BBC Ideas｜为什么优秀的人会有不配得感？

Impostor syndrome: Why successful people doubt themselves

I describe impostor syndrome as having three elements to it. The first is the belief that other people have an inflated view of your own abilities or skills - a far more inflated view than you have of yourself. The second factor is that you have this intense fear that you'll be found out and exposed as a fake. And the third element is that you constantly attribute your success, that you do recognise, to other factors outside of your own abilities or talent.

Impostor syndrome can feel like a dissonance or a disconnect. But if you have it a lot and you're constantly feeling that way, then the disconnect between what you see as yourself and your public view just grows bigger and you feel fake and you feel an impostor.

Impostor syndrome is something that affects so many of us that actually to call it a syndrome is probably a little bit inaccurate, because that suggests it's kind of a mental health condition or there's something wrong with us. But when it's 70% of us, it's probably more likely to be something that is almost normal really.

You can't have impostor syndrome without being successful. You've got people like Tom Hanks who you'd think, well they've made it, they must be confident in their abilities. "No matter who we are, no matter what we've done, there comes a point where you think, 'How did I get here and am I going to be able to continue this? When are they going to discover that I am in fact a fraud, and take everything away from me?'"

I think a little bit of self-doubt is very good for self-development. The impostor syndrome people are the ones double-checking their work, working really hard, trying to get everything right, never satisfied, always looking for more training opportunities and more learning opportunities. And those are all potentially good things.

There are a number of factors from childhood that may contribute to impostor syndrome. When children are put on a pedestal, that's a very, very difficult premise to live up to, and that can help make you feel an impostor, because if you're not perfect, then you're not the golden child that they think you are.

The term impostor syndrome was first coined in 1978 by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in a paper that they entitled, Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women. So it was originally something that was thought to only affect women. When we talk about impostor syndrome in the workplace, I see that as the same for men and women, but I do see a lot of men who don't think they're man enough.

Social media has a huge role to play in impostor syndrome. We can see everybody else's successful lives. The more we present our best self to the world, the more other people will develop impostor syndrome because they're never going to measure up. I've had people who have wanted to give up their high-flying jobs because they fear so much being found out, that they would rather give it up and hand in their notice - even though objectively they're not fake and objectively they are successful.

If you think that you're suffering from impostor syndrome, actually look objectively at your successes. Write down the things that you are successful at and then look at all the reasons why you might have achieved that success. Assign percentage scores to how much you think that factor contributed to that achievement. You can mistakenly attribute all of it to luck, but when you put it down on paper, you'll realise how ridiculous that is. So it's a bit of a reality check, and it makes you stop and acknowledge your successes.

Impostors feel that they can't accept anything that's less than perfect. Learn to make mistakes and to accept failure. You don't have to be brilliant all the time. But you can be good enough.

词汇表
impostor syndrome [ɪmˈpɒstə(r) ˈsɪndrəʊm] 冒名顶替综合征（指个体对自我能力感到怀疑，害怕被揭穿，不相信成功是自身能力所致 ）
inflated view [ɪnˈfleɪtɪd] 夸大的看法，过高的评价
fake [feɪk] 冒牌货，骗子；假的
attribute…to [əˈtrɪbjuːt] 把…归因于，认为…是…的结果
dissonance [ˈdɪsənəns] 不协调，不一致
disconnect [ˌdɪskəˈnekt] 脱节，分离，断开
fraud [frɔːd] 骗子，欺诈
double-check [ˌdʌbl ˈtʃek] 仔细检查，反复核对
put on a pedestal [ˈpedɪstl] 捧在高处，过分赞扬
premise [ˈpremɪs] 前提，假定
live up to 达到，实现（期望或要求）
golden child 金童，宠儿（一个被家庭或组织极度宠爱、看重的人）
coin [kɔɪn] 创造（新词），首次使用
entitle [ɪnˈtaɪtl] 给…命名，给…题名
high achieving 高成就的，取得显著成就的
measure up 符合，达到（期望或标准）
high-flying job 高薪工作，有前途的工作
objectively [əbˈdʒektɪvli] 客观地，不带偏见地
put it down on paper 写在纸上，记录下来
reality check 现实检验；面对现实

💡 翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】