Behavioral psychologist Chantal van der Leest examines our behavior in the workplace: who or what determines our daily decisions? Today: the impostor syndrome
Do you also know the book? The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb?” a respectable elderly gentleman asks after my lecture on fallacies. For the past hour and a half, he’s been sitting a little bit back with his arms folded listening to my story. Nothing I say seems new to him. And now he comes by to tell me which books I forgot to read.
At least that’s how I feel. Because no, I haven’t read that book. It’s on my ever-growing reading list of books about cognitive biases. No matter how much I read, it never seems enough. As the sweat breaks out, I cling tightly inwardly to the edges of an imaginary basket, afraid of falling through it.
The emphasis on scoring
One consolation: I am not the only one who does a great job, but is still afraid of being exposed. Exactly how many people suffer from this impostor syndrome or impostor syndrome is not known exactly. But it is certain that I have a lot of these types in my environment. Not surprisingly, in our society everything revolves around performing and excelling. It won’t be good anytime soon. If you’re a little insecure or raised by parents who put a lot of emphasis on scoring, you’re probably more sensitive to this. Man or woman, highly or less educated; it doesn’t matter all that much.
I’m not the only one who does a great job but is still afraid of being exposed
It has to do with the Dunning-Kruger effect I wrote about earlier: those who know little are confident about their abilities. But when you know a lot about your profession, you also know exactly what you are not yet able to do. And you simply forget that you know a lot more than average.
How do you get rid of that bad feeling? Some people set the bar very high: if they get much better, they can’t fail. But when is it enough? Another option is avoidance: simply don’t want to perform anymore, then it can’t go wrong. Not such a nice solution either.
I try to listen better to compliments these days. Others apparently know much better what you can and know. I carefully store fine emails from readers and clients. This way I can read them when I ask myself again whether I am suitable for my work.
Would you like to know more about psychology and work? Read Chantal’s books Why perfectionists are rarely happy, 13 tips against perfectionism (2021) and Our fallible thinking at work (2018).
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