dealing with the dreaded imposter syndrome

oh, the dreaded imposter syndrome

Do you ever feel like an imposter? How do you know if you are being confident or just arrogant? I’ve known lots of designers and creatives over the years and one thing is for sure — we all doubt ourselves. We doubt ourselves when we can’t seem to come up with any good ideas, we doubt ourselves when we screw up something or cause a misunderstanding with our clients — it’s called “imposter syndrome”. It happens to all of us when things go wrong especially, but even when things are going right. So let’s talk about imposter syndrome; what is it, why it happens, who really are imposters, and how to fight it.

What is imposter syndrome?

The voice in your head says, “I hope no one finds out I’m a fraud.” “I hope this is good enough.” or “ What if they don’t like my ideas?” Maybe sometimes you hear these phrases when something doesn’t work out exactly the way you expect on a project, or you hit a wall.Whether it be with some technique you can’t seem to grasp or a loss in client communication, sometimes you feel like a fake. You hope no one finds out how you work because that isn’t how real designers work.

Often we compare ourselves to others who we think are 100% confident in their work…