Imposter Who?

Who owns your mind: you or someone who says you’re supposed to be living with a psychic cloud of low professional self-esteem, uncertainty and egg shell walking because you’re in a new industry?

The idea of a “syndrome” is different from feeling unsure in a specific situation. 

When we lack knowledge about something a common response is to feel uncertain; no clarity, we walk in the dark, we guess. Walk down unfamiliar steps with the lights off and we may be more cautious. Until we learn the stair patterns. That’s not a syndrome; it’s the beginning process of growing from ignorance to knowledge. 

Unlike every other being on the planet, the human is the main that has to continuously learn to become successful after birth. Most have instincts kick in quickly and they just know what to do. The skill for continuous learning is one of the most important, beyond academics or accolades.

Are you really an imposter?

Turn the light on and we can see where to step. Increased certainty. We experience, acquire insight and become sharper from it. The next time a similar situation shows up (we walk down similar stairs), if we learned from it we’ll be more successful. The imposter-ing can fade away. 

A syndrome implies a consistent state, a continuous way of being, some inescapable stain that cannot be overcome. The career imposter syndrome implies it’s natural to be an insecure professional. Forever. I don’t buy it. Nor should you.

If you can learn, an endless imposter syndrome need not apply.