Ever felt self-doubt in your professional life? Or sensed you’re just pretending to be confident and skilled? Good news: Those feelings are often misleading, and you’re not alone.
Work-related anxieties can wreak havoc on job performance and self-esteem, and for many successful people, they present as imposter syndrome.
Here’s what imposter syndrome is and what causes it, along with some tips to help you overcome it—including expert advice from entrepreneurs Dave Law of Zeepy and Aishwarya Iyer of Brightland.
What is imposter syndrome?
Imposter syndrome is the belief you’re not as qualified or as skilled as you should be. Also called the imposter phenomenon, it often manifests as feeling like a fraud who has deceived others into thinking you’re competent. Those with imposter syndrome often worry about being exposed as unqualified. They can experience anxiety and be vulnerable to overwork and burnout.
Other common characteristics include the tendency to attribute external validation to luck, perform inaccurate assessments of your skills, and have difficulty receiving feedback in professional settings.
Unaddressed, imposter syndrome can become a self-fulfilling prophecy in which your persistent fear of failure makes it difficult for you to function at work and in other settings. You may avoid challenges ortaking risks, struggle to build professional relationships, and exhibit outward signs of anxiety in group settings, such as difficulty making eye contact or reluctance to engage in small talk.
Causes of imposter syndrome
The term “imposter syndrome” comes from the work of psychologists P. R. Clance and S. A. Imes, who first described the psychological phenomenon in their seminal 1978 paper, “The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention.” Clance and Imes defined imposter syndrome as “an internal experience of intellectual phoniness,” caused in part by “certain early family dynamics and later introjection of societal sex-role stereotyping.”
Subsequent research showed that imposter syndrome affects people of all gender identities, and that multiple other factors contribute to its development, including working in a competitive field and being predisposed toward anxiety or depression.
Modern psychologists agree with Clance and Imes about how it works: Something leads you to believe you can’t earn a certain type of success. When success comes, you assume it must be a mistake.
Here are some of the of the internal and external factors that cause imposter syndrome:
Family dynamics
Psychologists believe hypercritical parenting contributes to imposter syndrome by causing feelings of low self-worth in children. They also suggest that hyperbolic, nonspecific praise (such as, “You’re the smartest kid in the universe”) can unintentionally set unreachable family expectations, leading to imposter syndrome.
Social conditioning
Societal pressures and systemic biases can exacerbate imposter syndrome by imposing social benchmarks and exposing individuals to negative messages about their identity categories, like gender, race or ethnicity, or socioeconomic background. These systemic biases can heighten feelings of inadequacy, especially in marginalized groups.
Pre-existing mental health issues
Imposter syndrome can go hand-in-hand with mental health conditions like social anxiety disorder and depression. A predisposition for either can increase your likelihood of developing the syndrome. Imposter syndrome can also cause depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.
Types of imposter syndrome
Dr. Valerie Young, an advocate for social justice in education and the founder of The Imposter Syndrome Institute, theorizes there are five main types of imposter syndrome.
- The perfectionist: Perfectionists expect to do things perfectly, interpreting any room for improvement as a sign of failure.
- The expert: Experts define success as knowing or being able to do everything. Like perfectionists, they set an impossibly high bar and judge themselves harshly when they don’t know or aren’t capable of doing everything.
- The soloist: Soloists believe that success means completing a task independently, and consider seeking help a failure.
- The natural genius: The natural genius thinks success comes easily to qualified people and interprets struggle as a sign of inadequacy.
- The superhuman: Superhumans thrive on volume. They expect to manage multiple roles or tasks and believe they’ve failed when they can’t keep up with an impossible workload.
Tips for overcoming imposter syndrome
Imposter syndrome is common, but it doesn’t need to diminish your work life or well-being. Here are tips to help you overcome imposter syndrome and improve your self-confidence:
Know the enemy
Imposter feelings are most damaging when unrecognized, so take time to learn about the psychological patterns that characterize the syndrome. Understanding imposter syndrome’s commonality can help you identify its symptoms and reframe negative self-talk as a normal professional experience—not evidence of inadequacy.
Consult resources from the Imposter Syndrome Institute or read stories of successful business people who’ve experienced it. On an episode of Shopify Masters, Aishwarya Iyer, the founder of Brightland olive oil, talks about overcoming impostor syndrome and recommends the book Embracing Your Inner Critic by Hal and Sidra Stone.
Focus on the evidence
Feelings of inadequacy can be hard to banish—even when you know they aren’t rooted in reality.
Consider nervous fliers: An intellectual understanding that flying is safe is rarely enough to cure the fear of air travel. Instead, you need to summon enough hard data to drown out the stories your brain is telling you about what could go wrong. When it comes to imposter syndrome, this involves summoning hard facts about your performance and focusing on those instead of on feelings of self-doubt.
Here are two impostor feelings and facts:
Feeling: This marketing campaign was a complete disaster.
Fact: This marketing campaign finished on time and company leadership had positive feedback. One post went live at the wrong time, and overall performance is on par with previous campaigns.
Feeling: I don’t deserve this job.
Fact: A qualified hiring team determined my fitness for this role based on my education, previous experience, and track record of relevant successes.
Instead of dwelling on your own thoughts—and beating yourself up when they don’t go away—focus on measurable facts about your performance and qualifications. This provides a clear view of your success and helps you recognize mistakes without rounding them up to failure.
Make space for reflection
Many entrepreneurs use self-reflection to combat imposter syndrome because it helps them recognize unproductive thought patterns and understand their strengths, achievements, and areas for improvement.
Dave Law, founder of Zeepy, relies on meditation, journaling, and affirmations to work through self-doubt. “It’s basically convincing yourself that you know what you’re talking about,” he says.
