Impostor Syndrome and Ugly Ducklings

Impostor syndrome is a challenge most of us will face at some point in our lives, but I do wonder if, in most cases, we are not just experiencing being ugly ducklings?

What do I mean?

In school we are taught to make the grade, and examinations are still the final test of our knowledge, and that breads a sense of anxiety and fear. The fear of “Have I done enough and do I know enough.” This is then appeased once we get our results and pass, even if it is by the skin of our teeth.

But that anxiety is then carried into the work environment. We are faced with new people, new systems and we will, most probably, make mistakes, because that is part of the human learning process. We slowly but surely workout the correct skills to apply to the correct situation. We also start to see positive results from our actions. We may still feel anxiety before a big presentation, but once we get into it, things start to settle down and we realise that we know enough and we have done enough, we’ll be okay.

Based on the above it is fair to assume that any normal, functioning human being will feel like a bit of an impostor in any new environment. We may have the skills and experience, but if we find ourselves at a new company there might be a different way to approaching things, and we need to learn that way.

None of this is true impostor syndrome. And, please, just so we are clear, I am not a psychologist, I am speaking from personal experience and observation.

I believe that true impostor syndrome stems from finding ourselves in the wrong environment. We may be in the profession we love, but we find ourselves in a company that doesn’t hold our values, or we may answer to leaders who are attempting to shape us according to their needs instead of our own. We may just be working a job to pay the bills, so deep down inside we know that we don’t really offer our full value because we are not invested. Or, even more challenging to face, we may find ourselves in a profession that is absolutely the wrong fit, we did all the studying only to realise we hate the actual job.

To me that means you are an ugly duckling. As the fable goes, you are an ugly duckling because you are not a duckling at all, you are a swan. And, absolutely, if you are a swan amongst the ducks you will feel like an impostor because you are one.

The question is, will you settle for always being the outsider or will you have enough humility and honesty to step out and change the situation?