Do you have Impostor Syndrome ... too? | Phil McKinney | TEDxBoulder

I want to talk about our superpower humans have a superpower and that superpower is our ability to convince ourselves that something is true when it's not 75% of us have convinced ourselves that we are an imposter or a fraud when it comes to our jobs and careers or worse we've convinced ourselves that we are not worthy and not good enough that we don't even try did you earn that job you have were you just lucky psychologists refer to this as the imposter syndrome so what is it the imposter syndrome is that questioning of our achievements and then living with the fear that someone's going to find out that we're not good enough and that we've been faking it and that we're a fraud while 75% of us suffer from impostor syndrome some recent studies have shown that women actually suffer from impostor syndrome and an even higher rate I'm Phil McKinney I'm an award-winning author I host an award-winning nationally syndicated talk radio show I retired as the chief technology officer for hila Packard before landing here in Colorado to become the CEO at cable labs I've been on every most every national news program and I've been profiled on newspapers and magazines around the world with my career you would think that I would be comfortable with my own achievements that is not the case I lived with the majority of my career in the absolute fear that people would find out that I am in a posture with a secret April 2007 I'm being interviewed for a front-page cover profile in the San Jose Mercury News the newspaper of Silicon Valley everything is going great until we get to the last question and that last question set off an absolute panic attack my imposter syndrome kicked in and was telling me that the world was now going to figure out that I was a fraud so what was it that set off the panic attack well what set off the panic attack was a secret a secret that I had that I had protected it had never shared before and that secret was I never graduated from college now I know some of you are in your head going so what a lot of people never graduate from college and go on and have phenomenal careers that's the point when you live with imposter syndrome whatever you think disqualifies you is the secret you will do anything to protect and in my case my secret was going to be revealed on the front page of a newspaper so April 29 2007 my executive profile appears in the front pages of the San Jose Mercury News and there in the sidebar is my secret he left college without graduating this was on the front page of the Sunday edition so all I had to do was sit back and wait for the repercussions whatever they may be so Monday morning I go in to the offices at HP and wait it didn't take me long to figure out what the repercussions were going to be and those were nothing the world didn't care I had spent 25 years nurturing a secret that now wasn't in the full press in the stress in the fear were gone I had let my superpower convince me that I was a fraud and it was alive and that's when I figured out that it was the secret that was fueling my imposter syndrome it was that secret and by sharing that secret I took away that power now in reality I didn't share my secret my secret was shared for me on the front page of a national newspaper not my best choice in revealing a deep personal secret now following this I've been talking and sharing about my struggles with impostor syndrome both in talks like this and on my radio show and the response that I have received has been overwhelming with people wanting to share their struggles with impostor syndrome that has opened up my eyes that the impostor syndrome struggle doesn't know anything about career title socioeconomic identity history the imposter syndrome is absolutely universal in fact I've had team members who work for me who've had such severe cases of impostor syndrome that it was absolutely crippling not too long ago I had a former team member reach out to me to ask for some career advice we get together and he was convinced he was gonna lose his job there were some changes going on at the company he was at and his imposter syndrome it convinced him that there were other people on his team who were better than him and if those jobs were gonna go away he would be the one to lose the job but not only that he had thought about it so much that he convinced himself that not only was he going to lose the job but then he was going to end up homeless yes we went from everything is fine to being homeless in all of three seconds I stepped in at that point and said whoa timeout your job and your career and skills are highly desired and highly valuable to your employer and there's no proof that they're even going to cut any jobs and you've earned all of your accomplishments you are not a fraud you are not an imposter and what happened what happened was is it changed his entire perspective both on himself his career and also his family he defeated his imposter syndrome by sharing his secret of self-doubt and getting that encouragement that he was not a fraud he was not in a posture so let me ask all of you a question do you suffer from impostor syndrome do you experience those waves of feeling that you're not qualified and then living in the fear that someone is gonna find out do you find it hard to accept recognition when people walk up to you and say great job do you pass it off of oh I was just lucky I was just in the right place at the right time do you suffer from the stress of worrying about whether or not you're going to meet the expectations of others and in return you turn yourself into a workaholic thinking that you got to prove yourself do you practice self-sabotage are you so fearful about the job you have in the work you're trying to deliver that you actually get so fearful you can't even start the work example being severe procrastination do you suffer from impostor syndrome if we look around this theater 75% of the people in this theater have are currently or will suffer from impostor syndrome seventy-five percent of us the question is is what do you do about it what do you do to push back I'm going to give you two actions to try now I'm gonna warn you these will require some risk you're gonna take a little bit of risk here with risk comes change what's the first thing find a comfortable safe environment to share your secret share the secret that's telling you that you're not good enough you haven't earned that role or position you're in now in my case sharing my secret on the front page of a national newspaper or right here on the TEDx stage may not be your choice for sharing your secret the second and probably the most important way that you can push back on a posture syndrome is to be an encourage encourage others if you see somebody with skills and abilities and capabilities that just impress you don't just think it tell them tell them the simple act of verbalizing that to them changes their perspective they begin to see themselves as the world sees them not as that imposter syndrome film is going around in their head don't delay and pushing back on the impostor syndrome do not delay I wasted 25 years of my career believing the lie that I wasn't good enough so what lie is telling you that you're not good enough that you're an imposter that you're as a fraud whatever that lie is the opposite is the truth and the truth will always have more power than a lie we can tell ourselves always so what is that truth about that amazing you what's the truth about you that it's absolutely amazing believe that truth and a new future will unfold thank you very much [Applause] you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 48,146

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Change, Cognitive science, Decision making, Depression, Identity, Mental health, Personal education, Personal growth, Self, Social Change, Social Interaction, Social Science

Id: ewv_47rhcQI

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 17 2018