Impostor Syndrome-What is it?

Five ways it can appear.

Lisa Sealey
2 min readMar 18, 2023
Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash

Impostor syndrome is a psychological occurrence in which an individual believes they do not deserve an award, accomplishment, position, or compliment. They doubt their skills and talent and have a persistent, internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.

Here are five ways impostor syndrome can appear:

The Natural Genius

This person perceives their worth based upon how easily they can achieve something. They can be plagued with self-doubt and shame if they need to work at something.

The Soloist

This person feels the need to do everything themselves. When they are forced to ask others for help, they feel incompetent.

The Perfectionist

This person feels the need to do everything perfectly. When this doesn’t happen, they feel like a failure, and their self-confidence is damaged. This can affect their desire or ability to do anything at all.

The Superhero

This person overworks themself and suffers extreme stress due to feeling fraudulent at work or in their relationships.

The Expert

This person judges their worth based on how much they know. They have an overwhelming need to…

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Lisa Sealey

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