THE PRINCIPLE

Overcoming the ‘impostor syndrome’ unleashes your creativity

Many people suffer from the ‘impostor syndrome’, the fear that they are incompetent or unworthy and will be found out any day and stripped of their jobs and reputation, if not actually arrested.

For example, successful musician Moby told The Times magazine, ‘I’ve never really trusted what success I’ve had. I feel it to be fraudulent, chimerical and liable to be taken away from me in an instant.’

Talking about her Oscar, actress Jodie Foster told 60 Minutes: ‘I thought everybody would find out, and they’d take the Oscar back. They’d come to my house, knocking on the door, “Excuse me, we meant to give that to someone else. That was going to Meryl Streep.”’

I didn’t make up the name ‘impostor syndrome’ – it’s a phenomenon that has been studied for years and several books have been written about it. Dr Valerie Young has led workshops for over 30,000 people in how to overcome it. She says 70 per cent of all people reported feeling at one time or another like their success is a fraud (you’ll find more information at her website, www.impostersyndrome.com).

Probably this fear stems at least in part from the expectation that some day we’d feel grown up and able to handle everything, just like our parents pretended to be able to do. When this doesn’t happen, we think there’s something wrong with us.

There is. It’s called being human.

When we feel like impostors, it causes anxiety that can block our creativity. If this is an issue for you, the first step to overcoming it is to acknowledge that most of the rest of the world suffers from it too. And if we’re all imposters, the odds that you will be found out are minimal.

Website bonus

At www.CreativityNowOnline.com, click on the ‘Creativity Now!’ button. Bonus 5 is a fun gallery of actual impostors.