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A GovLoop Guide
Imposter Syndrome: Overcoming the “Fake It ’Til You Make It” Mantra Maybe you started a new job or just got a promotion, and you’re questioning if you’re qualified. Or maybe you got an assignment you feel woefully inadequate to complete. Where does this
unwarranted sense of insecurity come from? Those feelings of fraudulence have a name and need to be called out.
Nearly 70% of the U.S. population experiences imposter syndrome, and that energy can either fuel or cripple you.
What is imposter syndrome? • A collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. • Chronic self-doubt and a sense of intellectual fraudulence, which override any feeling of success or external proof of competence. There is no cure, but here is a way to manage it. At the NextGen Training Summit, Michelle Rosa,
former President of Young Government Leaders and a program manager at a federal agency,
developed an approach to help us identify and respond to the imposter feelings we face.
Old mantra: “Fake it ’til you make it.” New mantra: “Work it ’til you make it.” Fake it ’til you make it carries this connotation
that you’re going to be found out and that you
got lucky, Rosa said. The “work it ’til you make it”
mentality says, “I deserve success, and I worked hard to get here.”
