What exactly is imposter syndrome?
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A condition where someone doubts their skills/accomplishments/talents and that they will be found out as frauds even though there is evidence of their skills/accomplishments/talents and their fears are unfounded.
It’s a specific flavor of anxiety where you doubt yourself and believe all of your achievements were based on luck instead of effort. It’s usually seen in people who were punished or shamed for being themselves, and is a symptom of not trusting themselves; the feeling of “not fitting in.” People with imposter syndrome are preoccupied with the belief that around every corner is the situation in which they will finally be “exposed” as a “fraud” by someone/something.
When you doubt that you are qualified or worthy of the position you’re in. So for example, you get a really well paying job, but you constantly feel that you don’t deserve it. Little do you realise is most people there have imposters sydrome too.
It’s related to the [Dunning-Kruger Effect](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect). When you know nothing about a subject, that’s fine. But when you learn a little bit about something, you suddenly feel like you know a lot since you know much more than you did previously. This gives you a lot of confidence in your knowledge.
But, as you gain experience and a bit more knowledge, you realise that there is *so much more* that you don’t know. So, even though you know more than you did earlier, you realise how much you have to learn. This can lead to feeling less confident in your abilities, and feeling insecure. *This* is what imposter syndrome is: when somebody who is skilled/knowledgeable in a field feels like they’re a fraud and don’t belong there because everybody else seems to know more than them.
A belief that you’re not qualified of capable of doing a specific thing, even though you are currently doing it.
For example, you graduate law school and begin working in a law firm. It feels like you don’t know anything and aren’t capable of doing the job.
It’s called ‘imposter syndrome’ because you feel like an imposter in your role and it’s only a matter of time before everyone else ‘finds out you’re a fraud.’
I’ve worked in my career for eighteen years and been promoted three times. But I’m confident any day now someone will realize I don’t know what I’m doing and I’ll be fired.
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