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Imposter Syndrome – “The Bug in Our Mind”

Everything is magical before it gets explored.

I have seen people celebrating and cheering on their success. Seeing those moments, my mind says- they should celebrate since they have achieved it”. But when it comes to me, I feel happy for just 1-2 minutes and believe – ‘I got lucky’, ‘this isn’t a big thing’, ‘everyone can do this, ‘there is nothing special about this and me’.

Am I the only one with such a problem?

If you feel the same, I am sorry to say that you are infected just like me. You are experiencing “Imposter Syndrome”. Psychologists first described this syndrome in 1978 and an estimated 70% of people experience it at some point in their lives.

What is it actually? 

The persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills. 

In simple terms- It is the belief that we are not as competent or talented as people think we are. 

I do follow Dr. Ali Abdaal, a medical doctor and a content creator, who in his YouTube channel posted a video on Imposter syndrome about 8 months ago, in which he explains an idea that originally belongs to ‘Derek Sivers’- author of the book “Hell yeah or No”.

In that book, he speaks about ‘Obvious to you. Amazing to others.’ This is something I mentioned in the first line- Everything is magical before it gets explored. Once we learn something it is obvious to us and we think it’s no longer interesting and everyone might be knowing that. This feeling makes us think we are not good enough and everything happened by chance. Also, this feeling is followed by anxiety, which slowly puts us in depression, making us think- we don’t belong here.

Imposter syndrome is also common in people who we say are successful. The former US First Lady - Michelle Obama, in one of her public speaking said she still feels "impostor syndrome", adding that "it never goes away".


So how to get rid of this syndrome?

Unfortunately, there is no permanent cure, it stays… just live with it realizing it is normal. But the effect of it on us can be reduced. Since I also feel the imposter syndrome, I found out few methods to tackle it, and let me share with you. 

We are not unique – We think exactly in the way others do. For example, you have started one new blog where you posted an article for which you received great attention among your colleagues and mentors. Suddenly, it puts you in a state where you will be anxious to post another article thinking I got lucky last time and how this will be received. Sometimes, this makes us not do what we were supposed to do. In this scenario, think that you are not special and you fall in the major part of the bell curve just like others.

Compare the present with our past – We all read books, articles, watch videos on the life of successful people and compare it with ourselves. For example, initially, I compared myself with Ali Abdaal, thinking how successful he is, just my age. Why am I like this? I am not worthy. Soon I realized that we both were raised in different places, we haven’t experienced the same conditions. So, I should compare myself with my past and probably learn from him the stuff I need that pushes me and become my better version in the future.

Embrace the failures – This one is the difficult part to digest. We all know failures teach a lot than success. Still, we hate failures and we don’t want to be losers. We all fail by chance and not intentionally. This is because we are not designed to fail. When we were hunter-gatherers, we put our life at risk for food and we never want to fail since it will cost our life. There is no upgradation in this design and we don’t have to blame ourselves. Embracing failure is like learning a new skill and might take time.

Enjoy the achievements – Even if we say “I got lucky”, we must realize one thing that to become lucky we have to position ourself. So, enjoying small achievements can reduce the anxiety and help us to work more since our life is constantly seeking for rewards.

Speak up – Asking for help is not a bad thing. Nobody is going to judge you. Find a community, peer group, or mentor where or whom to which you can share your thoughts and I assure you this will reduce the anxiety very much.

 

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Comments

  1. BioWhispersOctober 24, 2021 at 7:32 PM

    This Short and crisp blog will surely help us to get rid of impostor syndrome..

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 8, 2021 at 10:00 AM

    Nicely penned. Didn't know such things even exist.

    ReplyDelete

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