Impostor Syndrome: Fear of not being good enough

Impostor syndrome is not an uncommon phenomenon: You make an effort, prepare well, are successful – and still feel like an impostor. We explain how to overcome the fear of not being good enough.

“Impostor” comes from English and means imposter or swindler, swindler. So it describes people who pretend to be more successful, wealthy or have a higher social rank than they actually have. They pretend to be something they are not in order to be successful – and usually do so on purpose.

And then there are people who keep feeling like imposters. People who believe their own success is just coincidence or luck – and who live in constant fear that eventually everyone else around them will find out as well.

This type of self-doubt has a scientific name: impostor syndrome. This is not a mental illness with an exact diagnosis, but rather a personal experience.

You may be able to see this in yourself by simply asking yourself: How do you feel when you are successful? Do you then feel joyful, does success give you self-confidence – or does the opposite happen? Is that making you feel even more pressured, afraid someone might find out that you were “just lucky”? The latter suggests that you too are struggling with impostor syndrome in your life.

What are the consequences of impostor syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is also accompanied by fear of the future, which stems from the thought: “Next time I won’t be so lucky.” Those affected perceive their own weaknesses too clearly and overestimate the strengths and abilities of those around them significantly.

The self-doubt associated with impostor syndrome is multifaceted. They express themselves, for example, in these and similar thought patterns:

• “What I can do, everyone else can anyway.”
• “It was just coincidence or someone made a mistake, that’s the only reason I succeed.”
• “Hopefully the others don’t notice that I can’t do anything and that I’m just pretending.”
• “I pretend all the time.”
• “I did not deserve that.”

People with imposter syndrome often feel unable to cope with new tasks. According to an article in the MinD magazine from Mensa in Germany e. V., they get caught in a vicious circle: Anyone who sees themselves as an imposter is always looking for new confirmation from outside and therefore tries to climb the ladder to be more successful. But if those affected succeed, they feel like imposters again and blame success on chance, good relationships or the like. They therefore continue to look for new confirmation, may be successful again and so it goes on.

How people with impostor syndrome react to a situation can be divided into two categories: overdoing and underdoing:

• Overdoing means that the person concerned prepares themselves to the point of perfection, familiarizing themselves with the smallest detail.
• Underdoing, on the other hand, means putting off upcoming exams or the like to the last, occupying yourself with other things and preparing little or not at all. If they fail, underdoers can then justify to themselves that they couldn’t have done better – after all, they weren’t prepared well enough.

In the worst case, the imposter syndrome means that the affected person never manages to reach their potential: they lose a lot of their creativity and they let their skills go unused due to fear of failure. Impostor syndrome can also be physically exhausting: it leads to stress and possibly even to burn-out.

Who is affected?

According to MinD, the impostor syndrome can often be observed in women because they struggle with thoughts like: “They only hired me because of the women’s quota” or “Much higher demands would have been made of a man.” having to represent their own group in a dignified manner: as a woman, the person concerned feels that she is representative of all women in the spotlight – and if a career woman fails, then it falls back on all the other women, so the thought behind it.

Read more: “Women have to be very careful about whether and how they express anger”: work psychologist on anger at work

However, this also applies to other groups in society: There is no clear study on whether women actually struggle more often with impostor syndrome. The proportion of women may also appear to be higher because women are more daring to talk about it.

Scientists also assume a connection between discrimination and impostor syndrome, according to an article in Die Zeit: Anyone who already has little faith in their own abilities quickly has the feeling that it was all just luck if they were successful. This is particularly the case with social minorities.

Overall, however, many personality factors play a role. For example, introverts are more likely to be affected, as are people with unsupportive families or high levels of family conflict. People who are very anxious or who are easily ashamed also tend to have imposter feelings. The same goes for those who have only been successful for a long time – for example at school – and then suddenly find themselves confronted with greater challenges.

Impostor syndrome often only occurs in a specific situation that you do not feel up to: Up to seventy percent of people report impostor feelings in certain situations.

“I can never be myself”: Many feel privately as imposters

The imposter syndrome can also occur in contact with friends: when you have the feeling that you are playing a role and that you are not being yourself when dealing with other people. Maybe you react differently than you would like – or the people around you describe you completely differently than you perceive yourself.

And with that comes self-doubt again: You think that other people don’t really know you and that they probably wouldn’t like who you think you are. A person with impostor syndrome often suffers from the feeling that they cannot be themselves and that they always have to pretend.

How Can You Overcome Impostor Syndrome?

The good news right at the beginning: The first step in overcoming this hurdle is simply realizing that it exists. Then you have to learn not to attribute your success to a happy coincidence, but to yourself and your achievements.

Working on your own self-esteem can also help you overcome impostor syndrome. Sabine Magnet is the author of the book “And what if everyone notices that I can’t do anything? About the fear of not being good enough. The impostor phenomenon.” In an interview with Der Spiegel she suggests three proven exercises that can help to overcome the impostor syndrome:

1. You can keep a success diary. Write down every day the minor or major successes that you have achieved today. This strengthens your awareness that you have achieved these things through your own abilities.
2. According to Sabine Magnet, strengthening your self-love is also a good strategy for getting rid of impostor syndrome.
3. And finally, she recommends a gratitude ritual. For example, you can practice gratitude by regularly writing down several things for which you are grateful. Grateful people have a more positive view of the world overall.

Read more on Utopia:

• Perfectionism – so high demands do not become a problem
• Release inner blockages – in 3 simple steps
• Lack of concentration: causes and what helps against it