Description: How is it that every single time you try something new, imposter syndrome seems to rear its ugly head?
Well, maybe because there’s actually FIVE different personality subtypes of imposter syndrome!
That’s exactly what we’ll be discussing in this episode so you can determine exactly which one of these personalities you resonate with the most, what problems are often associated with it and how to shift your mindset so you can stop feeling like a fraud NOW
Topics discussed during this episode:
brief origin of the term ‘imposter syndrome’
the harmful subconscious effects of calling it a “syndrome”
the 5 subtypes of impostor syndrome as popularized by Dr. Valerie Young
why we relate to imperfect characters in stories or movies
reframing mistakes as an integral part of growth rather than a sign that something has gone wrong
debunking the myth of the “lone wolf” success story
Colin Powell’s 40/70 rule for decision-making and how to apply it to your life
untangling your identity and self-worth from external measures of success
On an upcoming episode, we’ll dive deeper into imposter syndrome, the myths behind it, and how to dispel those myths so you feel more confident and empowered in the future
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Transcript:
How is it that every single time you try something new imposter syndrome seems to rear its ugly head? Well, I bet you didn’t note that there’s actually five different personality subtypes of imposter syndrome. This is the purpose filter, the show that helps living people apply dying lessons before it’s too late.
My name is Dr. Luyi Kathy Zhang, mindset and life coach and an end of life doctor. So I’ve learned a thing or two about living, and I’m here to remind you of what’s really important about life and give you the mindset shifts and actionable tools to help you create the life you truly want during the time that you have left, and in this episode, we are discussing all five personality subtypes of imposter syndrome, the problems that arise because of them, and some quick tip mindset shifts to help you better understand how to stop feeling like a fraud.
And in 20 minutes you will know exactly which type of imposter you are and learn the best way to immediately apply this information to your own life. So let’s get to it.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Purpose Filter. This week we are talking imposter syndrome, and the idea for this episode came about because I was on my Instagram stories, I was taking polls and asking people what they wanted to see in terms of more content.
And I also ask people, what are you currently struggling with right now? Answer after answer, after answer was imposter syndrome, feeling like a fraud. Imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome. So here we are talking about this very topic that is very near and dear to my heart because I have struggled with this for so, so long, and it’s really only been in the past few years that I’ve been able to kind of set some distance between that and myself.
So let’s jump right in. Term imposter syndrome came about in 1978. There were two clinical psychologists, Dr. Pauline Klan and Dr. Suzanne ies. They coined the phrase and they described it as fear and self-doubt, and feeling like a fraud in high achieving women. Woo. Right? If that doesn’t feel like someone is calling you out personally and just like attacking you, I don’t know what does.
And so they named it Imposter Phenomenon, not Syndrome, phenomenon. And over time it’s evolved into this syndrome that we now know it as. Even though it’s not even recognized as a mental health condition, it’s not even in the DSM five, which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the Fifth Edition, and so it’s not even listed in there.
And so thinking about it as a syndrome can sometimes be detrimental because remember, language matters. The words we say matter and syndrome. People think of things like Down syndrome, which you can’t not have Down syndrome once you have Down Syndrome. It’s a genetic disorder. Not all syndromes are like that, but I think we internalize it and think, oh, I have imposter syndrome. I’m always going to have imposter syndrome, and there’s nothing that can be done about it, which is not true at all. So in this episode we’re gonna talk about the five subtypes or personality types of imposter syndrome.
I came across this during my research and I think it’s so fascinating to talk about why this comes up for some people and how it manifests as well. And then in an upcoming episode, we’re gonna talk a lot more and dive deeper into imposter syndrome, the myths behind it, and how to dispel those myths and start getting on the path towards not feeling like an imposter.
So the first subtype of imposter syndrome is the perfectionist. And I know so many of you can relate to this because I relate to this as well. You set extremely high expectations for yourself and nothing short of perfect will do. And this may have come from your upbringing, especially if you grew up with immigrant parents like I did.
No one. And so obviously you can figure out that there are massive problems related to needing to be a, and so obviously you can tell, and so obviously you know that there are gonna be so many issues related to perfectionism. First of all, perfection is literally impossible. It’s an illusion, right? Even if you meet 99.9% of your goals, that tiny little 0.1% gap feels like you failed completely because you didn’t get that 100%.
When I was a kid, it was always like, oh, you got a 98 on a test. Okay, what about the other two points? And I was like, uh, excuse me. I think I did pretty good. But you know, you know how that feels. Right? And think about it this way, when you’re watching a movie, No one likes the perfect character in the movie where their hair is perfect, their life is perfect, they’re married.
