Beating Imposter Syndrome
Charlotte Booth • 14 January 2022
Don't let it restrict you
Most writers suffer with imposter syndrome at some point in their life and wonder when 'they'll be found out'. However, this is something which effects many people - not just writers.
The term was originally coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, who believed it only affected high-achieving women, but it is clear that in fact, most people can suffer from it at some point.
In general it is the little voice inside your head that tells you it won't be long before everyone finds out that you're winging it, that everything you write (if you are a writer) is rubbish, and that you generally don't know what you are doing.
Even best-selling author Neil Gaiman suffers from it:
“The first problem of any kind of even limited success is the unshakable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you. It’s Imposter Syndrome, something my wife Amanda christened the Fraud Police.”
Imposter Syndrome has always existed in my life, and I remember on the day I went to my PhD graduation I genuinely expected someone to take me aside and tell me there had been a mistake and I hadn't passed. Only this week Imposter Syndrome is plaguing me. I've been invited to join a prestigious writing society and I'm hesitating as I keep thinking, "I'm not a real writer like the other members", even though I have more books published than many of them.
So, what can we do to stop Imposter Syndrome? I'm sure there are lots of mindfulness techniques you could employ, but I like the reverse psychology approach.
It is thought that Imposter Syndrome is often an affliction of very talented people because they are perfectionists and they have low self-confidence. People who are confident in everything they do, often cannot take criticism of their work, because they don't think it can be improved upon. They rarely are afflicted with Imposter Syndrome.
We have all met people where their confidence outstrips their talents and abilities. But they won't listen to advice.
With this in mind, I embrace my Imposter Syndrome as my own doubts about my writing and my work make me strive for excellence. It makes me a perfectionist who cares about the quality of what I write. These doubts will make me check one more reference, or proofread it one more time and in doing so can improve my work. I don't however, allow my Imposter Syndrome from preventing me from doing anything that I want to do (other than perhaps joining prestigious writing societies).
As a very practical person I tend to prepare well for most things. I know that if I've done the background work and know what I'm doing then I can ignore the 'Fraud Police' and the doubts before they take over. But that takes discipline and a lot of practice.
I believe therefore that there is a fine line between using your Imposter Syndrome to improve your work as I try to do, and letting it hinder you from taking advantage of opportunities.
Now, I'm off to send my acceptance email. Maybe.
How do you allow your Imposter Syndrome to help you?
There is nothing more amusing than checking out mediaeval artistic renditions of lions and other heraldic creatures. These beasts, grimacing and gurning are a strange juxtaposition of human, animal and demon and as far from the cute image of Alex from the Madagascar franchise or in fact a real lion as you could possibly get. There are three main reasons mediaeval lions are so ‘bad’ and un-representational; The artists were following a very tight brief. Some of the artists may never have seen a lion, and were following the descriptions they were given. These lions were representing heraldic principals of bravery, nobility and authority; all very human characteristics. When viewed through this lens it becomes more understandable why they look the way they do, but they are still ‘not right’ and not a great tool for learning about lions. Generative AI is very similar to an uninformed but talented mediaeval artist. There is a element of intelligence but at the end of the day it is following a brief, with no actual ‘knowledge’ of the thing it is producing. As an example, if you prompt your generative AI (ChatGPT and the like) to produce a blog for your new product or service, aimed at your ideal customer avatar you will in all likelihood get a mediaeval lion out the other end. Sort of recognisable, and sort of not. This is because AI doesn’t know what a customer is (ideal or otherwise), has no idea what your product or service is and does, and has no true understanding of how this service or product will serve your ideal customer and their needs. Of course, AI is pulling all the information available from the internet to help with its answer but there is no understanding there. There is no determining fact from falsehoods or even which websites are trustworthy and which are not. So, it skims the internet and puts together content which suits the brief as it understands it. This is then when the actual work should start as this content shouldn’t be used in the raw. It should be edited and tweaked by a human who DOES understand the brief, has been a customer (ideal or otherwise) and can imagine what your ideal customer will feel when using your product or services. We are in a world now, where we have generative AI promoting products and services to humans, when it has no concept of what a human is and how it thinks, meaning the marketing department are in fact more important than ever for ensuring content and copy is aimed at humans and human emotions. You could argue that the world would be a more entertaining place if there were more mediaeval lions in it, but it wouldn’t be a great environment for learning, or for basing purchasing decisions on. If you want to maintain the human element in your content, then I would love to help . Explain the brief, your CTA and your ideal client and I will know what I need to ask to get a clear idea before writing. Then you can rest assured your content was written by a human for a human and we can leave the mediaeval lions to the museums.
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