Imposter Syndrome: An Imposter’s Guide
Hello. A pleasure to meet you. I’m Jessica. 👋
Just in case you don’t know much about me yet (which you most likely don’t since this is my first article here, ha), I’m a user experience and product designer currently in the early stages of my career. And when I’m not designing, I’m usually, well…details to follow.
As you’ve probably seen from the title of this, I’m dedicating my first article here to what has now become a very common phenomenon, especially as the general work environment and the tech job market grow even more demanding.
Yes, that’s right. I’m yet another person spotlighting the dreaded imposter syndrome.
Before I begin, however, I’d like to say a big thank you to Kimberly Morrow who actually motivated me to finally get off my butt and put this out here, haha. Thank you, Kim!
Now, back to focus. If you don’t know exactly what our subject matter is, verywellmind.com puts it in a very concise way:
As “the internal psychological experience of feeling like a phony in some area of your life, despite any success that you have achieved in that area.”
They go ahead to state that you might have it “if you find yourself consistently experiencing self-doubt, even in areas where you typically excel.”
Sound familiar?
To be completely honest, I started to write this in hopes that while sharing my overwhelm, I could conjure some tangible tidbits that could help me stay afloat. Still, if you’re in my shoes or if you also can relate to this experience (as many of us quite frankly do), then welcome. This one’s for us.
So without further ado, let’s get to talking about my self-imposed best friend, and on how you can, hopefully, get her out of your house.
Phase One: Get Acquainted
To beat an enemy, it’s common belief that you first have to understand them. In essence, you should know who they are and, more importantly, how they operate. So with that in mind, let’s quickly get to know imposter syndrome, also known as “perceived fraudulence,” a little better.
The What
To begin with, one thing is clear. The imposter phenomenon is a tussle between how people perceive you as opposed to how you perceive yourself. And a fun fact is that this experience, during early research by Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Ament Imes in 1978, was first linked to high-achieving women who grappled with believing that the milestones or measure of success they had acquired were truly as a result of their own efforts or individual merits. For more information on said research, feel free to check out the findings here: https://bit.ly/474Pm10
Nonetheless, as the years have gone by, it’s become increasingly obvious that the imposter phenomenon affects not just successful women but different kinds of people, and in various contexts.
The Why
Now, why does this happen?
Well, there are several reasons to consider, many of which can be attributed to psychological conditions or behaviors such as overthinking, perfectionism, anxiety, and depression. And each of these in themselves can be quite interwoven or multifaceted. As for more external factors, aspects such as family upbringing, individual experiences, social conditioning, or even new responsibilities, could also all be contributing factors as to why a person would constantly question their own competence, even if they do have the experience or the results to prove it.
In addition, several resources and articles have grouped imposter syndrome into five different kinds, or rather personality types, namely:
- The perfectionist
- The natural genius
- The soloist
- The expert
- The superhero/superhuman
Expository as each of them are though, we won’t be going into detail on any, and that’s simply because a) That’s not the main purpose of this article, and b) There are several other articles and resources that have already done so. A simple web search will pull up many. Trust me, do it.
My Personal Experience
Psst! Feel free to skip this part and move straight to the strategies if you want to.
Still, if you’re interested (have a cookie if you are), then do keep reading!
Many people have several different stories of the moment they first recognized imposter syndrome within themselves. And I say “first recognized” because, most of the time, imposter syndrome surfaces in our psyche several times before we can eventually even tag the feeling for what it is. To illustrate, I’ll share my own experience.
To spare you the chronicles of my overall lifetime with overthinking, perfectionism, and anxiety +, I’ll briefly be discussing these only in relation to discovering my imposter syndrome within the realm of my career path.
At the start, I would actually say I discovered user experience design, or product design in general, at a time that would probably be considered “late” by many. For one, I was already enrolled in the university pursuing a degree in an entirely different field, and then, while thinking about how I really wanted to earn a living long-term, I still had never come across or fully understood the spectrum of working as a designer. A spectrum that had already existed for decades.
Well, at least that was until last year. The year one inquisitive Google search changed everything.
Discovering what it meant to design for me meant a number of things:
- I could actually do something I loved and get paid well?
- I had been hovering around design for years, using forms of it for myself, without even knowing it?
- Why did I have no idea about this sooner!
Prior to all of this, and where I would say my joy stemmed from, was that I already had what I would call “a knack for design” (and keep in mind that I’m not just talking about user experience or product design). I had developed a good eye for aesthetics, paid keen attention to detail, and loved to experiment with making things look a certain way that would objectively be considered desirable. I was quite invested in traditional art from my earlier school years throughout high school, which at least gave me a considerable grip on basic visual design principles, and then I had subtly played around with personal branding (not even knowing it was what I was actually doing) for the years following that.
Still, none of this was never anything that serious.
