It'S Not Imposter Syndrome
November, 2024
Imposter syndrome is not a catch all term for feeling inadequate. I've thought for a while that the term imposter syndrome has been inflated, and is applied in contexts where it should not be.
In this piece, I aim to make distinctions between the following categories:
- Feeling "imposter syndrome" because I am new
- Feeling "imposter syndrome" because I am lying
- Suffering from imposter syndrome
I'll start by providing a definition of imposter syndrome:
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.
1. I am new
It is no secret that I am young. This has many perks. Among them is the fact that I am comparatively bad at most things. In any specialized environment, the surrounding people are likely to be older, and have had more time to hone their skills.
There is a clear, and real gap between my current level, and the people around me.
This gap can be intimidating to the point that I might feel "I don't belong." I prefer referring to this feeling as crippling aspiration instead of imposter syndrome, the reason being that the solution differs.
When I feel crippling aspiration, the solution is not the be more confident in my abilities. It's to acknowledge that I know nothing, and to pull myself up by my bootstraps. The solution to crippling aspiration is to put in the work and to improve.
This is often amazingly straightforward. Especially since those around me are more skilled and are likely to be motivated to impart me with their knowledge.
Crippling aspiration differs from imposter syndrome in two distinct ways. The first being that the feeling is not persistent. I only feel in the wrong place when I get started, and it quickly goes away when I begin to be of use. The second key difference is that I don't yet have any successes to feel underserved about. I'm new, and I haven't succeeded yet.
2. I am lying
I feel guilty when I lie. This has been an amazing mechanism to help me stop lying. I am overcome by a similar, yet distinct feeling upon my usage of hyperbole.
The strongest I've experienced this feeling was while writing a sales page for my physical monthly newsletter. For a three month period, I attempted to sell a physical monthly newsletter as an upsell for a book I had written. I stopped writing this letter not because of a lack of monetary success, but an ever growing guilty conscious.
This guilt came from the fact I knew I was offering a bad deal. But in order to make it sound good, I made extensive use of hyperbole in my sales page.
Upon discussing this guilt, I was told that I simply needed more confidence in my abilities, and that this was imposter syndrome. I can assure you that it was not. It was my conscious attempting to tell me to stop offering a bad deal.
The reason I know this was guilt and not imposter syndrome, is that no confidence in my abilities would change the fact it was a bad deal. Even if I was the best writer on the planet, the reality was that the topics of my newsletter, could be packaged as a book, and be sold for a much better value for the reader.
Guilt differs from imposter syndrome in one major way: it's right about me. When I feel guilty about the lack of legitimacy in my methods, it's because there's an actual lack of legitimacy in my methods. Guilt is telling me to go fix it, and I should listen.
3. True imposter syndrome
If I'm not new, and I haven't told a lie, but I still feel that my success is not deserved, that is imposter syndrome. Especially if it doesn't go away.
With these added constraints I've noticed that I very rarely feel "imposter syndrome." I'm much more prone to crippling aspiration, and once I've built up my skills, the feeling that I don't belong goes away.
Calling something that isn't imposter syndrome, by a false name, gives it more power, and importantly guides me in the wrong direction.
So I stopped, and I think others would benefit from stopping as well.