Aishwarya also finds introspection helpful. “I think a lot of imposter syndrome actually comes from fear,” she says, “so I started really digging into ’What am I afraid of?’” For her, the fear was about not knowing her place in the world, and having compassion for that version of herself helped her get through it.
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Name your feelings
If you believe you have imposter syndrome, use the label to your advantage. When self-doubt creeps up, remind yourself that it’s just your imposter syndrome talking. Categorizing these imposter feelings as part of a larger tendency can help you set them aside. Instead of dwelling on negative thoughts, identify them, name them, and move on with your day.
Distrust social media
Aishwarya and Dave both recommend cultivating a healthy skepticism of social media content, which can encourage you to compare yourself to others who might overstate their successes and confidence. Moral of the story when scrolling through social media: Take it with a grain of salt.
“I didn’t look at what other entrepreneurs who were ahead of me were doing,” Aishwarya says. “I didn’t spend that much time on Instagram, because I think that would have actually overwhelmed me rather than ground or center me.”
Social media personas often project an image, with entrepreneurs sometimes exaggerating their confidence and successes. “If you look on LinkedIn, you see everyone presenting the best version of themselves,” Dave says. “You have to realize that all these people are feeling the same things and just pushing through.”
If you can’t stop comparing yourself to quasi-fictional characters, follow Aishwarya’s lead and take a break from social platforms entirely.
Make it—don’t fake it
If you’re struggling to adapt to a new position or role, you may be familiar with the advice to fake it until you make it. Essentially, pretend to be qualified and project confidence as you develop your skills.
However, Dave believes this advice can contribute to imposter syndrome. He instead recommends entrepreneurs “do it until you are it”—an insight inspired by James Clear’s Atomic Habits. Essentially, focus on what you can do and accept that learning is part of the process.
“Faking is disingenuous,” Dave says, suggesting that entrepreneurs recognize their success as genuine—not a performance. “You’re not faking—you’re just doing.”
Network with peers
Reach out to trusted current or former colleagues or members within your professional network to share your experience. You might find you’re not alone—research shows that 78% of business leaders have experienced imposter syndrome at one point or another.
Sharing your story can be empowering, and learning that your high-achieving peers have had the same thoughts can inspire self-compassion. The goal is to recognize imposter symptoms in another person, provide positive feedback and support, and extend that same courtesy to yourself.
Seek professional help
A licensed counselor or therapist can help you examine your feelings of imposter syndrome and uncover insights into how they impact your personal and professional life. Therapists can also give you coping strategies and prompt you to delve deeper into the root causes of your anxieties.
Count your wins
High achievers tend to set ambitious goals, which are inherently challenging to meet. While striving for excellence is commendable, problems arise if you interpret a missed benchmark as an abject failure.
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This mindset can lead to feeling like a failure despite wild success; if you regularly feel like you’re failing, you’re at a high risk for burnout and may experience imposter syndrome.
If ambitious goals motivate you, embrace them, but avoid seeing them as absolutes. You’re unlikely to reach every target, but you’ll accumulate successes along the way. Record your achievements and challenge yourself to recognize your progress.
Reframe doubt
Overcoming imposter syndrome requires managing doubt and recognizing that it’s a normal and healthy part of life. If you become too focused on feeling and projecting confidence, you interpret the occasional feeling of doubt as evidence that you’re failing to manage your imposter syndrome effectively. You might even feel like you’re faking your confidence, a classic sign of imposter syndrome and just what you set out to avoid.
As you gain trust in your own abilities and become a better judge of your qualifications, keep some space for feelings like, I don’t know if I’m quite up to this challenge or I can’t expect to master this skill immediately. These aren’t signs that your imposter syndrome is out of control, they’re evidence that you’re about to learn a new skill or experience professional growth.
“It’s actually a good sign,” Dave says. “It means that you’re putting yourself out there.” Remember that your goal isn’t outsized confidence; it’s a realistic assessment of your skills, a belief in their value, and a willingness to grow professionally.
Challenge the myth
In the US, there’s a persistent narrative about what successful entrepreneurship is supposed to look like. Known as the “founder myth” or “superhero leadership,” it goes something like this: A young male genius has a game-changing idea and works 100-hour weeks in his garage to bring a product to market. He draws on inborn leadership skills and an intuitive understanding of market needs to build a billion-dollar company, which he manages with ease, inspiring the world with his visionary keynotes and easy charm.
That’s all well and good, but what if you’re not young? Or male? What if you don’t have a garage? Believe the founder myth, and you come away with a narrow definition of what success looks like—and who can achieve it.
Instead, remind yourself that a myth is a story with outsized cultural relevance that’s mostly out of step with reality. Successful entrepreneurs come from different cultural backgrounds, take different paths, and have gifts, flaws, and anxieties—just like everybody else.
Imposter syndrome FAQ
What does imposter syndrome feel like?
Someone with imposter syndrome may feel like a fraud, believing that the only reason they hold a specific role or responsibility is that others perceive them as more qualified than they are. Many struggle with a persistent sense of inadequacy and fear of being outed as incompetent.
Will imposter syndrome go away?
Unaddressed imposter syndrome can get worse, making it difficult for you to enjoy your professional life or do your best job.To minimize its effects, try journaling, connecting with peers, seeking help from a licensed therapist, or learning more about imposter syndrome—all of which can help you re-evaluate negative self-talk, build confidence, and overcome imposter syndrome.
Is imposter syndrome common?
Yes, 78% of business leaders have experienced imposter syndrome. It’s also common in academic settings, particularly higher education institutions like colleges and graduate schools. One study found that 87% of medical students experienced a “high or very high” degree of imposter syndrome.
