Welcome to a new year of great possibilities and achievements dear teenagers! In order to achieve tremendous results this year, we will focus on a topic which will help you eliminate any obstacle likely to hinder you. The topic is Impostor Syndrome. I hear someone asking what it means. Another may be asking how to end it, some others wondering what could cause it. Well, let’s delve right into it.
What Is Impostor Syndrome?
The term impostor syndrome was first coined in the 70’s to describe people who inwardly felt as though they had faked their achievements, attributing their success to luck, being likable, or other factors unrelated to their knowledge or skills. These feelings of fraudulence create additional pressure on the “impostor” to maintain the appearance of being capable, smart and competent. It is sometimes referred to as imposterism, the impostor phenomenon, or as having a fraud complex. Impostor syndrome could be thought of as a specific type of shame, or feelings of being inadequate or “not good enough.” Impostor syndrome describes a specific type of shame that shows up in educational or professional settings and involves not feeling smart enough or skilled enough to succeed. People with impostor syndrome assume that other people have overestimated them and their abilities and worry about needing to keep pretending to preserve their reputation. Working hard to appear confident and capable while secretly feeling the opposite creates a lot of stress and anxiety in people with imposterism, making them more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, professional burnout, and low self-esteem. While many people rely on time, experience, and achievement to build confidence in their career, this may not work for people with impostor syndrome. Because of their tendency to discredit their achievements, people with this issue can even feel more insecure, anxious, and fraudulent when they succeed.
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