“I still believe that at any time the no-talent police will come and arrest me.” ~ Mike Myers, actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, producer
I was assigned a little paperback book with a green ‘gremlin’ on its cover in one of my early doctorate classes. It was a weird little book with a weird book cover. It didn’t seem nearly academic and elevated enough for doctorate students to be reading. The book was Taming Your Gremlin; A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way by Rick Carson. The book was one of the first times that I would come to understand that I had an ‘inner voice’ - and it wasn’t always nice…. In fact, it could be a gremlin.
According to Oxford Languages a gremlin is “an imaginary, mischievous sprite regarded as responsible for an unexplained problem or fault.” In Carson’s work he explains we all have - to some degree - this inner voice of a gremlin. I don’t know about your gremlin but for much of my life my gremlin has told me I am not good enough and has fed me with thoughts of self-doubt, failure and fear. Once you name this inner voice, notice what it is saying and how your actions around that message may be holding you back… this self-awareness and recognition will help you challenge those messages.
Okay, so all this talk about gremlins but the title of this post is the Imposter Syndrome. Well... you really can’t talk about one without the other. The imposter phenomenon is what the first researchers in the late 1970’s called it. When you feel like a fake and that it’s only a matter of time til everyone finds that out - you are experiencing the imposter syndrome. Most of us will experience imposter syndrome to some degree at some time in our lives. Imposter syndrome shows up differently to some extent in gender and in various minority ethnicities. If your inner voice or gremlin is telling you that you are a fake and everyone is going to find that out - you are suffering from imposter syndrome and its impact can be significant. If you live in fear of being found out as fake or not enough it affects how you approach relationships, projects, career trajectory and more. When it holds you back from opportunities or when you do show up with deep insecurity - it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What can you do if you recognize the imposter syndrome in yourself? Name it, question your thoughts, stop comparing yourself to others, don’t deny your feelings but do question if what they are telling you is true. Ultimately, a good friend and accountability partner is a great way to question whether the story you are telling yourself is true.
“If you doubt yourself, shouldn’t you also doubt your low opinion of yourself?” ~ Adam Grant
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