Feeling like an impostor? You can escape this confidence-sapping syndrome | Fiona Buckland
The philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." Whether on a local or global level, the problems we face require the best people to step up. But many hold back because they feel that luck rather than ability lies behind their successes, and dread that sooner or later some person or event will expose them for the fraud that deep down they believe themselves to be. Far from being a realistic self-assessment, the impostor syndrome mind-trap prevents people from believing in themselves, to the detriment of us all.
As a life coach, I work with people who sense they have more personal and professional potential but feel blocked from fulfilling it. For some, hearing about impostor syndrome for the first time is a revelation. They realise that, far from it being their own shameful secret, it is a recognised phenomenon, first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes.
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