Dealing with the Impostor Syndrome.
Most designers and creatives will feel like a fraud sooner or later. But don’t fret, up to 75% of the general population does too.
[Note: This story was originally written in 2014, and I have since received many poignant and humbling thankful notes from designers who fought back. Fought back and won. Please, read on >
This story is meant to help the thousands of designers and creatives all over the world who are talented, gifted, competent, hard-working, reliable, trustworthy, dedicated, committed… and who despite all of this, feel like utter frauds.
Shams.
Impostors.
I hate to start a story with the clichéd Steve Jobs quote, but in this particular case, if you can relate to the following you definitely need to read on:
“When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.”
— Steve Jobs
And that’s how it all starts folks...
A very large number of Creatives and Designers suffer of the Impostor Syndrome, in silence. Actually up to 75% of the general population has, at one point or another, felt like a fraud and that number is, not surprisingly, even higher within the Service Design industry which relies heavily on future-state ideation, concepting, prototyping so on and so forth.
Thinking up the future-state of a non-existing product or service doesn’t exactly give you a lot of proven ground to latch on.
So, it goes like this: You’re walking your dog around the block. You’re taking a shower. You’re driving down the highway… and suddenly, here it is.
Bam! “The Breakthrough Idea”. You’ve had a thousand ideas this week, but this one is special. This one is the “Game Changer.”
But is it?
Is it really THAT great of an idea? You were just sipping an overpriced cup of coffee, or shaving your legs in the tub. Can it be THAT great of an idea?
But you go for it.
Next morning comes and you actually have enough confidence in “Your Idea” to pitch it to your Experience Director, Brand Manager or Marketing Director.
This can go two ways:
1 — They hate it (for whatever reason) and you immediately feel like a fraud, a hack, an impostor:
“Gosh, I’m a fraud. How did I get this job in the first place?”
2 — Or it goes a little like this: “OMG!” — “Brilliant!” — “Genius!”— “I can’t believe no one has thought of that before!” And there it is.
You immediately feel guilty. Guilty, because for you it was just an idea amongst dozens you’ve had that morning. You just saw something.
An idea you really didn’t feel quite that good about just 3 minutes ago.
You actually were thinking about squashing that very idea as you walked into that conference room, remember?
“Gosh, I’m a fraud. How did I get this job in the first place?”
Lose-Lose proposition. As you read this, you can relate now right?
I bet you do.
Problem is that those unassuming feelings lead to very real fears with the power of keeping you from taking actions needed to achieve your goals and highest aspirations. So instead, you lower the bar, your expectations and buy a one-way ticket to the whimsical town of Mediocrity, USA, where the risks of being uncovered are greatly minimized.
The reality is that many designers and creatives are struggling just like you are.
I have worked for over 20 years in various creative environments, and been around hundreds of insecure and self-conscious creatives, myself included. If you’re a designer/creative, the above story is your daily life or you’ve learned to work around it over time. But either way, you know exactly what I’m talking about and you’ve been suffering in silence for years thinking it was just you. And every promotion or new job reignites the furnace. Fear no more. Those days are over.
You can fix this today. No, seriously, you really can.
The Impostor Syndrome is actually nothing new. It is a well-documented psychological phenomenon (not disease please) in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments. Easier said than done, but let’s play this through.
The term was first coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes while studying a group of high-achieving individuals who strongly believed were not worthy of their achievements and believed had been over-evaluated by their peers. It is NOT to be mistaken with a much more serious self-esteem issue.
[Note: This study was originally done about high-achieving women but has been bolstered by many additional studies ever since, and the number is just as high in men. So this concerns everybody, men and women.]
“Any moment, someone’s going to find out I’m a total fraud.
I can’t possibly live up to what everyone thinks I am.”
— Emma Watson
Nobel Laureate Maya Angelou, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Ernst & Young Managing Partner Liz Bingham, Actors Don Cheadle, Kate Winslet and Emma Watson... All have openly admitted feeling like a fraud at one point in their careers.
Chief of the World Health Organization.
Dr. Margaret Chan, Chief of the World Health Organization recollects:
“There are an awful lot of people out there who think I’m an expert. How do those people believe all this about me? I’m so much aware of all the things I DON’T know.”
