LAURA BOLTON

Is there such a thing as imposter syndrome? It’s a term that seems to be used alot. I even used to say it myself. It can lead to us avoiding taking action, or we take action but it impacts how we show up which can limit our progress.

But do we have a “syndrome”? And are we being an “imposter”?

First, lets take a look at what "syndrome" means:

SYNDROME

Dictionary Definition: a combination of symptoms that shows existence of a particular disease or mental condition

Etymology: Syndrome comes from a Greek word that combines the root “to run” (dramein) with the prefix “together” (sun-). When many or all of the symptoms for a disease or mental condition “occur together,” that's a syndrome.

Based on this, I propose that you don’t HAVE a syndrome and you’re not suffering from a syndrome.

In other words, you don’t have a mental condition. And giving ourselves a...

This article is also available in audio format in the latest episode (#33) of my podcast The Abundant Entrepreneur, if you prefer to listen. You may also find episode #25: Doing the Scary Thing (18 minutes) helpful.

There’s a well known quote from a passage called “Our Deepest Fear”. written by Marianne Williamson, that you may be familiar with:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness. That most frightens us”.

Whilst I think there’s an element of truth to this (more on that shortly), I have a different perspective, based on my 45 years of life experience, and coaching conversations with hundreds of people.

What I’ve learnt is that our deepest fears are: fear of uncertainty; fear of conflict with others; fear of illness injury or death (generally this doesn’t show up on a regular day to day basis);...

As you crawl into bed, you think about the things you’re going to focus on and get done the next day. You even jot them down in your notebook.

You wake up, go to the bathroom (first things first) and are about to head to the lounge to do a guided meditation as planned. But then you spot your phone. It calls to you and draws you in, like the ring in Tolkien’s trilogy. 

Ok, just a quick check my precious.

Before you know it you’re scrolling social media, and reading messages and emails, your heart rate increases and you start to feel a bit overwhelmed. Damn it, you don’t have time to meditate now, there’s too much to do!

A friend messages you to ask if you can do them a favour. You say yes even though you have other things planned.

Once thats done, you spend 2 hours writing a post for your social media channels, even though it's not a priority. As you’re there, you may as well have another scroll. Someone else...

“You’re such a contrarian”, a friend of mine gleefully exclaimed with a cackle.

With a wry smile I retorted “Well I consider myself to be a sentient being actually, although yes, I do have a tendency to think in a contrarian way”

Before I continue, let’s be clear what contrarian means. The etymology of the word is “to contradict, and be in opposition to prevailing opinions, or the shibboleths (commonplace sayings or ideas) of the majority.”

I first heard the word from the mouth of my mother. She would bark things like “why do you have to be so contrarian?!” I also remember her remarking that she wasn’t sure where I came from, because I was so different to the rest of the family. My father suggested, without jest, that maybe I was an alien. Quite the recipe for an identity crisis, if ever there was one.

When I went to school, I found the whole experience rather traumatic. For a start, I...