At least none of it was up until that moment.
Once the initial euphoria had started to wear off and the courses began though, the thoughts began to creep in:
- The overwhelm concerning how much there was to learn.
- The intimidation over the global community of many talented and more experienced designers that already existed.
- Whether or not I could actually even pull this whole thing off.
These feelings accompanied me while I studied and worked. So all the while I was gaining valuable knowledge and trying my hand, there would always be whispers of doubt hovering around my head, questioning every step I made. And, even more so, questioning whether I was the kind of person who should be making those steps.
- “Yeah, that sounds nice and all, but you couldn’t possibly do it now, could you?”
- “How long are you even going to remember that?”
- “Ooh. How are you going to be able to learn that?”
- “Did you just see that designer’s portfolio?” *Chuckles* “Nice try.”
- “Drop the act and face it, Jess. You know you were never smart enough for tech.”
Now two fun things about these “motivations” were that:
- All of them were in my own voice.
- They happened while I was making rapid progress.
As for 2, I’ll give an example. My very first internship role as a UI/UX designer happened within less than two months of me even knowing what user interface and user experience design was. Still, even amidst that struggle, I was able to successfully lead a team of developing designers like myself and was responsible for ensuring our delivery of documented design projects within the tight constraints of administrative deadlines.
Specifically, what this meant was handing over one comprehensive design project per week for the six weeks our bootcamp lasted. Scheduling and hosting meetings, brainstorming and follow-up sessions, being hands-on with research, wireframing, and practically solely handling article documentation, the whole jig happened. Most were things I had never even done before, and all were things which rendered me to function on autopilot for quite a while.
All this on one side, I will still be sharing my thoughts on bootcamp culture sometime in the future.
But you know what? Looking back on that journey and considering the factors, even with the growth I have now, I can still say it was a job well done. I grew extensively.
So why did I still feel like a fraud?
Well, overtime, two things have helped me better understand this dilemma.
- Understanding that the imposter phenomenon isn’t a unique experience.
- Challenging core beliefs I held about myself.
Concerning the latter, I decided to peer deep into my mind and come to terms with the fact that I had a tendency to mentally self-sabotage or self-criticize because of a deeply rooted opinion I had. I wasn’t smart enough.
And what’s more? I had fooled everyone into thinking otherwise.
Apart from being eye-opening, this realization confused me. Why? Well, I couldn’t find reasons why the core aspects of my life such as my upbringing or my academic performance would cause me to feel that way. Although I hold the belief that there’s always room for improvement, I had never exactly fared badly.
And then it hit me. The problem came more from me, and from my own deduction or interpretation of things. Unfortunately, my extreme realism had led me to be more of a pessimist and, even in my good outcomes, the first instincts I had were to look for flaws or pitfalls before maybe giving myself a pat on the back.
And this had informed nearly everything else.
A big instance here would be, again, the moment I did discover product design. I reckon I would have stumbled on it years prior if I just even accommodated the thought of myself working somewhere in innovation and technology. Now, did I just think the tech space didn’t exist? Of course not. What I did think was that it was for a “different kind” of people. After all, I may have been smart, but I would never be “smart enough” to do anything all the way out there. And so I never even looked.
But boy was I wrong. And, the truth is, I still am wrong from time to time.
I hope that, through my own lens, you may be able to take a more introspective look at your circumstances to better understand the nature of your own imposter syndrome. And the bottom line is that those sabotaging voices are wrong. There is so much I am capable of and that I have to offer, and I’m pretty confident that the same is true of you.
So now that we’ve become better acquainted with the imposter phenomenon, let’s see some helpful strategies to cope.
Phase Two: Strategies for Survival
This will be a combination of helpful tips I’ve found from research, as well as many I have personally applied and am still putting into practice.
1. Share your feelings
When you’ve constantly been stuck in the loop of telling yourself you aren’t good enough for the things you’ve accomplished and those you want to achieve, I know the last thing you might feel like doing is actually telling someone else about it.
After all, why would you actually want to blow your own cover?
Still, remember we discussed that the imposter syndrome isn’t a unique experience? Well, that’s exactly true. More people than you think deal with the same struggles you’re facing, even those you admire, and coming to terms with this can help you normalize and process your feelings, rather than treat them as something to be ashamed of. Depending on your needs, you could confide in family, close friends, or even seek professional help, especially seeing as this could be part of a much more complex issue.
I certainly have benefited from doing just this. By confiding in a few close friends and my current career mentor, it’s helped take the weight of isolation off my shoulders, even more so since some of them deal with the same thing. So apart from getting some relief from opening up, you just might encounter a community you didn’t even set out to find.
