No matter which category you fall under, one of the universal symptoms of imposter syndrome is the belief that you’re suffering alone, the sole phony who somehow snuck their way past the gatekeepers and in to the club of the competent. However, this false belief is exactly why sharing your experience with others is so important. Remember, imposter syndrome affects over eighty percent of employees, so chances are someone you know will be able to relate — they may have even overcome it themselves and can share their firsthand experience on how to proceed.
This would be a great conversation to have with a professional mentor if you have one. Imposter syndrome is prevalent among high achievers, so those with the most seniority probably know a thing or two about fighting nagging feelings of fraud. Seventy-five percent of women executives, in fact, said they had experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their careers.
Still, it can be a hard truth to accept when you’re in the thick of this type of negative thinking. That’s why knowing your experience is not only universal, but common among those who, by society’s standards, could never be classified as anything other than the “real deal” is so important. Don’t believe us? Just take it from these accomplished folks:
Tina Fey: “The beauty of the impostor syndrome is you vacillate between extreme egomania and a complete feeling of: ‘I’m a fraud! Oh God, they’re onto me! I’m a fraud!’”
Maya Angelou: No matter how many books she wrote, any time she’d finish a new one, she’d think to herself: “Uh-oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody.”
Michelle Obama: The former first lady has said she used to lie awake at night and ask herself: Am I too loud? Too much? Dreaming too big? “Eventually, I just got tired of always worrying what everyone else thought of me,” she said. “So I decided not to listen.”
A famous comedian, a prizewinning author, the actual former first lady of the United States? If you suffer from imposter syndrome, take a moment to pat yourself on the back — believe it or not, you’re in elite company. The more you talk with others, the more you’ll begin to see how normal these feelings really are. At a certain point, the more conversations you have, the more statistically improbable it becomes for all these self-proclaimed imposters to really exist. Every business would crumble. Society wouldn’t function. We’d be stuck in the stone ages forever. And yet here we are.