They have three kids, a dog and a white picket fence. They are boring. And to be honest, they’re kind of irritating, right? We gravitate towards characters who do not know what they’re doing, who make mistakes, who fall down, who get back up because we see ourselves in them because our journey mirrors theirs because we are not perfect.
So stop expecting it from yourself. Stop expecting it from others, and give yourself the gift of humanity. Right? And I’ve said things before, like, you know, “C”s get degrees, and B minus work is good enough. Merely as a reminder, To not take yourself too seriously. And on the flip side, I know that as a fellow high achiever, I recognize that we will not allow ourselves to do C level work to put that out into the world, which is totally fair and very, very necessary in many circumstances.
So in that case, Aim for excellence, aim for outstanding. And remember that when mistakes happen and the keyword is when, because it’s not a possibility, it’s an eventuality. Shit happens. Life is messy. So remember that if you feel the, so remember that when you start feeling.
The problem is when mistakes happen, you make it a reflection of you and your abilities, which leads to feelings of imposter syndrome. So here are some things to try if you are a perfectionist type of imposter.
See your mistakes as part of growth, as a necessary part of achieving your goals and celebrate your achievements. Celebrate the 98 on a test. Even though someone or maybe your own mind tells you, oh, you didn’t get the extra two points, or “You’re not perfect, so you’re not good enough”. Celebrate what you’ve already accomplished, and that will take you so much further than constantly beating yourself.
For the tiny little bit that you didn’t actually make, and that’s okay. Right? We’re human. That’s perfectly fine and perfectly normal.
Personality type number two is the natural genius. You’re smart, okay. Like really, really smart. And you’ve probably always been this way. Maybe school was really easy for you.
You breezed through junior high school, maybe even high school, maybe even college. But at some point in your journey, maybe it was grad school, maybe at work, maybe when you’re trying out a new hobby, your limits start to get tested and you realize you actually have to study or work or really learn something and really work hard at it to get the same outcome that used to happen so easily for you.
And then problems come up. You’re like, I’m not used to this. And so you immediately start thinking, what’s wrong with me? Right. You know that question. What’s wrong with me? You know, maybe I’m not meant to be here. Maybe I’m not meant to do this. Maybe I’m not good enough. Maybe I’m not as smart as I thought I was because clearly I don’t have the abilities.
And you see how that leads to feeling like a fraud. And I’ve talked about this before in previous episodes. That is a very fixed mindset kind of thinking like, oh, I either have what it takes or I don’t. But what if you could learn the skills needed to quote unquote “have what it takes”? That’s a growth mindset.
So if you are a natural genius type of person, focus on growth. Focus on the journey. Focus on being a work in progress. Because look, everyone started at the beginning. Babies don’t come out of the womb knowing how to walk, right? Babies aren’t born world class athletes or musicians or astronauts or whatever it is.
It’s not all or nothing. I want you to be just as proud of the climb up the mountain as you are when you’re standing at the peak.
All right, so the third personality type is the rugged individualist. This person tends to have a thought that if I didn’t do it myself, it doesn’t count. You struggle to see something as successful unless you have done it yourself, and then the problem becomes you struggle asking for your help because you think you have to do it all.
And the problem shows up as you struggle asking for help because you think that somehow, if you are not the one doing it all, it means that there’s something wrong with you, that you’re incapable somehow because you don’t have everything that it takes, and that puts you in a bind because you need help, but then you don’t ask for it, and then you feel like an imposter because you can’t get it done yourself.
And reminder, no one truly gets through life alone. No one does anything truly alone. And that’s why they teach things like team building In preschool, you don’t realize that it’s team building when you’re, you know, three or four years old. They teach you how to share. They teach you how to ask for help.
And so knowing yourself well enough to recognize when you need help and then asking for that help is a huge, huge strength. It’s a vulnerable position to be in, but you will be better for it. And if you have someone in your life that you look up to who’s accomplished the things that you wanna do, or has the life that you want, go up to them and ask them, you know, who has helped you along the way?
What’s been valuable about their contributions to you, to your learning, to your life? And you will see that the story you’ve created in your head about needing to be the lone wolf, needing to do it all yourself. It’s just that it is a story. It is a fictional tale because we are all interconnected and we all help each other.
A rising tide lifts all boats, right? Okay.
