Imposter Heroes

I see extraordinary people around me wherever I go. Sometimes I see people present their ideas with utmost confidence and ease on the stage or successful people who inspire everyone and intimidate me. When I see them, I sometimes think that they are either untouchable by my imagination of what it must take to be a hero, or that they are separate from myself with an invisible barrier between me and them - an invisible barrier which I never would be able to cross.

Have you ever thought this way? You might be suffering from imposter syndromes. And no, you aren’t alone. In fact, I have found many people who haven’t even heard the term and don’t identify with it who later realize that they were limited by it.

Imposter Syndrome is not a disease that is cured but living under it is worse than many diseases. The pace of communication technology, information sharing, and opportunities of fifteen minutes of fame leave people feeling isolated, surrounded by heroic extraordinary achievers you can’t identify with leaves us stressed and shut off in short term and burnt out in long term.

But Imposter Syndrome is manageable and in this session, you will learn a few things how you can manage it in yourselves. As bleak as I might be painting this picture, you will see that it is only our perception that makes it so. You will learn, with examples, how to break the bubble and find that your heroes were always your peers, with same fears and same limitations you never thought anybody else but you had.

In this session, you will learn:

• Deal with feeling like an imposter

• Identify places where this feeling is the strongest and how it affects you

• How feeling like an imposter leads you to burnout and how you can recover

• How to get help from the community when you feel doubtful

• How to manage knowledge and information better to stay level headed