Thoughts on impostor syndrome

Impostor syndrome is not really a mental condition despite its name. Psychologists would rather call it the impostor phenomenon and it is defined as the constant gnawing feeling that your success is due to luck, not because of your hard work, talent or qualifications. On top of that you're also worried that other people (for example your workmates) will find out you're a fraud and actually not as capable as they thought you were. It can be a real problem in working life and it seems to affect all kinds of people from diverse backgrounds, no matter their age, gender or occupation. About 70% of people experience these feelings at some point in their lives according to a review article published in the International Journal of Behavioral Science.

Mike Cannon-Brookes is a 40-year old billionaire and the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, an Australian company that develops products for software developers and project managers. Their products include for example Jira and Trello. If you check his biography on the official blog of Atlassian, it says he "was a driving force behind Australia getting the world's biggest lithium ion battery". While this might indeed be true, he has a very interesting story behind it, as you can see if you watch his Ted Talk on How you can use impostor syndrome to your benefit. The video is almost 14 minutes long but if you suffer from said syndrome and have a bit of time to spare, I'd definitely recommend watching it.

When talking about creative work I feel it complicates the concept even more. Art is something very subjective, what is "ugly" for one is "beautiful" for someone else. In one of their recent articles Yle interviewed six Finnish professionals about their experiences with impostor syndrome regarding their work. Actress Krista Kosonen confessed that, despite having confidence in her professional skills, every time she starts a new job she experiences feelings of insecurity. She says that acting is difficult as hell and she never gets how to do it well the first time. With every new role she has to start from zero again. If you think about it being an actor is, in fact, being an impostor of sorts. 

Blogger Jenni Rotonen with her blog Pupulandia is not the only one who doubts her skills once in a while. Being a blogger is something that many people still don't consider a "real job". Rotonen says part of the reason might be because there's no official education on how to build a business around your social media channels. She states that it's very common for people to think that someone without an official title cannot be as capable as someone who has completed studies on the matter (whatever it happens to be). The truth is knowledge and professional skills can be acquired through other ways than higher education as well.

Illustration by Gemma Correll

The key for someone who struggles with impostor syndrome could be accepting it in the first place and questioning one's own thoughts. Perttu Pölönen, who is a professional speaker among other things, tells Yle the biggest help for him has been trying to turn the impostor thoughts into a source of inspiration and empowerment. He says instead of comparing yourself to others you should focus on looking up to the people who you think are better than you. When you look up to someone, you want to be like them and they inspire you to reach your goals. Surely this is a better point of view than seeing everyone else as competition and getting discouraged because you feel you're not at their level.

I guess in the end no one really knows what they're doing all the time, however professional they might be. And that's the beauty of it really. What would life be without a little challenge and surprise?

Sources / further reading:

https://time.com/5312483/how-to-deal-with-impostor-syndrome/

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11606092 (in Finnish)

https://copyblogger.com/creative-business/#:~:text=Impostor%20syndrome%20prevents%20many%20artists,criticism%20is%20just%20too%20painful.

https://www.atlassian.com/