Ever feel like an imposter at work?
Every month, Oliver Burkeman invites you to improve your work life
The project:
โImposter syndromeโ is that nagging feeling that youโre nowhere near as good at your work as other people seem to think โ and that, any day now, theyโll find you out.
Ironically, it afflicts talented people the most, in the worst cases, it paralyses them to the point where they actually canโt do their jobs. So it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fortunately, there are ways to break free.
The aim:
The root cause of imposter syndrome is a truth thatโs almost too obvious to bother pointing out: nobody can see inside anyone elseโs head. So your inner monologue โ the voice that keeps on telling you youโre incompetent โ is the only one you ever hear.
As a result, itโs all too easy to assume that youโre the only one with inner doubts. In fact, itโs been estimated that 70 per cent of us suffer such thoughts, with women disproportionately affected.ย
The theory:
Weโre always hearing how important it is to be confident and assertive at work. But thereโs a flipside: the better everyone gets at crafting a self-assured facade, the easier it is to feel like youโre the only one who lacks confidence on the inside.
Moreover, the people who genuinely are bad at their jobs usually donโt experience imposter syndrome โ because theyโre too incompetent to realise how untalented they are. (This is known as the โDunning-Kruger effectโ; the classic example involves a robber so bad at his chosen profession that he thought smearing lemon juice on his face would make him invisible to security cameras.)
Meanwhile, the better you get at your job, the more youโll become aware of further skills and knowledge you donโt yet possess โ so feeling like a fraud can be evidence that youโre improving. In short: if you feel like an impostor, thatโs a good reason to believe that you arenโt.
Try it out:
- Admit your vulnerabilities. The syndromeโs so common that, if you tell a colleague about your self-doubt, theyโll almost certainly reply by telling you she feels the same.
- Remember the company youโre in. The list of famous people whoโve confessed to feeling like theyโre fooling the world about their talents is long, and incudes everyone from Maya Angelou to Tina Fey to Facebookโs Sheryl Sandberg. That alone should be reason to distrust your doubts.
- Get objective about your achievements. CVs arenโt just for job interviews. When imposter syndrome strikes, it can be hard to remember the truth about your abilities. So make an objective list of your skills and accomplishments, keep it within reach, and refer to it when the inner critic pipes up.
OLIVER BURKEMAN is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Canโt Stand Positive Thinking (Canongate, ยฃ8.99)
Photograph: iStock
More inspiration:
Read I forgot the brownies by Mandy Lehto on LifeLabs
Read What can we learn from those colourful people who thrive, rather than simply surviving at work? by David Head on LifeLabs