But why is Dr. Chan, and many other individuals, having difficulties believing themselves as experts? After all the general sociological definition of an expert is quite simple: “An expert is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation in a particular area of study. An expert can be believed, by virtue of credential, training, education, profession, publication or experience to have special knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may rely upon the individual’s opinion.”
Unfortunately, high achievers, such as Dr. Chan, who are plagued by the Impostor Syndrome tend to focus more on what they HAVEN’T accomplished versus what they have achieved, and therefore wrongfully do not consider themselves “experts.”
So why are you feeling like this?
Well, there are tons of reasons: Societal pressure to achieve, familial worthiness, parental criticism and approval… If you want to see a therapist about it, by any means go right ahead. But what matters here, is that you CAN overcome this.
Starting today. Starting with you.
Let’s do this.
You’re good enough, You’re smart enough and gosh darn it people like you.
But keep looking though, because you know, it’s Stuart Smalley...”
For those of you old enough to remember Stuart Smalley on SNL in the early 90s, you know that the “daily-affirmation” bit or self pep-talk is something that a lot of people secretly do. At home. In their bathroom. In secret. Because they don’t want to be “found out”. You may not be psyching yourself in front of a mirror, but you’ve done something along those lines, either 5 years ago or this morning, either in your kitchen or in your car. We had an account director at our agency who would go to the bathroom before every big client presentation or business pitch and dance it out. She had a “Special Dance” which I’m told was quite something to witness in the women’s bathroom. Needless to say, Lauren would walk in that boardroom pumped up.
→ The three categories of impostor feelings
1- Feeling like “a fake”, or “being found out” or “unmasked”:
Despite all your achievements, you believe that you do not deserve your success or professional position and that somehow you have deceived your bosses into thinking otherwise.
→ Examples:
• “My Design Director is going to find out how much knowledge I really lack”
• “Gosh, I feel like a fake”
• “Thank god I can give the impression that I am more competent than I actually am”
• “My UX Director is going to find out I don’t really belong here”
2- Attribute success to external reasons, such as luck:
Best depicted by strong tendencies to attribute your success to external reasons rather than your own internal abilities, which triggers a vicious cycle of believing that next time you will not be as lucky, and hence compounds the problem.
→ Examples:
• “Pfewww, I just got lucky this time”
• “Boy, was that a fluke”
• “They clearly have no idea who they’re hiring here. HR must have made a mistake”
3- Discounting success:
Many creatives will downplay their successes and even discount them. Some designers are genuinely humble and rightfully attribute success to the team’s efforts, but too often many creatives discount their own achievements and are heard mumbling statements such as:
• “Meh, that wasn’t a big deal”
• “It was our smallest client, hopefully they won’t assign me on our biggest account now”
• “It was not a difficult assignment, I dodged a bullet on that one”
If you’re a designer/creative YOU HAVE fell into one, two or all of those categories at one point in your creative life. If not… well, the day is young.
Cue the over-used inspirational quote: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
If you’re a Service Design student or Jr. UX/UI Designer, you will most likely feel like this sooner or later, and you need to learn about the Syndrome as soon as possible, so you can move on and become a confident designer. You’re good enough to have made it this far, you’re good enough to make it further. If I personally hire you as an intern, it’s because you were good enough to land the internship amongst dozens of portfolios submitted. I didn’t pick a number out of a hat, I guarantee you that much. I discussed your portfolio with our Head Recruiter or UX/UI Lead you will be reporting to before calling you in, count on it. You’ve earned your internship. Squarely.
If we promote you to Associate Creative Director it’s because you’ve proven yourself up to the job. I don’t know any agency Principal who is handing out promotions through a lottery system. If there are, grab a life-jacket, that boat will be sinking fast. Your work will be a reflection of him/her. He/she is not going to promote somebody who may make him/her and the agency look bad. If you get promoted it’s because they see something in you. Something good. You just don’t see it yourself.
Learn to see it.
Four out of Five. Yikes.
The general population’s Impostor Syndrome is greatly exacerbated within the creative industries because of the very strong affiliation with giftedness and perfectionism. A design/creative department is a VERY fertile ground for the Impostor Syndrome and it needs to stop.
