason that I chose it was because I thought I wanted to pursue computer sciences or Game Design, I thought or rather hoped, that I would figure something out, which in itself isn’t the worse mindset, but in a case like this, I needed to be open to different strategies, and I just ended up relying on the same strategies that were failing me.
I also realized in this timeframe, that I didn’t want to pursue either of the careers I had thought. This was because I sucked at math and I also sucked at coding, so I decided I needed to figure something else out.
Getting to the crux of the story, in this Pre-Calculus 12 class, I was having massive battles with Imposter Syndrome. In a way, it was valid, given that I was struggling, but at the same time, I was doing what everyone else was trying to do, learn.
The moral of this story is to be honest with yourself, sometimes you have to make a decisions as to whether or not you’re willing to do what it takes to succeed. This is a topic I’ve touched on in a prior article, you have to decide if your willing to spend time and money on tutors, or whatever method will get you to succeed.
My next story, which is admittedly more valuable to the discussion, is about my social media pursuits. Again, I have covered this before, so I won’t go into extreme detail. But I have ran multiple YouTube channels, one of which is my LifeLeveling channel (Link Here), that then led to this blog.
This whole “brand” can be overwhelming, I’ve suffered with Imposter Syndrome a lot because of it. In my videos I would talk about complex topics like anxiety and depression and I do the same with this blog.
I’ve found the best way to overcome this, is by doing the prior mentioned things, by being honest and doing my best to provide factual information. This is so valuable in a digital world that is overrun by misinformation, it’s really concerning how many people are confidently spreading lies, naively or not.
Conclusion
Imposter Syndrome can be overwhelming at first, as long as you’ve done your due diligence, you should have more confidence in your abilities. Imposter Syndrome is an imposter in your mind, that is spewing negative thoughts, overriding the objectively true positive thoughts.
Tune it out, remind yourself of all you’ve done and be proud of it, it really is just about a positive shift of mindset, which is why I don’t think you even need a “4 Step Guide” or what not. If you realized you are a fraud, it doesn’t mean you can’t work your way to being legitimate, you just got to put the work in.
If you appreciate my work and openness on the topic, I would greatly appreciate you sharing the article around with friends and family, as well as leaving a like and commenting down below about your experiences with Imposter Syndrome. With that being said, take care of yourselves 🙂
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