IMPOSTER SYNDROME: If You Can't Beat It...Stuart Smalley It!

The year was 2002, and I was the team captain of the first American Women’s Everest Expedition. I was living my dream adventure. But on the mountain, everything was not dreamy. As I was making my way through the Khumbu Icefall (one of the most feared sections of the route), I was trying to block out the words that were bombarding my brain. I was approaching a rickety aluminum ladder that spanned a bottomless crevasse that looked like it wanted to swallow me whole, and I heard this voice saying, “You have no business being here on this mountain. You are not fast enough, and you should think about going home.” I couldn’t shut this voice out as this wasn’t self-doubt talking; it was another climber who was right on my heels. An actual human being who towered over me by at least a foot, whose leg span allowed him to go twice as far as I could with every step, and whose long torso most certainly housed larger lungs than mine. This was someone who was well known in the mountaineering community, and I have never been able to get his words out of my head. “You don’t have what it takes to succeed here.”

Cut to my life today.

I make a living as a keynote speaker. I speak at more than 100 events each year. I never get nervous before a talk. I am in my element when I am up on stage in front of a sea of people. Yet…when I step off stage and make my way down into the audience, I have to take a deep breath because that’s when the fear sets in. It’s time for the meet and greet, and every time someone approaches me and asks for a photo/selfie, I think, “If they only knew that luck was the reason I made it to the tops of all of those mountains” and I have to really force a smile in the photos because I feel like a fraud. I have this irrational fear that they are going to see the actual letters “F-R-A-U-D” show up over my face in the picture.

And sure, luck is part of achieving success on a climb. But the reality is that it also takes strength, stamina, courage, determination, athleticism, and a willingness to suffer and to keep putting one foot in front of the other—EVEN WHEN YOU FEEL LKE YOU CAN’T. I know I have demonstrated all of the above during my various expeditions, but I still have to put forth a conscious effort to make sure that the words I heard from that guy in 2002 do not drown out the words I tell myself in 2022.

My hope is that on International Imposter Syndrome Awareness Day, you will take comfort in knowing that you are not alone in feeling like an imposter. Many of the most accomplished people I know suffer from imposter syndrome, so maybe it’s time to change the dialogue we have with ourselves.  Maybe we do deserve the positive feedback, the compensation, the promotion, the dream job, the recognition, the summit celebration, and whatever else that we feel we may not be worthy of?

Bottom line: ONLY YOU get to decide if you are worthy. And you are. You earned it.

So, let’s all repeat the affirmations of Stuart Smalley from SNL:  "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!" 

 #NotAnImposter #IISAD2022 #ImposterSyndrome

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For more great insight on imposter syndrome, check out my Silicon Guild colleagues' articles:

How I Overcame My Imposter Syndrome (by Scott Anthony). Scott describes how he learned to be comfortable with discomfort and balance confidence in his abilities with a foundational humility. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/scottdanthony_notanimposter-iisad2022-impostersyndrome-activity-6919790951880163328-Vzwx/

Mind Your Introductions! A Short Essay in advance of National Imposter Syndrome Day (by Rita McGrath). Rita explains how society contributes to imposter syndrome, and how you can be a better ally to the people around you, especially when they don’t belong to the majority group. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mind-your-introductions-short-essay-advance-national-imposter-rita/

Running from Ourselves (by April Rinne). April writes about how our primal fear of going slower traps us in a “speed vortex” of societal expectations, and how therapy helped her find a more sustainable pace for herself. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/running-from-ourselves-april-rinne/

The Two Types of Imposter Syndrome, and How to Harness it for Good (by Caroline Webb). Caroline writes about how becoming a successful author triggered her imposter syndrome, and how learning to focus on measuring herself against herself let her transform her imposter feelings into a motivational tool. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/two-types-imposter-syndrome-how-harness-good-caroline-webb/

Five Ways To Inoculate Yourself Against Imposter Syndrome (by Chris Yeh). Chris confesses to not feeling imposter syndrome, and shares the five actions he takes to boost his psychological immune system against the ever-present danger of these feelings. https://chrisyeh.com/2022/04/five-ways-to-inoculate-yourself-against-imposter-syndrome.html

And all of the above can also be found here: http://www.siliconguild.com/imposter-syndrome/