Important Disclaimer

The information provided here is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or therapeutic advice. Imposter Syndrome can be a serious issue, but this content should not be used as a substitute for professional psychological or medical treatment.

Understanding Imposter Syndrome in the Workplace

Despite their accomplishments, some people believe they are frauds, and think their success is due to luck rather than skill – impostor syndrome.

And it’s a fairly new phenomenon


The term Imposter Syndrome (IS) was introduced in the 1970s to describe feelings of self-doubt or inadequacy that some high-achieving individuals experience (APA). Despite being new, it’s quite common – a systematic review of 62 studies reveals prevalence rates as high as 56% to 82%, especially among graduate students, college students, and professionals across various fields (source).

Although it is NOT a clinical diagnosis, IS has been extensively studied across various fields, including STEM, education, and business (World Health Organization). It manifests heavily in industries that demand high performance, and where success is highly scrutinized.

The exact cause of IS is still unknown, research suggests that cultural and environmental factors, including family dynamics, play a significant role (source).

The Psychological Impact of Imposter Syndrome

It’s bad…

From a career development perspective, imposter syndrome is particularly damaging. Professionals struggling with IS are less likely to engage in career planning or pursue leadership opportunities, leading to higher rates of job dissatisfaction and burnout (source).

Imposter syndrome also stunts professional growth by negatively affecting key success metrics like adaptability and optimism. Research indicates that IS is associated with reduced career satisfaction, limiting both subjective outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction) and objective outcomes (e.g., promotions, salary, opportunities, etc.) (source).

This is all bad enough. But wait
 There’s more!

IS is often accompanied by comorbidities such as depression, anxiety, and other behavioral health issues (NIH). These conditions intensify feelings of inadequacy, intellectual self-doubt, and comparison to peers. It can even lead to more severe psychological impacts, including personality disorders.

In other words, IS is serious business


Why High-Achieving Professionals Are Most Vulnerable

This should go without saying: Professionals in high-value careers are at greater risk of experiencing IS.

Ironically, the more competent and successful you become, the more likely you are to feel like a fraud. This paradox is driven by two internalized beliefs:

  1. Belief that we live in a meritocracy
  2. Belief that success must come easily to those who are truly competent

(More on these later…)

Ultimately, when people encounter challenges or make mistakes, they may view it as evidence of their inadequacy, rather than as a normal part of growth. Remember: high-value careers require regular and recurring challenges as well as mistakes – creating the optimal conditions for IS.

Recognizing Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome expresses itself in various behavioral patterns. Each of these behaviors can impact career development, and especially early career development in profound ways, leading to burnout and self-sabotage.

Let us go over the common patterns to clarify


Imposter Cycle

The Imposter Cycle refers to a repeating loop where you either over-prepare or procrastinate, each reinforcing the feeling of being a fraud.

Over-preparation

When over-preparing, you believe you must work significantly harder than your peers to achieve the same outcomes.

For example, you might spend hours revising a presentation that should take half the time, fearing that if you don’t, your “lack” of skill will be on full display in front of the whole audience. This extra effort, however, is not experienced or interpreted as diligence, you just think you are less capable than others.

Procrastination

On the flip side, procrastination has a similar effect. Last-minute preparation leads to feelings of guilt and anxiety, reinforcing the belief that your rushed effort will eventually expose you as incompetent.

For instance, you might delay starting a project because you doubt your ability to perform, only to hastily complete it later, which heightens your anxiety and feelings of inadequacy – not to mention the risk of delivering a tardy project.

Perfectionism

Perfectionism is another major expression of imposter syndrome. This is the belief that any mistake, no matter how small, will reveal your incompetence – exposing you as a fraud.

For example, you may spend hours perfecting a report, obsessing over minor details that don’t affect the overall quality, because you fear that a single oversight will make everyone question your obviously lacking abilities.

This obsession with flawlessness not only wastes time but also prevents you from taking risks or learning from mistakes – both of which are critical components of growth in the early stages of a career, as well as a constant requirement for high-value careers.

Super-Heroism

You might adopt a “super-hero” mentality, believing you must excel in every aspect of your job to avoid being unmasked as a fraud. This leads you to overcommit and take on more responsibilities than you can manage, driven by the fear that saying “no” will reveal your shortcomings. For instance, you might volunteer for extra projects or work late into the night to prove your worth.

