Trust me, I am the most competent one in the art of being incomoetent.
Imposter syndrome is a backwards way of discrediting the people responsible for picking. Youre implicitly saying that their competency in picking the right person, that their people skills, are not up to scratch, as you succesfully decieved them.
Thinkin about it like this has helped me curb my own tendency for this a lot, because usually the gatekeepers know more about the thing than i do.
Its a ‘trust the experts’ kind of vibe
I talk like that all the time about my employers. “Somehow I tricked into thinking I know what I’m doing and now I sorta do.”
We had a class at my university talking about Imposter Syndrome that spent the whole class telling us that ‘everybody feels it’ and therefore it must be OK.
In my head I spent the time thinking “yeah, but they just have imposter syndrome, whereas I’m actually an impostor”.
i cried and had a breakdown when I got my PhD, had no idea what the fuck was wrong with them that they thought I deserved it.
I’ll tell you a secret. If you just show up and do things without fucking up most of the time, they’ll never know you’re an imposter. Like fools, they’ll attribute your mistakes to human error and not being incompetent. Just because you show up reliably and do halfway decent work the majority of the time. The absolute imbeciles.
There’s also the flip side of imposter syndrome.
Inherent in the belief that people are going to figure out that you are actually a fraud, and really bad at something, is the implicit idea that all those other people are actually competent and good at stuff themselves.
Here’s the thing - most of them probably aren’t. The older I get (mid 40s now…) the more I realize that incompetence is far more widespread than I used to think it was.
This is not to give anyone an inflated idea of their own ability or intelligence, including myself! It’s just a reminder that, in most situations, the people whose judgment you are worried about are probably just as bad off as you are… and are probably worse!
That’s basically how I got over the imposter syndrome.
lol they’ll believe anything. I usually just tell them I don’t know and that I’ll figure it out and learn it in the background, and they don’t even care as long as I deliver it, those suckers.
Half the job is just showing up and telling your boss that things are on track and that you will take care of it.
If you ever feel nervous before a progress meeting, remember this.
The CIA released a guide once in how to subtly resist a hostile government from the inside, in a corporate setting. It said things like “Always set a follow-up meeting to every meeting”, “Never commit to anything”, and “Reject everything you’re asked to review with vague comments”. It was practically a perfect portrait of my boss at my last company, who was lauded as excellent by management.
It got me thinking: If he was considered indispensable while basically following a guide on destroying the company to the letter, then how bad could I ever be?
This is going to sound fucked up, but a few years ago I was really struggling with a job and there was immense pressure for me to quit.
At the lowest of my lows, I was browsing the internet and stumbled upon some incompetent fuckery shit that Trump pulled off and immediately understood his appeal to people: if he can fuck up so obviously and on a large scale and still show his face, why can’t I?
Yeah but I hate showing up, and doing things…
And the possibility of fucking up is pretty much the root of my concern.
Not sure how this helps.
You gotta kill the fear of fucking up. Or better, relegate it to reasonable caution. You will probably fuck up, and that’s ok. Systems that can’t handle any failure will usually let you know and take active steps to make it hard to fuck up.
Bold of you to assume I won’t fuck everything up all of the time
I had imposter syndrome a lot in my career.
It got so bad that eventually one of my superiors had to sit me down over beers and give me some very straight talk.
He said that a whole host of people have imposter syndrome in our profession. The thing is, when you have no idea what to do, act decisively and just do something. It MIGHT be 100% absolutely the wrong thing to do, but at least there’s a chance that you might blunder into a situation you can solve, while delay due to hesitation is DEFINITELY 100% absolutely the wrong thing to do.
Plot twist, you’re a nuclear submarine captain.
Close, naval engineer.
How did they like the speed holes you added to the boat?
Painted them red so it certainly went faster.
One of my colleges says he has the Imposter Syndrome. I wish he did, at least 10% of it.
Dude is rude as hell, confidentally incorrect, steals people’s ideas to present as his own, interrupter, and does the thing where he states the obvious wasting everyone’s time as if he’s teaching everyone else. He is an expert at optics, he is often working on 10 things, all unfinished, and would still nose into other people’s work.
I dunno what to call it. Maybe plain old “Insecurity”.
This somehow worked for him though, he’s weak technically but he is the “Scrum” guy so he’s promoted to lead level.
Its easy to break out of imposter syndrome, just look at how many idiots there are in politics
Instructions unclear. Now misanthropic and depressed, too.
incomoetent
Typo or committed to the bit?
This hits a little too close.
Ouch.
I’m posing as an imposter.
Sus.
Joke is on all of you. I know I’m shit, I just don’t care.
For some reason, I keep getting promotions and better jobs after I get fired from the last one. I am living the dream, failing up up and away!
I just asked stupid question on a meeting for half an hour about things I should know. Before that, I got shitty with some people because they wouldn’t do what I told them. I didn’t get into the game to be a dick, but the sad reality is that once you piss all over the drapes a few times, people will just let you do whatever.
I’ll be putting that to the ultimate test soon. Performance evaluations are coming and I can start handing out money. If I can demand more for my staff and hand it out effectively, then I can pretty much do anything. That’s the one thing that I’ve not been able to crack yet. If I can buy my employees loyalty (or facade thereof) then I’m golden.
Remember kids, being an asshole works!
It hit me when sir Anthony Hopkins said he suffered from imposter syndrome.
One of my favorite stories is that Anthony Hopkins landed a role, so he went out to find the book that it was based on. Couldn’t find it anywhere, everywhere he went it was sold out. While waiting for his train home he finds the exact book sitting on a subway bench. What’re the odds?
Fast forward to when he’s on set and he finally gets to meet the author. Author mentions that even he doesn’t have a copy of his own novel, he had lent it to a friend who had lost it years ago. Full of his own notes too. Well guess who had found that exact copy sitting on a bench? Hopkins.
Wild to get that kinda nod from the universe and still doubt whether you’re where you’re supposed to be.
i have reverse imposter syndrome. i’m painfully aware of other people’s incompetence and wonder how the fuck are they making that much money.
I am past imposter syndrome. Now I just feel like the king, while my skills are still not there. But also I am aware of this and don’t care. Can recommend.