People need to stop feeling inadequate because they have a gift, or because they like to get things done right.
→ Here’s what you need to start doing today:
1- Talk to your boss.
Hopefully your UX Director or Associate Creative Director or VP Brand is a good manager and is adequately equipped to assist you. After all, they hired you, trained you and supervised your progress thus far, and as we just mentioned, most likely are still dealing with the very issue themselves. Seek support, encouragement and supervision. There is nothing wrong about asking for more feedback or more constructive criticism. Personally, my phone is always on, and my team knows they are always welcome to ping me and ask anything that can help them better themselves. It is after all a considerable part of a manager’s core duties. Again, a good manager will recognize this and help you get over the hurdle.
2- Recognize your expertise.
If looking up to those who have more knowledge and experience inhibits you, flip the problem on its head. Talk, tutor or mentor design students or Jr. Designers fresh out of college. You will soon realize how far you’ve come and how much knowledge you have to impart. List your achievements of the past 6, 9, 12 months. Yes, this is all you. Impressive no?
3- Remember what you do well.
Make a realistic assessment of your abilities. There are areas where you are excelling, and some areas where you are just okay. You may be so-so in Illustrator, but boy can you move in Sketch! Write up a list of your qualities and weaknesses, take some tutorials online, take some personality tests like the Myers-Briggs. You may find out that you are actually quite advanced in some areas. Can’t argue with facts and science right?
4- Perfection doesn’t exist.
A LOT of designers are perfectionists, and that is what makes them so good at their job. Their attention to detail is uncanny, but seldom they appreciate the rewards of their success: “Yeah… I guess it’s pretty good, but if I just had another hour it would have been pixel-perfect…” Learn to seek excellence instead of perfection and force yourself to do some tasks “good enough”. It will sting a bit at first, but eventually you will need to find a new reward system for yourself. If you used to give yourself 6 hours to create a full set of wireframes, give yourself only 4 and ENFORCE IT. When that Alexa timer rings, that’s it, it’ll have to do... And yes, I saw that face, you just cringed.
5- It’s a vicious cycle. Break free of it.
The Impostor Syndrome fuels itself on superstition and perfectionism. Afraid of being “found out” or discovered as a fraud, creatives will go through great lengths to finish a project “perfectly” but once the mobile app, ad campaign, logo, or corporate video is anointed a resounding success, the designer will believe that it was the stress, hard work, extra effort and sleepless nights that paid off, which eventually leads to an almost superstitious belief. On an unconscious level, an Art Director now thinks that the success is due to that self-inflicted torture and NOT his/her innate gift or talent. So guess what will happen when the next assignment comes around the corner? Even harder effort to keep up the false illusion.
Yep. Vicious cycle.
Be ware of new endeavors.
The Impostor Syndrome is incredibly exacerbated among people starting new jobs, or new projects obviously. Most creatives are asked to function in a capacity that they don’t feel ready to handle. A flawed support system or inadequate management will reinforce that feeling and lead you to feel like being set-up for failure. But let’s just assume that you are in good company, a vast majority of people will still experience a natural phase of self-doubt when facing any new challenges. It’s human nature. Unfortunately, additionally to those natural fears, those with feelings of Impostor Syndrome have increased feelings of being “found out”, or not to have what it takes, and quickly have recourse of chalking up their successes to luck or other twisted outside reasoning. And on and on we go.
Remember that the Impostor Syndrome is usually associated with gifted, highly achieving and very successful people. The Impostor Syndrome is very different than low self-esteem issues because there is a tangible discrepancy between the actual achievement and the person’s feelings about the achievement that is usually not present in low self-esteem issues. [Low self-esteem is about possessing little self-regard for oneself and can lead people to fall short of their potential, and ultimately leads to depression. If you feel you are falling in this much more serious category, please seek professional counsel].
Don’t let your unsubstantiated fears urge you to play safe or you’ll never know how good you can really be.
And wouldn’t that be a shame?
— NOTE: If you have been dealing with the Impostor Syndrome successfully and want to share your story with others who are still struggling, please get in touch. I will be more than happy to share your success-story and inspire other designers to fight back. If you are still struggling, please get in touch as well. We’ll work through it together.
