Imposter syndrome

[Flick of the Elbow]

I’ve been an imposter all my life. I’ve never felt qualified to ‘belong’ in anything that I’ve ever done.

 

[steveindenmark]

In Yorkshire its not called Imposter syndrome. Its called Blagging. 😁 in Denmark it is called Fusking 😁

 

[Drago]

Sadly for the rest of us our politicians seem not to suffer with this condition.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I've drifted aimlessly through my career and unaccountably people have occasionally let me do interesting and (even more rarely) important things. I don't know why.

I remember sitting on the train on the way in to one job (possibly my favourite job) thinking "I can't believe they've let me loose to play with this stuff, I don't have a clue what I'm doing".

I became the acknowledged expert on a rather niche subject at that place. And why was I the expert? Because I had a long commute and spent my train journeys reading up on it and discovered that it was nowhere near as hard as everyone thought (I kept that to myself though).

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I grew up with 2 lds who were good at everything they tried

one had to choose at one point between playing tennis and probably making to it to being a Pro - at Wimbledon sort of levels (yes - he was that good)
or playing Rugny Union - again at that sort of level
He decided on Rugby because he like it more - in spite of it being strictly amateur at that point

the otehr was the sort that can do anythign at club level - tennis, ruby and all sort - enetered the Navy and went through the Falklands and all sort

I am just a shortish average bloke with a tendancy to put on weight and, unknown at the time, limted by asthma and eyesight

so when be mucked about on a tennis court or with a football/rugby ball I was a long way last


so my opinion of myself has always been terrible
and somewhere in my teens I just gave up at assumed I would be second rate at everything
but somehow just decided to accept it and do it anyway

As a result I have never believed that I would e able to do anythign complicated or difficult
but looking back I achieved a lot inboth my original career of IT
and the second one of teaching


when I was a teacher sometimes younger teachers of trainee would ask how i had the courage to go back to the next lesson with a class when the last one was horrendous
basically - I just assumed verything would go wrong anyway - so my view was that it could have been worse


That school was in a terrible state when I started there - and ina way I was perfect for it
my Head of department once said "if you start with 25 kids and there are still 25 kids there at the end - then count it as a success. If they are the same kids then count it as a good lesson"
that was perfect for me - I basically lived like that anyway


I still have no clue why my wife agreed to marry me - I tell her sometimes and she points out that I am the best husband she has ever had
although to be fair that is a low bar!!!


I have known people who have a genuine high opionion of themselves
very few of them do not come under the category of "prat" - but I seem to be the only one that sees it

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have known people who have a genuine high opionion of themselves
very few of them do not come under the category of "prat" - but I seem to be the only one that sees it

I had a pretty over inflated opinion of myself when I went to university. And I definitely fell into the category of "prat" back then. That didn't last long when I discovered that I was nowhere near as clever as I thought I was, and everyone else was suddenly way cleverer. I like to think that I've had a more realistic assessment ever since then.

Odd that @ebikeerwidnes cited sporting success as a benchmark for their friends. I was, and continued to be, completely unathletic and utterly useless at any kind of sport. It was one of the. great joys of leaving school that no one could ever try to force me to do that again. It was only years later that I discovered you were allowed to do physical exercise for fun even if you were rubbish.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I had a pretty over inflated opinion of myself when I went to university. And I definitely fell into the category of "prat" back then. That didn't last long when I discovered that I was nowhere near as clever as I thought I was, and everyone else was suddenly way cleverer. I like to think that I've had a more realistic assessment ever since then.

Odd that @ebikeerwidnes cited sporting success as a benchmark for their friends. I was, and continued to be, completely unathletic and utterly useless at any kind of sport. It was one of the. great joys of leaving school that no one could ever try to force me to do that again. It was only years later that I discovered you were allowed to do physical exercise for fun even if you were rubbish.

