If You Feel Like An Imposter, You Probably Are

Imposter Syndrome

Joe Tooley
3 min readJan 15, 2021
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

I SUCK & I DON’T DESERVE IT!

I SHOULDN’T BE HERE!

Something that most young people face when entering the workforce is imposter syndrome. The things you’ve studied for so many years just don’t seem to be enough to value your self-worth in a given situation.

But it’s not just young people, anyone and everyone can feel imposter syndrome. I’d bet that almost everyone feels this at times, and it’s incredibly uncomfortable.

You feel like you don’t belong. You feel like you might “get caught" for being a fake.

You tell yourself, “don’t open your mouth, then they won’t know you don’t know anything”. As if you’re somehow supposed to have every answer, and if you claim to be an expert in quantum physics, that you need to know literally everything about it.

That’s a fallacy. If you make a powerpoint deck at work, and someone asks you a question that you aren’t prepared for, you didn’t fail, you simply need to take the time to learn more.

Be An Imposter

It’s kind of funny, now, looking back on my college days. I used to tell people that college is mostly about bullshitting. Got a 13-page paper to write? Bullshit your way there. If…

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Joe Tooley

Industrial/Organizational Psychologist. Soccer Enthusiast. Reader. Writer. https://grainbillreview.com/