The 1-Hour Cure for Impostor Syndrome

Listen.

You already know the feeling. Walking into a room, a stage, a job you spent years earning — and thinking, I don't belong here. Staying up late over-preparing for a meeting you're already qualified to run. Downplaying the promotion because some part of you is sure it was luck, or timing, or someone being generous.

You've been told this feeling has a name. Impostor syndrome. And you've been told it's basically universal — that everyone from CEOs to Kate Winslet feel it, so you're in good company.

Except some of us don't feel it.

I know, I don't.

But I still see posts like this online:

"I'm a new partner and am having serious imposter syndrome. I'm so worried that I'm going to mess up, not meet expectations, and disappoint everyone. Like I tricked leadership into promoting me. How do I get over this?"

Good question.

The problem is that so many people define it so differently that it becomes very difficult to figure out the how one can get over it.

• Some will say it's a skills problem.
• Some will say it's a belief problem.
• Some will say it's a persistent self-doubt because you're having trouble balancing humility with excellence.
• Some will tell you it's an internal individual problem.
• Some will tell you it's an external societal problem.
• Some will say it's the lack of self-awareness.
• Some will say it's too much self-awareness and conscientiousness.

Are you as confused as I am by these?

If this many smart people can't agree on what it even is, how would any of them tell you how to fix it?

The original 1978 Impostor Phenomenon test introduced a confirmation bias.

No matter how you answered the statements, you still got "diagnosed" with impostor feelings. There were no control questions to make sure you weren't accidentally labeled as one. Even answering "not at all true" to all 20 statements still lands you in a labeled category — the test has no floor that reads as "you don't have this."

According to this graphic, the phenomenon got reintroduced into society sometime in 2012–2013, with a much more pathological name: "syndrome" (thanks, Sheryl).

Since then, we seem to have been lumping every flavor of self-doubt under the umbrella of "impostor syndrome." This is why the term has become so paralyzing, even though we keep talking about it, with no clear "cure."

"Impostor syndrome" as a term is quite abstract. And the advice for fixing it is just as abstract.

• "Fake it till you make it." Fake what?
• "Be more confident." What does that mean, exactly?
• "Believe in yourself." How?
• "Stop comparing yourself to others." How?
• "Reframe your belief from 'fraud' to a '[insert a positive noun]'." Not every affirmation, however positive, sticks.

So what do we have?

Typically, well-characterized conditions tend to converge toward a defined mechanism and protocol as research accumulates. But impostor syndrome content has done the opposite:

• More takes.
• More competing definitions.
• No convergence.
• No protocol anyone agrees on.

No wonder the newly promoted partner is earnestly asking on Fishbowl, "How do I get over this?"

The answer is pretty simple, actually. And it's hidden in your talent DNA.