6 min read
Am I an impostor, or is this just how success feels?
Most people who ask this question are not frauds. They are competent people whose internal explanation of their own success has drifted away from the evidence.
What impostor thoughts actually sound like
They rarely arrive as 'I am a fraud'. They arrive as small, reasonable sounding sentences: it was the team, I got lucky, the bar was low, anyone could have done that. Each one moves the credit away from you and the risk towards you.
Doubt is not the problem, the explanation is
Doubt before something difficult is useful. It makes you prepare. Impostor thinking is different: it keeps the same conclusion no matter what happens. Success becomes luck, failure becomes proof. Nothing you achieve can update the story.
Why high performers get it worst
If you are good at your job, you are usually surrounded by other people who are good at theirs. Your own effort is visible to you, everyone else's is not. That comparison is unfair by design, and it runs quietly all day.
A practical check
Write the thought down word for word. Then write what you would have to believe for it to be true, and what actually happened. Most impostor thoughts do not survive being written next to the facts.
The short version
Impostor thinking is a pattern in how you explain your results, not a verdict on your ability. Patterns can be seen, and once seen they can be changed.
Try the self-check
Ten minutes, private, and it shows you your own pattern instead of handing out advice.
Take the self-check