Yes - the sporting thing was the thing I saw

however - one of them was in my school and he was in the top set
I was in the bottom set
with hindsight I was just one of those who intelligence was about 9 months late in developing
so I was in the bottom set but always top of it

one of my main memories of school was in the 5th Form when we were put in separate sets for Maths
and when I walked into his set in the first lesson I remember several of his friends looking at me and my friend and I heard someone say "what are THEY doing HERE??)
Then the look on their faces when I came top - by some way - in the end of term exams

it is always the same with me - I believe I am pretty worthless in many ways
but looking back I tend to be pretty good at some things - but only looking back


I do wish someone had told me I was pretty good looking when I was in my 20s
I always though I looked pretty carp!
until I found some old photo at my Mums and Dad's house after they died!!

 

[wakemalcolm]

I've drifted aimlessly through my career and unaccountably people have occasionally let me do interesting and (even more rarely) important things. I don't know why.

I remember sitting on the train on the way in to one job (possibly my favourite job) thinking "I can't believe they've let me loose to play with this stuff, I don't have a clue what I'm doing".

I became the acknowledged expert on a rather niche subject at that place. And why was I the expert? Because I had a long commute and spent my train journeys reading up on it and discovered that it was nowhere near as hard as everyone thought (I kept that to myself though).

This.

Get involved with some niche yet essential stuff that's not initially glamorous and you're sorted. Somehow my niche allowed me regular (but not too much) travel around the country and a couple of international jollies where I was just lucky to return with my liver intact.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

This.

Get involved with some niche yet essential stuff that's not initially glamorous and you're sorted. Somehow my niche allowed me regular (but not too much) travel around the country and a couple of international jollies where I was just lucky to return with my liver intact.

That concept is why I volunteer to help older people with computer via AgeUK

I get very nervous about each appointment and worry that I will be able to sort it out

but then I have more experience than most people and generally just muddle through and get it done

I just need to push the "I can't do it" feeling aside and get on with it

 

[All uphill]

I've drifted aimlessly through my career and unaccountably people have occasionally let me do interesting and (even more rarely) important things. I don't know why.

I remember sitting on the train on the way in to one job (possibly my favourite job) thinking "I can't believe they've let me loose to play with this stuff, I don't have a clue what I'm doing".

I became the acknowledged expert on a rather niche subject at that place. And why was I the expert? Because I had a long commute and spent my train journeys reading up on it and discovered that it was nowhere near as hard as everyone thought (I kept that to myself though).

So you got a chance and did the work to understand it. That's admirable.

I met many who thought getting the job was the end to making an effort, not the start.

After some early prattishness I learned to aim for quiet competence, where I could feel comfortable, rather than chasing promotion. That got me to an early comfortable retirement.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

So you got a chance and did the work to understand it. That's admirable.

I met many who thought getting the job was the end to making an effort, not the start.

After some early prattishness I learned to aim for quiet competence, where I could feel comfortable, rather than chasing promotion. That got me to an early comfortable retirement.

Yup
When I worked in IT my job was often to drag a computer system into an area that could be vaguely referred to as working

when someone who everyone thought was THE EXPERT had implemented a brilliant scheme that everyone knew would work wonderfullly

and didn;t

Littlewoods have a lot to thank me for regarding Y2K - and no-one will remember it
but I know
and loads of other systems - but at that time that was the job - and the job was a good one in a team that was brilliant, cynical, sarcastic and generally good to work with
The teams we helped - lets just say they varied!

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Do I even qualify as an imposter I wonder ? If I do, it’s as an unsuccessful one. Is that an oxymoron ?

 

[Punkawallah]

I suspect a lot of medical stuff is educated guesswork.

That’s why they call it a ‘medical opinion’ :-)

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

That’s why they call it a ‘medical opinion’ :-)

And why they are all still practicing? 😁

 

[Rusty Nails]

Despite having been to University and had quite a successful working life, now long retired, I still think that I’ll be rumbled one day as having fluked it all.