Impostor syndrome is an epidemic

The impostor syndrome is the sense that our accomplishments are in some way underserved, no matter how consistent the evidence is to the contrary.

There are several reasons why the impostor syndrome seems to have become an epidemic.

• We have given the phenomenon a name.
• Our preoccupation with it is the result of profound social change. Many people work in the service economy, where we create impressions rather than tangible items. 
• Professional life today leaves us straining to redefine ourselves; we sometimes promise things we don't yet know how to do. 
• We are no longer born into a role.
• We can constantly compare our experiences to those of others online.
• We can create an outward persona we know to be untrue.

In order for you to believe in yourself, you need to convince someone else to believe in you. Once they believe in you, you feel more confident to believe in yourself.

When you're an impostor, you expect to be exposed at any time. You feel that at some point, someone might appear and see you for the fraud you think you are.

Impostorism is not altogether a bad thing. Successful people should have both enough self-awareness and enough self-doubt to question themselves.

The strange thing is that the more expert you become in a field, the stronger your feeling of impostorism.

• The Anxious Impostor has negative views of themselves that are unjustified.
• The Hustling Impostor engages in a deliberate form of self-presentation to achieve ends that may otherwise not be possible. "Fake it till you make it."
• The Lazy Impostor. They tell themselves that they are not up to the task because they don't really want to do it.
• The Modest Impostor. They sincerely doubt that they are as important as others claim, but also don't want to be seen as considering themselves as superior.
• The Wise Impostor. They acknowledge that most people have to fake it a bit, including themselves.

In parenting, we pretend that we know what's best for our children without really knowing. Even if our guidance makes sense, it's just guessing. Realizing this, we at first judge, and later forgive our own parents for it.

With others, we often presume that we know what other people think of our work. We should rather listen to their feedback.