Imposter syndrome is the persistent feeling that your success isn’t real, that you’ve somehow fooled everyone into believing you’re more capable than you actually are. It’s estimated that around 70% of people experience these feelings at some point in their lives, and it shows up most often in high achievers: doctors, executives, students, marketing managers, actors, and anyone else who, by every outward measure, is doing well.
If you’ve ever sat in a meeting convinced someone’s about to “find you out,” you’re not alone, and you’re certainly not a fraud.
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome is the gap between how capable you actually are and how capable you feel. It’s doubting your abilities despite clear evidence of your skill, and believing your achievements come down to luck or timing rather than talent or effort.
The term was coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, who initially believed it uniquely affected women. Research since then, including later work by Clance herself, has shown it affects men and women in equal measure. Psychologist Audrey Ervin describes it simply as the inability to “internalise and own” your own success.
The Five Types of Imposter Syndrome
Imposter syndrome expert Valerie Young, author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, identified five recurring patterns in how people experience it:
- The Perfectionist, sets impossibly high standards, so even hitting 99% of a goal feels like failure.
- The Expert, feels they must know everything before starting, and hesitates to ask questions in case it exposes a gap in their knowledge.
- The Natural Genius, believes skills should come easily, so having to work hard at something feels like proof they’re not good enough.
- The Soloist, sees asking for help as an admission of failure.
- The Superwoman/Superman, overworks across every area of life, career, parenting, relationships, to prove they’re not a fraud.
Why Does Imposter Syndrome Happen?
There’s no single cause. Some experts point to personality traits like anxiety, while others focus on family dynamics or early experiences, a childhood where your grades never felt good enough, or where a sibling seemed to outshine you, can leave a lasting mark. As Ervin puts it, many of us internalise the idea that “in order to be loved or lovable, I need to achieve”, and that belief becomes self-perpetuating.
Environment plays a role too. Valerie Young notes that a sense of belonging builds confidence, and the fewer people around you who look or sound like you, the harder that confidence can be to hold onto. This is especially true for anyone belonging to a group affected by stereotypes about competence, including racial and ethnic minorities.
How to Deal With Imposter Syndrome?
The first step is noticing the thought without automatically believing it. Simply observing “I feel like a fraud“, rather than accepting it as fact, creates space to question it.
Try asking: does this thought actually help me, or is it holding me back?
A few things that genuinely help:
- Talk to someone you trust. Mentors and peers who’ve been there can reassure you that what you’re feeling is normal, and far more common than it seems.
- Reframe asking for help. It’s not a weakness; not asking often slows down the people around you more than admitting you need support ever would.
- Value the process, not just the outcome. The more you practise a skill, the more genuinely competent you become, competence isn’t just a feeling you’re waiting to arrive.
- Consider working with a professional. A therapist or life coach can help you unpick where these feelings come from and build lasting tools to manage them.
The goal isn’t to never feel like an imposter again. It’s to stop letting that feeling drive your decisions. As one expert puts it: you can still have an imposter moment, just not an imposter life.
Key Takeaways
Imposter syndrome isn’t a sign that you don’t belong, it’s a sign of how much you care about doing well. It affects the vast majority of high achievers at some point, and feeling it doesn’t make your accomplishments any less real.
Recognising the pattern, naming it, and talking about it openly is often the first and most effective step toward moving past it.