2. Accept that perfection is an illusion
I know this no longer surprises my fellow perfectionists, but human perfection in this system simply does not exist. No matter how many all-nighters we pull, how much energy we exert, or how many rounds of self-berating we do, we just will never produce something perfect. And, honestly, that’s not a bad thing. Iteration gives us room to grow, and growth is exactly what’s sustainable.
In line with Voltaire, I’ve definitely come to love the sentiment that “the best is the enemy of the good.” Because it’s the truth. In every situation, we become so fixated on attaining the best possible outcome that we lose sight of what we can actually do in the present. And, most of the time, reaching for the sky as opposed to starting with a hilltop is exactly what keeps us rooted in place.
Perfect or not, begin.
3. Disconnect from the noise
Many times, and especially in the workspace, comparison is the biggest thief of joy. And if you already battle with imposter syndrome, drowning your mind with hundreds of portfolios, profiles, “must read“ articles, trends, and announcements will leave you feeling like not just a phony, but like the phony of the freaking year.
Now your triggers may very well differ from mine. Nevertheless, try to take notice of the environments that leave you feeling the most inadequate, and then take the necessary steps to limit your exposure to them. This way, you spend less time creating a fruitless parallel between your life and others’, and more time focusing on your own work in order to get to where you want to be.
Yes, this also means gaining control over the rabbit holes that can be LinkedIn and career Twitter.
4. Reflect on your own journey
As much as imposter syndrome can be an internal issue, it’s oftentimes a reflection of external manifestations. With or the without results to “show for it,” you most likely feel like your merits don’t suffice because of some external factor(s). It could be your friend who graduated high school the same year as you but currently works at big tech while you’re looking for an internship, or an experienced creator you admire who started a high-grossing startup at eighteen, the year you were still deciding what to major in college.
But ding ding ding! It’s 2023 and no two people are still the same.
I know it might not be the easiest thing to do (believe me, I know), but you really have to focus more on your own journey. Your path and pace are unique to you. You’ve had your own experiences, accomplishments, and discoveries, and all of these have significantly contributed to where you are now, as well as where you will be. Don’t take them for granted. Occasionally, remind yourself that you did that. Which brings me to my sub-tip of documenting your experiences. This way, even when your brain tries to trick you, you have tangible things to look back on and evaluate your progress, thus helping you to separate the facts from your feelings.
5. Detach your sense of self-worth from your work
There’s a power that comes from keeping things in their proper place. And in a world that’s become increasingly result-driven, we can become very disillusioned with the idea of ourselves as people who exist outside our work. In order to get a shot in this world, people want to see what you do and how you do it, and so it gets difficult to see ourselves as worthy of just being, especially outside of the “things” we have accomplished.
But we’re much more than tasks and bullet points. And so, from time to time, especially so we don’t all lose our minds, it’s vital to remember what’s truly important. To recall where our greater sense of satisfaction comes from. Think of all the work you’re putting in, but also think of what you’re putting in the work for. You truthfully need to take a break from this space in order to still feel human outside of it, where it truly matters. After all, why work so hard for so long at the cost of losing sight of who you really are?
That’s giving the system way too much power. And, quite frankly, a blatantly undeserved victory to the career “experts” who still shame us for getting more than 4 hours of sleep each night.
So shut your laptop for a while, call the people you love, or simply go outside and touch some grass. Whatever works for you. Just remember to exist outside of your career.
At least before you end up becoming the guy you never liked at parties.
6. Practice positive self-talk
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this one but, to survive imposter syndrome, the truth is you’re going to have to argue with yourself A LOT. Words? They have a strong impact. And that’s why we should be very careful of the kind we project onto ourselves.
When your mind keeps telling you you’re not deserving of the good things you’ve worked hard for, argue to the moon with it. Combat those negatives with positives, or even just hopefuls. Reflect on all of your hard work and on how you keep rising to the challenge. And, even when you don’t believe the words you’re saying, just keep going.
A great practice would also be to not wait for those bad days to arrive. Try commending yourself a little everyday, and then watch it all add up.
Oh and if it helps, I also think you’re pretty great.
7. Fake it ‘til you make it
Although I hate to be the one to tell you, the truth is that you most likely will never be fully rid of imposter syndrome, same as me. We only have to work toward making this level of self-doubt easier to manage. And one of the ways I’ve found to do that is to just do. Yes, that means even on the days the thoughts creep in, and on the days we feel so unmotivated. Seeing the things we’ve done and are doing help us counteract such negative thinking, and so we need to cultivate the self discipline needed to simply keep working toward our goals.
The rest will follow and, soon enough, it hopefully won’t feel a lot like acting anymore.
Conclusion
So this is it! Thank you so much for reading this far. And even though we didn’t figure out a way to keep imposter syndrome out of our homes, I really do hope that these suggestions will help you show that, at least in this house, you still call the shots.
I’m rooting for us, and I’ll see you in the next one. x.
