At some point in their professional lives, everyone, no
matter how successful, feels like they’re a fraud. Even luminaries like Maya
Angelou, Tina Fey, Neil Gaiman, Sheryl Sandberg and Sonia Sotomayor have written
or spoken about the feeling of impending doom that would come with being “found
out.” And that great indicator of the national pulse, The Onion, published an
article earlier this year titled “Report:
Today the Day They Find Out You’re a Fraud.”
At StartupBros,
Kyle Eschenroeder listed 21 ways
to overcome that feeling. Here’s his list:
1.
Come off
it. It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s healthy to recognize that you’re
not as important as you think you are. The standard of perfection that you feel
you have to hit probably isn’t as high as you think.
2.
Accept
that you have had some role in your successes. After all, you did something to get where you are.
3.
Focus on
providing value. As Eschenroeder says, “The fastest way to get over feeling
like a fraud is to genuinely try to help someone else.”
4.
Keep a
file of people saying nice things about you. You can revisit them whenever
you’re feeling down about your work.
5.
Stop
comparing yourself to that person. You
don’t need to hit the standard of Einstein or Gandhi, or even that perfectly
put-together classmate on Facebook. Learn to respect your own experience.
6.
Expose
yourself totally. Eschenroeder describes impostor syndrome as a kind of “twisted
arrogance.” This is akin to “come off it,” in that other people likely don’t
hold you to as high a standard as you hold yourself. Let down your guard — it’s
freeing.
7.
Treat the
thing as a business/experiment. If no one is responding to certain things
you do, don’t do them. (Job requirements aside, of course.)
8.
Say “It’s
Impostor Syndrome” and it immediately becomes a little less terrible.
9. Remember: Being wrong doesn’t make you a
fake. Failure is part of life. It doesn’t mean you’re a fraud.
10. “Nobody belongs here more than you.” Of
course, the opposite is also true — you don’t belong where you are more than
anyone else.
11. Realize that when you hold back, you’re
robbing the world. Going through life convinced you’re a
fraud prevents you from giving all you have to offer. The best way to be truly
free and productive is to move forward despite your doubts.
12. You’re going to die. And that creates a
sense of urgency. Do you want to spend your entire life holding back because
you felt like a fraud?
13. Stream-of-consciousness writing. Do it for half an hour. It will put you
in touch with what’s going on inside yourself.
14. Say what you can. Even if you’re an expert on a topic, you don’t have to
know everything about it. Focus on
what you do know.
15. Realize that nobody knows what they’re
doing. Everyone fails. You’re not an impostor for trying something risky.
16. Take action. Eschenroeder says, “Impostor
Syndrome lives in abstraction. It is impossible for it to survive when you’re
taking action. Taking action proves
that you’re not a fraud.”
17. Realize that you are never you. You’re
constantly changing into the person you’ll be. You are getting better.
18. Authenticity is a hoax. It’s natural to
present different sides of yourself or your work to different people.
19. See credentials for what they are. Don’t
measure yourself by credentials — measure yourself by your work.
20. Find someone you can say “I feel like a
fraud” to. Just verbalizing it can help you defeat it.
21. Faking things actually does work. Keep
trying to do things, even if they probably won’t work. You’ll get there
eventually.
How do you get through those moments of professional doubt?
company, or position we are interested in. The equally as important part of managing your life comes in the form of managing your own education. 
