Shownotes: http://www.entrepreneursintraining.net/60/
Impostor Phenomenon
What is it?
Impostor phenomenon, often now called impostor syndrome, was first described in 1978 by Clinical Psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes. You can read their original paper. It's not an official disorder. They describe high-achieving professional women who believed they were being overrated.

They didn’t feel success.
Accomplishments are due not to your talent.
Instead, they felt they were coasting on personality or charm.
Their achievements were due to luck, timing, or some other external factor.

Who Has Impostor Syndrome?
Everyone. Well, lots of folks in jobs considered to be highly successful or revered. I keep seeing this stat: more than 70% of people experience it at some point. Example careers in which impostor phenomenon is rampant include:

Academia
Entrepreneurship
Computer programming
Performance
The list just goes on.

Some Examples
An article by Richard Felder (Chemical Engineer at NCST) wrote to encapsulate his experience and to help others: He says there’s a tape that plays in your head that goes like this: “I don't belong here...I'm clever and hard--working enough to have faked them out all these years and they all think I'm great but I know better...and one of these days they're going to catch on...they'll ask the right question and find out that I really don't understand...” Some famous people examples: “I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.’ “ – Maya Angelou “There are an awful lot of people out there who think I’m an expert. How do these people believe all this about me? I’m so much aware of all the things I don’t know.” - Dr. Chan, Chief of the World Health Organization “I still think people will find out that I’m really not very talented. I’m really not very good. It’s all been a big sham.” – Michelle Pfeifer
How do we deal with it?
There are a lot of "how to get over impostor syndrome blog posts out there. Like here and here. But they are all opinions. We cover a few of my favorites in the show, but I don't feel strongly about any of them. Really, I find that living with it for long enough, you simply acclimate and accept it.