Over time, this unsustainable pace leads to burnout, as well as the potential of being taken advantage of. What’s worse is that you still feel inadequate because you believe your overexertion is simply compensating for your lack of talent.

Fear of Failure

The fear of failure is a core driver of imposter syndrome. You often avoid situations where you might fail because you believe failure will confirm your inadequacy.

For example, you might avoid taking on high-visibility projects or decline leadership opportunities because you fear being “exposed” if you don’t succeed.

Obviously, this fear can severely limit your career growth, as avoiding challenges prevents you from gaining valuable experience as well as the necessary track record of progression. Fear of failure keeps you stuck in your comfort zone, while reinforcing the belief that you are not good enough.

Denial of Competence

A key feature of imposter syndrome is the denial of your own competence and achievements. Even when you receive praise or recognition for your work, you often dismiss it as luck or the result of external factors.

For instance, you might win a major contract for your company but attribute it to market conditions or someone else’s help, rather than your own negotiating skills.

By the way, we are not talking about humility, or even fake humility for political purposes here. We’re talking about a genuine, sincere denial of competence that creates a disconnect between reality and your self-perception. You just don’t notice your own value.

Fear of Success

Imposter syndrome can – ironically – also create anxiety around success.

You may fear that further achievements will set expectations even higher, increasing the chances of eventually being exposed as a fraud. For example, after a promotion, you might worry that you won’t live up to the higher standards.

How These Feelings Sabotage Early Career Success

All of these behaviors – over-preparation, perfectionism, super-heroism, fear of failure, denial of competence, and fear of success – act as significant impediments to your growth and success, especially in the early stages of a career.

Early on, your job is to embrace challenges, fail and fall, only to get right back up and continue challenging yourself. THAT is the process of growth and social mobility.

With IS, you miss out on all of that.

Worse, rather than embracing challenges, you run away from opportunities that could help you develop your skills and advance in your career.

What to Do About Imposter Syndrome

If you think you need mental help, seek out mental health professionals. Reading articles online is not a substitute for therapy.

That being said, there are quite a few things you can do


For instance, in 2021, researchers created a professional development workshop based on a CPT framework. Many reported improvements in emotional regulation and benefited from hearing others’ similar experiences, helping them disidentify with their own impostor thoughts (source).

Be warned though. A lot of this stuff is experimental. As of this article, there have been no clinical trials specifically designed to treat imposter syndrome (Mental Health Journal). Therefore, we can expect therapy outcomes to vary depending on the therapist and the individual, as no standardized treatment exists.

APA Recommendations for Treatment Include (APA)

  • Talk to mentors or a trusted person
  • Acknowledge your wins and capabilities
  • Remember what you do well
  • Replace your thinking (perspective and belief shifts)
  • Seek professional mental health help

While all this is sound and valid
 As you might expect
 We have our – dare we say – advanced twist on things


A Triple Solution to Impostor Syndrome

In our review of the literature, combined with our experience helping professionals secure high-value jobs before they believe they “deserve” them, we’ve identified three high-level angles that may be used to deal with imposter syndrome:

1. Reinforcement of Successful Self-Image

You need to regularly identify and celebrate your achievements. But this doesn’t just mean acknowledge them mentally. This means: Ritualize them. Reward yourself with vacations, gifts, parties, wasteful spending or any meaningful celebration.

Why?

Because your subconscious mind doesn’t respond well to mere intellectual acknowledgment; it requires emotional and physical reinforcement. It has it’s own language, and that language is not the same as your conscious mind or your internal dialogue.

Ritual affirmations of your success builds an emotional structure where you begin to see your accomplishments as real and deserved. The act of celebrating creates a positive loop that reinforces your self-image as a competent professional rather than an imposter.

It’s not enough to believe, or even know that you are successful…

You need to convince your primate brain – which is fine tuned to serve your tribe, not you – that you are successful and valuable.

2. Mentorship: The Power of the Right Words

The words of mentors carry weight. Otherwise, they are not your mentors. By definitions, your mentors need to be individuals you respect and admire.

But, be careful!

