PG Lifestyle
Impostor Syndrome:
A Professional’s Unfortunate Push Maya Angelou once said, “I have written 11 books but each time I think ‘Uh-oh, they’re going to find out now’”. Albert Einstein confided in a friend, saying that “the exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler”.
T
hese two were prominent members of the society in their respective fields, and knowing that they had these negative thoughts about themselves seems unrealistic. But this is the reality that professionals are continuously facing – the impostor syndrome. What is it exactly?
‘They’ll find out eventually’ Impostor syndrome is a mental state in which a person doubts their own accomplishments and ends up having a constant internalised fear of being ‘found out’ by the people around them. They believe that every achievement they made was merely a stroke of luck, and they shouldn’t be credited for it.
What causes it? Some experts believe that it stems from one’s childhood experience. If you grew up with highachieving and talented siblings, you might develop feelings of inadequacy in everything that you do, as you compared yourself to them. On the other hand, others associate it with a person’s personality traits, such as perfectionism.
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ACKNOWLEDGING THE SYMPTOMS There is a number of possible signs you can see in a person experiencing this syndrome, such as: • Worrying that they will not live up to expectations They set their goals higher than normal and then blame themselves for their incompetence when it is not achieved. • Attributing their success to outside factors They never consider their achievements as the result of their own efforts, but rather as luck. • Self-sabotage Procrastinating, not taking up opportunities when offered and continuously berating their achievements.
