The Real Reason You Have Impostor Syndrome

And a strategy to get rid of it

“Why would people listen to what I have to say?” That’s what I thought when I wanted to write my first book about seven years ago.

I went online and did some research and found that’s a common thinking pattern. Even experienced people sometimes feel like they are not worth taking seriously.

This feeling is called impostor syndrome.

A HBR article explains Impostor Syndrome as follows: “a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success.” It’s important to realize that low self-esteem and lack of confidence don’t necessarily equate to impostor syndrome.

You can do well and others can celebrate your success, but you still might feel inadequate.

That’s why many of those obvious solutions to overcoming impostor syndrome don’t help. Yes, we get it, we should embrace failure and let go of perfectionism.

It’s useful advice, but it won’t help you to overcome a deep sense of not being good enough.

To get over impostor syndrome, we need to understand where it comes from first.

Why high-achievers feel inadequate “despite evident success.”

In The Snowball, Alice Schroeder’s biography of Warren Buffett, the investing legend talked about The Inner Scorecard. To Buffett, whether he does something or not solely depends on whether this action agrees with his Inner Scorecard.

Buffett suggests asking yourself this question:

“If the world couldn’t see your results, would you rather be thought of as the world’s greatest investor but in reality have the world’s worst record? Or be thought of as the world’s worst investor when you were actually the best?”

You can switch “investor” into anything you’re aiming to be: Would you rather have other people think you’re the best manager / parent / entrepreneur / writer / and so forth, even if you’re actually the worst? Or the other way around?