Why we should pursue impostor syndrome
Impostor syndrome haunts us all.
Every time we walk into a room of ambitious, smart, talented people, a small whisper inside us says: what the hell are you doing here?
But instead of listening to that whisper, recoiling into self doubt, what if we looked it right in the face, gave it the finger, and walked on in.
What would your life look like, if instead of avoiding impostor syndrome, you pursued it?
The easiest way to answer this question it to examine the symptoms of impostor syndrome, and where they will lead us.
Symptoms of impostor syndrome
1. It feels like the people around you are smarter than you
While this feels daunting at first, putting us in our own head where all we might be thinking about is how not to sound stupid, being surrounded by people smarter than you is actually a privilege and a sign of your potential.
Have you ever been in a room where you don’t feel like you belong, but in the inverse? Where you feel like you’re the smartest in the room?
While your ego might enjoy the momentary massage, somewhere deep down, you hopefully know that that’s not where you want to be: in a room where there’s not much to learn. Where you aren’t being pushed, challenged, or inspired.
When the people around you are smarter than you, you get the chance to learn from them, and elevate yourself to their level. Quieting our ego and putting ourselves in that room is one of the most optimal and direct paths to growth.
“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
2. You might fail, or get rejected
Anyone who ever did anything meaningful failed plenty of times in order to succeed. They also likely experienced impostor syndrome before they accomplished it.
Consider the Wright brothers as an example. Coming from humble beginnings, the pair had the completely absurd idea of essentially levitating a horizontal building into mid-air and using it to transport people across the world. The idea that this was even possible was completely ludicrous at the time. Think about the discomfort we feel when opting out of a conformist path and into something “different” like entrepreneurship, moving abroad, pursuing creative fields, etc. Now magnify that feeling to the scale of telling your friends and family you were going to build the first air craft to successfully complete a flight... I'm sure that family announcement would go over great!
Imagine how the Wright brothers must have felt, staring failure in the face, time and time again until they achieved their goal: the first successful flight completed in history.
And now, they are history. Icons. Idols. Trail-blazers. Such is life when it comes to impostor syndrome – when you get used to confronting failure and rejection, you can do things no one before you has done - the things that scare others away. You can make history, whether that lands you in the (e-)books kids will read one day, or in your own little world, doing something you never thought you could - something that once made you feel like an impostor.
Facing failure and rejection often is a signal that you’re doing something difficult, unusual, and worthwhile. Don’t be discouraged by these signals. Grow increasingly comfortable co-existing with them. Lean into them. Discomfort, especially the discomfort associated with potential failure or rejection, is how change is made, growth is achieved, and how the world opens up to you.
“Fear not trying more than you fear failing.”
3. You may not be fully equipped for the task
A classic excuse for not doing something hard is not being qualified or experienced enough. In order to have an exponential, rapidly evolving path, one must do things they are not fully equipped for. We must be willing to learn along the way and ask questions liberally to do something remarkable. If we’re always doing what we’re fully equipped for, we won’t be doing anything revolutionary at all. If you feel out of place and under-qualified for the task you’re attempting, all that means is you’re going to learn extremely quickly and zoom past new levels of experience, quickly over-qualifying yourself for things that might have felt out of reach not too long ago.
When you attempt tasks you’re not fully equipped for, you increase the slope of your learning curve, and progress faster. You accelerate.
“When you're willing to do what you're unqualified to do, that is what qualifies you.” - Bill Johnson
4. You are out of your comfort zone
Comfort and stability are the death of progress and advancement. If you want to keep growing, you must put yourself in positions where you feel uncomfortable, or out of your element.
To access new elements, you must depart from the ones you’ve already mastered. To feel comfortable one day doing the things that feel scary today, we must make the decision to depart from our comfort zone.
Pursuing impostor syndrome leads you to places you’ve never been, to do things you’ve never done that would shock your past self.
To create a life that feels out of reach today, we need to face the things that bring impostor syndrome to the surface: surrounding ourselves with people smarter than us, failure, rejection, feeling under-qualified, and getting out of our comfort zone.
If we can learn to co-exist with these symptoms of impostor syndrome, and tell that whispering voice in our head cautioning us against them that we're going to move forward anyway, we can accelerate our lives and go places we never thought we’d reach.
By pursuing impostor syndrome instead of shying away from it, we can go farther, faster.
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Quote I'm Pondering:
"Watch carefully the magic that occurs, when you give a person just enough comfort to be themselves." - Atticus
Being more of yourself around others signals to them that they can be more of themselves, too. Sometimes, we think we're the only ones having a thought, going through something difficult, or feeling confused. Then someone pipes up and says they feel the same, and suddenly we both feel more comfortable around each other. By being more open, we create the space for others to be more of themselves... and watching that self expression expand in front of our eyes really is magic.
I hope the ideas in this newsletter provoke thoughts, curiosities, ideas, and perhaps even some writing of your own.
If you have any feedback, revelations, or ideas to share - please reply! I would love to hear your thoughts.
Isabel Hazan
I write about finding meaning, living in alignment, and learning about yourself.
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