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I'm a bit tired of hearing about imposter syndrome, honestly. It's become trendy to claim you have it, and I feel like the actual number of people suffering fro

I'm a bit tired of hearing about imposter syndrome, honestly. It's become trendy to claim you have it, and I feel like the actual number of people suffering from it is much smaller than the self-diagnosed sample.

ljm 5y ago
Like a lot of things on the internet, it just seems like we like to find a sense of community by labelling ourselves or building an identity. And I'm sure there is an impostor syndrome support group out there somewhere. In a deeper sense, I feel like there's also a growing desire to express vulnerability, and so hearing people talk more openly about this stuff doesn't mean it's a trend or that it's invalid in some form, it's instead bucking the trend of dealing in silence. The truth would sit somewhere between those angles. http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html
machinelearning 5y ago
There has always been something extremely off putting about this term, "imposter syndrome" and I haven't been able to articulate it until now. IMO it is a defense mechanism (as is having unchallenged confidence). Claiming you have imposter syndrome is a way people with a 'fixed mindset' to avoid confronting harsh realities. Whenever they make a mistake or lack knowledge in something, their whole identity of being an expert, high performing individual or "winner" gets challenged and they experience a loss of their identity. Claiming imposter syndrome is an extremely self-indulgent way to keep their positive identity in tact by rationalizing that their bad feelings in light of failure are somehow false and that all competent people feel the same way. In some ways, someone with arrogant, unwarranted confidence is doing the exact same thing in a different way. The original sin so to speak is tying success to one's identity instead of viewing it as the multivariate and stochastic process that it is. In order to achieve a goal or a result, you will necessarily have to be thrown into foreign situations where you know close to nothing and start off as a beginner. The outcome doesn't care about your self-righteous "imposter syndrome", you either get the thing done or get someone else to get the thing done. If this involves being humble and studying something, do it. If it involves putting your ego aside and deferring to people who demonstrably know more and learning from them, do it. This calculus has no space to cry about imposter syndrome. The people who harp on and on about imposter syndrome are more likely to justify insecure behaviors that don't move you closer to the end result in my experience. To iterate, the end result doesn't care about your feelings or self-identity, develop a growth mindset and focus on achieving the outcome in the most effective way possible instead of worrying about who is an "imposter". If you fail at a job and are unable to deliver, there are many factors at play, most of which were already probably predetermined before you accepted the role. The best thing you can do if you find yourself in this situation is to fix it instead of behaving defensively.
- lashloch 5y ago
  yes, it is the people who have unchallenged confidence who experience imposter syndrome, not the people who have work hard and encounter powerful "experts" pretending to know what they are talking about. and who cares if your work environment or your boss or is bad. you either worked hard enough or you didn't. if it were me, i would have simply worked hard enough to overcome such challenges
IshKebab 5y ago
Yeah people think it's like some kind of psychological illness like bipolar disorder just because it has "syndrome" in the name. It's not a syndrome. When you're feeling nervous at a job interview do you have "interview syndrome"? No. That is dumb. This is all dumb.
- wiether 5y ago
  I admire your confidence.

ljm 5y ago

Like a lot of things on the internet, it just seems like we like to find a sense of community by labelling ourselves or building an identity. And I'm sure there is an impostor syndrome support group out there somewhere. In a deeper sense, I feel like there's also a growing desire to express vulnerability, and so hearing people talk more openly about this stuff doesn't mean it's a trend or that it's invalid in some form, it's instead bucking the trend of dealing in silence. The truth would sit somewhere between those angles. http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

machinelearning 5y ago

There has always been something extremely off putting about this term, "imposter syndrome" and I haven't been able to articulate it until now. IMO it is a defense mechanism (as is having unchallenged confidence). Claiming you have imposter syndrome is a way people with a 'fixed mindset' to avoid confronting harsh realities. Whenever they make a mistake or lack knowledge in something, their whole identity of being an expert, high performing individual or "winner" gets challenged and they experience a loss of their identity. Claiming imposter syndrome is an extremely self-indulgent way to keep their positive identity in tact by rationalizing that their bad feelings in light of failure are somehow false and that all competent people feel the same way. In some ways, someone with arrogant, unwarranted confidence is doing the exact same thing in a different way. The original sin so to speak is tying success to one's identity instead of viewing it as the multivariate and stochastic process that it is. In order to achieve a goal or a result, you will necessarily have to be thrown into foreign situations where you know close to nothing and start off as a beginner. The outcome doesn't care about your self-righteous "imposter syndrome", you either get the thing done or get someone else to get the thing done. If this involves being humble and studying something, do it. If it involves putting your ego aside and deferring to people who demonstrably know more and learning from them, do it. This calculus has no space to cry about imposter syndrome. The people who harp on and on about imposter syndrome are more likely to justify insecure behaviors that don't move you closer to the end result in my experience. To iterate, the end result doesn't care about your feelings or self-identity, develop a growth mindset and focus on achieving the outcome in the most effective way possible instead of worrying about who is an "imposter". If you fail at a job and are unable to deliver, there are many factors at play, most of which were already probably predetermined before you accepted the role. The best thing you can do if you find yourself in this situation is to fix it instead of behaving defensively.

lashloch 5y ago
yes, it is the people who have unchallenged confidence who experience imposter syndrome, not the people who have work hard and encounter powerful "experts" pretending to know what they are talking about. and who cares if your work environment or your boss or is bad. you either worked hard enough or you didn't. if it were me, i would have simply worked hard enough to overcome such challenges

IshKebab 5y ago

Yeah people think it's like some kind of psychological illness like bipolar disorder just because it has "syndrome" in the name. It's not a syndrome. When you're feeling nervous at a job interview do you have "interview syndrome"? No. That is dumb. This is all dumb.

wiether 5y ago
I admire your confidence.