Mentors can either elevate or cripple you depending on their motivations. A good mentor wants you to outshine them – they treat you like a professional or spiritual child, encouraging you to achieve more than they did. In contrast, a bad mentor derives validation from keeping you beneath them, suppressing your growth to continue feeling superior.

When choosing a mentor, think about their intent. A mentor who truly invests in your success will challenge your imposter feelings by validating your potential while pushing you to take bold steps in your career.

Their affirmation can be more impactful than any internal pep talk. We can tell you countless stories about how single instances of public praise coming from a mentor made all the difference.

3. Capitalism Lens: Humility vs. External Projection

Two things can be true at once: internally, you might feel like you “don’t know what the hell you’re doing”, but externally, you are forced into a situation where you must confidently proclaim: “I’ve got this.”

That’s 90% of the corporate game, right there… 😉

Of course, this tension can inflame imposter syndrome, but
 It can only do so if you mistakenly believe we live in a meritocracy.

News flash: Our society isn’t a meritocracy – it’s a neo-aristocracy (see – Is meritocracy a sham to learn more about the science behind this statement.)

In our society, capital and access to capital determines one’s rank and status, not capabilities or any form of merit. This goes for everything from media attention to corporate org charts.

Remember: Capitalism sorts people based on capital, while the illusion of meritocracy pacifies the masses away from revolution.

Once you internalize this realization, a weight is instantly lifted off your shoulders. You free yourself from the burden of needing to prove your worth to a system that doesn’t – and was never built to – care.

Yes, you still need to “fake it” to remain employed. You still NEED TO PLAY THIS GAME TO SURVIVE. And you especially need to “fake it”, if you want to achieve social mobility, giving your children a better future than the one you grew up with.

But none of that makes you an imposter.

You are simply reacting – in a perfectly natural way – to the imperfect environment you live in, while trying to embody the moral virtues for a perfect world.

Basically, what we’re saying is that: it’s not your fault.

In fact, we’ll go a step further…

By all means, be an impostor if you need to! You have our full blessing to impose yourself upon the market and claim “I’ve got this” even when you have no idea what “this” is!

Actionable Tactics for Combatting Imposter Syndrome

Of course, the direct techniques and reframes above may not instantly eliminate your IS.7

Sometimes these things take time and action on your part to become internalized.

To that end, here are a couple of other tools and techniques we find valuable


  • Journaling Your Wins and Growth: By documenting successes – no matter how small – you reinforce positive self-affirmation.
  • Stopping Negative Self-Talk: Thought-stopping techniques (see box breath) allow you to interrupt negative thought patterns and replace them with positive affirmations.
  • Setting Incremental Goals: Breaking larger tasks into smaller, manageable goals helps you create a series of achievable milestones. This makes you feel less overwhelmed, and also, fosters a sense of accomplishment. (Bonus: dopamine.)
  • “Know Thyself”: Engaging in self-reflection to understand your strengths and weaknesses allows you to recognize your actual value.
  • Building a Support System: Surrounding yourself with successful individuals creates a network of support that can help validate your capabilities. Unlike friends, high-performing peers and mentors provide evidence for your brain when they praise you.

Conclusion

Overcoming imposter syndrome is about taking control of your story (career narrative) in a system that often pretends success is solely based on your merit and hard work.

It’s not.

Realizing this is a tough pill to swallow. But when you do, you can actually turn self-doubt into a powerful driver for your career.

Remember: Our corporate culture often disguises its inequalities with the illusion that hard work alone leads to success, when in fact, concepts like nepotism, favoritism, pedigree, racism, lookism and generational access to capital play a much greater role.

This is not to say that merit doesn’t exist, or that our system is bad, or people can’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Compared to our history, we live in a golden age of opportunity and social mobility.

But that doesn’t mean we should delude ourselves, fall into imposter syndrome, and work ourselves to the bone while worrying about others discovering that “we are frauds”.

The system itself is a fraud!

Once you see this – imposter syndrome and all – you can actually unlock opportunities that match your true abilities.

Embrace the game, know your worth, and confidently claim your place in the professional world – even when it’s above your paygrade.

Especially if it’s above your paygrade.

And if you’re ever in doubt – just watch a presidential debate to see some real impostors!