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The Imposter’s Playbook
A game plan to stop imposter syndrome from holding you back
Glancing at the faces around the meeting table, I saw an entrepreneur, a Harvard grad, a senior scientist with a long list of patents under their belt. What on earth could I possibly bring to the table?
It’s not the first time I was overwhelmed by feeling like a fraud. When I did well in an exam, I figured that I just got lucky. I got clammy palms during the Q&A sessions at conference presentations. It’s only a matter of time before I’m exposed.
These are classic signs of what psychologists term the imposter phenomenon. Clinical psychologist Dr. Pauline Clance first described in 1978 from her observations that high-achieving women experienced a sort of intellectual phoniness. Despite their outstanding academic and professional accomplishments, these women held an unshakable belief that it was all an illusion, living in perpetual fear of the bubble one day bursting. The result? Crippling anxiety, an extreme fear of failure, and chronic dissatisfaction.
Does this sound familiar? Take Dr. Clance’s Ph.D. Imposter Scale to find out more!
Whatever your score, you’re not alone. The imposter phenomenon afflicts an estimated 70% of people at some point in their lives. What starts as fleeting moments of self-doubt can ultimately derail you, keeping you…