Number four is the expert, and I have many features of this. You like to research and gather all your information. You dive deep, deep into the rabbit hole, and two days later, you know the history, the backstory, the key players, who’s who, all of this stuff.
And there’s something about mastering that information that feels really, really, However, this ties in a lot with the perfectionism. You cannot possibly know all there is to know on a certain topic, especially if you’re new to it, right? It’s literally impossible. But we tell ourselves that we need all of the information before we can make a decision.
And so I wanted to share this quote from Colin Powell. He has a rule called the 40/ 70 rule, and he will not make a decision if he has less than 40% of the information, but he decides to make that decision when he has 70% of the information, and he says, When you have about 70% of all the information, you probably ought to decide because you may lose an opportunity.
My own experience is that you get as much information as you can, and then you pay attention to your intuition, to your informed instinct. Sometimes what my analytical mind says to me is not what I will. That need, that desire to be the expert triggers feelings of being an imposter because you feel like you have to know everything.
And so remind yourself as you go that you can learn along the way that if 70% of the information necessary to make a decision to take action to move forward. If 70% is good enough for coal and Powell, it’s probably good enough for you and I. Trust yourself that you have enough resourcefulness within you to be able to deal with the consequences of the decision that you make.
Even if you don’t have 30%, even if you don’t have that last 30% of information that you feel like you have to have, that just gets into analysis paralysis and overthinking and indecision, and that is not how we wanna live our lives.
All right. And so the final subtype, the final personality type with regards to imposter syndrome is the superhero.
And I like to think of this as the sum of all of the subtypes above. Right. You push yourself to be better. You work harder than everyone else to prove to yourself mostly that you’re not a fraud, that you’re not an imposter, and you feel this deep, primal need to be successful in every single aspect of your life.
And if one part of your life doesn’t measure up, you feel like a failure. So you rely on what’s worked for you in the past, which is usually to work harder. You stay longer. You come in earlier, you hustle, hustle, hustle. Until you are exhausted, you’re burnt out, and your body and your mind give out. Does this sound familiar?
I want you to remind yourself that you can find ways to validate your self worth that are not tied to external measures of success. You’ve gotta find a way to cut those ties to your own identity. I talk about this a lot. You are not your job title. It does. Define you singularly. You are not the role that you play in your family.
You are not just a parent. You are not just a daughter, a son, a sibling, whatever it is, it does not define you. It plays a huge part in your life, but that is not you at your core. Your job is to discover who you truly are without being tied to all of these external things that say that you have to be a certain way or you have to succeed in a certain way, or even in the way that you expect of yourself.
And so that’s what I really, really wanted to share with you today is these five subtypes to get you to be a little bit more aware of how you respond to certain situations of how your default operating system is when you. Find yourself in uncomfortable positions.
And your action item for this week after listening to this episode is to really think about which one or ones of these subtypes you really are, and then notice how it comes into play when you start feeling like an imposter, when you start feeling like a fraud.
Or think back to times when you felt like you were an impostor. And really examine why. What was the situation involved? Was it because of perfectionism? Were you out of your element and you felt like it’s not second nature to you? Did you feel like you believe, did you make yourself believe you had to do it all by yourself?
Did you try to learn everything you could and you still felt like you didn’t know what you needed, or maybe you had expectations for yourself that were way too high and it was just impossible to meet them? Once you isolate that, you can now be more self-aware. Okay. Alright. Now I know that I tend to have feelings of being an imposter when I, for example, take on a new project at work that I’ve never done before.
Okay. Now you know, and now you can prepare for that. You can expect it, and then pull examples of how you dealt with that situation in the past, both positively and negatively, and improve from there. And like I said, and like I said earlier, on an upcoming episode, we are gonna dive deeper into imposter syndrome.
We’re gonna bust a lot of myths about it. So you feel more empowered and prepared to deal with those feelings when they come up in the future. Because imposter syndrome really is just about mindset. It’s really reframing the feelings that you’re having as normal and thinking about it in a way that’s gonna be constructive for you rather than destructive.
So that’s it for this week. We’ve talked about the five different subtypes of. Imposter syndrome from the perfectionist to the natural genius, to the rugged individualist, the expert, and the superhero. You’ve learned about these subtypes, and now you can go and think about which one you really are. If you wanna learn more about mastering your mindset around imposter syndrome or anything else, make sure to follow me on Instagram at Purpose Filter and subscribe to this podcast so that you get notified of exactly when the next episode on imposter syndrome comes out.
And as always, take care of yourselves and take care of each other. I’ll see you next week.
