Feeling Like an Impostor? That’s a Sign That You’re Not!

Imposter syndrome is your greatest strength if you know how to deal with it properly.

The year was 1978.

Psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes published a scientific article on the impostor syndrome that went completely unnoticed at the time. More than forty years later, this concept they introduced has become a real cash cow for business coaches and personal development experts.

In the workplace, impostor syndrome manifests itself as incessant self-doubt, which is accompanied by a feeling of not deserving what happens to you. Did you get a promotion? You will have the feeling that others have too high an image of you. Does everyone think you are an expert in your field? You feel like an impostor because you are afraid of disappointing those who believe in you.

To combat this syndrome, many employers bring in coaches to help their teams get rid of it. However, there is something paradoxical here. Even if it's done with the best of intentions, isn't paying coaches a fortune for it like admitting that their employees are frauds?

You can see that such an initiative starts badly.

Second, this psychological technique of thought suppression is impossible and even counterproductive: the more you are told to stop thinking you are an impostor, the more you will think it and stress. Worse still, if you didn't think you were one before the coach's intervention, the latter may put it in your head by his very presence.

It reminds me of an anecdote when I was younger. I liked to sing in my room when I was doing my homework. I was far from being a singer, but I liked to sing along to the songs on my computer. One day my father complimented me by saying: “You have a nice voice”.

I had never expected such a compliment, and I don't know why it put pressure on me when I was singing... So I was afraid of singing badly and disappointing him, whereas I was doing it mechanically before. I finally stopped doing that. This simple compliment had made me doubt myself and fall into a kind of impostor syndrome.

In the journal “Frontiers in Psychology”, Greek researchers published an article entitled “Focusing on the Neuro-Psycho-Biological and Evolutionary Underpinnings of the Imposter Syndrome” which proposes an evolutionary approach to the psychological and neurobiological origins of the imposter syndrome. To treat this syndrome, they suggest using brain imaging to better understand the stress and anxiety mechanisms associated with impostor syndrome. Why not?

However, this impostor syndrome can also have its virtues. When I was in college, I remember a professor who started telling us about imposter syndrome. He went on to explain with conviction that he was going to help us all overcome this syndrome that we were likely to experience sooner or later. I politely asked to leave the class.

Incredulous, the professor asked me why. My answer was straightforward: Imposter syndrome, feeling illegitimate and thinking I didn't deserve what was happening to me, had always been my number one motivator. I was desperate not to let this teacher take this superpower away from me.

Because impostor syndrome can also be a superpower if you use it to your advantage. The day you feel legitimate or deserving, you will have already started to stop fighting in life. Feeling like an impostor is a very healthy thing that always allows you to question yourself, stay humble, learn and move forward. The opposite on the other hand is dangerous.

We have a good example since the beginning of this war between Ukraine and Russia with hundreds of people who now improvise themselves as experts in military strategies or energy. These are the real impostors, who seem to have no fear of anything and never doubt, that we must get rid of.

For all the others, let's keep the impostor syndrome alive because it humbles us and allows us to perform in the long run.