What if they find out I really don’t know what I am doing?
Posted by Jennifer on August 22nd, 2006
I was speaking to a friend this week who was about to start a new PR job and her first comment to me was "what if they find out I don't know what I am doing.." which she does! She has been in PR for ten years and is one of the best PR people I know….she has nothing to worry about! But I know what she is feeling because I have felt the same way every time I start a new job and many of my friends have felt this way too. Believe it or not "it" actually has a name Imposter Syndrome and it is VERY common among women (not so common with men!). I am leaving you short today…as I am going to do some more research on Imposter Syndrome this evening. My mother is a psychoanalyst and has promised to fill me in as to why women predominately suffer from this and what we can do about it. I want to look at Imposter Syndrome on a more personal level, how it impacts our lives, why we think we suffer from it and tell our own stories (I do not want to focus on clinical information, corporate "stuff" or self help courses). In order to make this post more interesting and helpful I would love to hear any experiences or thoughts on Imposter Syndrome.
Posted to Skill Set
August 22nd, 2006 » 9:25 pm
Ha! Men get it as well! One of my best friends back in the UK get’s it really badly though, which is weird as she’s one of the most self-confident people i’ve ever met…
I’ve no idea why we do it though…
Ed
August 23rd, 2006 » 1:26 pm
I TOTALLY have this. I’ve been in the comms business for years, I’ve gotten good reviews from clients/colleagues/bosses, and I know that the work that I do is solid. But when I recently took a new job – one that I was more than qualified/possibly even overqualified for -”Impostor Syndrome” hit me like a ton of bricks. The worst part was that I’ve been so confident in my work for so long that I literally could not figure out what to do. And it somehow showed, and I think lessened the respect my new employer had for me during the interview process. I’d love to know what the heck happened. I just can’t explain it, AND it was a negative hit in the personal reputation.
August 24th, 2006 » 6:59 am
I’m a guy and I get this all the time as well.
I think I go through it every single day I have a client meeting.
A few weeks back I sat at a table with a bunch of 30 – 40-year-old businessmen and had to explain blogging and social media to them. Want to talk about being an imposter? I thought I would be laughed out of the room.
I would guess mine comes from being such a competitor. Nothing is ever good enough for me or others. I have to please to a degree that I can never please anyone, if that makes sense. (At least that is how it seems sometimes.)
No matter how many times I hear compliments on my work, my writing or hear people tell me I am smart, or good at this or that, I still don’t believe them and kind of shrug it off.
August 31st, 2006 » 9:57 pm
My mum’s written a brief post on it here. She’s a teacher really into Gifted and Talented education – apparently it’s a common affliction for gifted people.