Imposter Syndrome Doesn't Go Away, You Just Get Faster at Catching It

linnearader
3 days ago
5 min read

Last week I walked into a room full of finance and human resources professionals. Smart people. Experienced people. The kind of room where you'd think, after 21 years in this field, I'd walk in and simply belong.

Instead, I felt that familiar flash. Quick, sudden, gone almost as fast as it arrived, but it still landed. A pang that told me everyone else in that room already had more of what it takes than I did. Not a long drawn out thought. Just a flicker of doubt, there and then gone.

Twenty-one years at my agency. Multiple degrees. Years of experience and a variety of tasks. And that flash still shows up.

Imposter syndrome still creeps in after all these years.

The Math Doesn't Add Up, and That's the Point

A while back, about a year ago now, I wrote a two part series on this topic, the types, the strategies, the action plan. I stand by every bit of it. But frameworks can make something feel tidy, and imposter syndrome isn't tidy, and it isn't slow. It's not something you sit with for hours, carefully running through every reason you don't measure up. It's quicker than that. It's a flicker that shows up uninvited, passes through, and is gone again before you've even had time to examine it, even after two decades of evidence telling it it doesn't belong.

"It's a flicker that shows up uninvited, passes through, and is gone again before you've even had time to examine it, even after two decades of evidence telling it it doesn't belong."

So today I want to skip the framework and just tell you what it actually feels like from where I'm standing.

The Degree That Was Never Going to Be Enough

Before I had my master's, I carried a version of this that ran even deeper. My bachelor's degree is in accounting. I landed in human resources without any formal HR education behind me. I learned on the job, built real experience, got real results, and still, every single day, that same quick flash would hit, the feeling that I didn't have what it takes to be doing what I was doing without a piece of paper that said I'd studied it.

So I got my master's. Partly for the knowledge, sure. But if I'm honest, a big part of it was trying to outrun that feeling. Trying to earn my way out of feeling like a fraud.

Here's the part that gets me every time I think about it. In my imposter syndrome brain, everyone else in the room doesn't need the degree. Their experience is obviously enough. Their qualifications are obviously legitimate. It's only me who needs the extra proof. That's not logic. That's just where my brain decided to point the critical lens, at myself and nowhere else.

Two Brains, One Meeting

It shows up in my business too, maybe more than anywhere else. I love what I do. I love working with teams and watching something click for them. And I get real, unprompted, honest to goodness, amazing feedback that tells me it's working.

Logical brain hears that and says, good, you know what you're doing.

Imposter syndrome brain hears the exact same feedback and throws out a quick jab. What do you think you're doing? Who told you that you're qualified to stand in front of a room and act like you have answers? You don't know everything. Are you accidentally letting people believe you do?

Both of those reactions can hit in the very same moment, in the same meeting, about the same feedback. That's the part nobody tells you. It's not that you eventually silence the doubt for good. It's that you get faster at recognizing which voice just spoke, and quicker to let the right one drive.

"It's not that you eventually silence the doubt for good. It's that you get faster at recognizing which voice just spoke, and quicker to let the right one drive."

Nobody Knows Everything

Here's something I try to remind myself, especially in a room like that one. Nobody in it knows everything. Not the person with five years in. Not the person with fifty, sixty, seventy years in. There's always more to learn. Every industry shifts. Every regulation changes. Every year brings a situation nobody's dealt with in quite that way before. That's not a flaw in the profession, or in the person. That's just how expertise actually works. It's a moving target, not a finish line.

Recognizing that you don't know everything doesn't make you less qualified. It makes you human. The person who thinks there's nothing left to learn is the one I'd actually worry about. What separates a strong leader from a stuck one isn't having it all figured out, it's staying curious and continuing to grow. That's the real way to excel. Not measuring yourself against wherever you feel you fall short compared to someone else.

Why Imposter Syndrome Doesn't Go Away After 21 Years

Imposter syndrome didn't go away with my degree.

I won't pretend nothing has gotten better. It has. But here's the truth I've made peace with: imposter syndrome doesn't go away, not after 21 years, not after a master's degree, not after any amount of amazing feedback. What's different now isn't that the doubt disappeared, it's that I catch it faster. I feel that quick flash start to rise, that flicker of not-enough, and I can name it almost as fast as it shows up. That's the leader I've grown into, not one who no longer feels this, but one who knows what it is the moment it shows up.

Naming it doesn't make the feeling vanish. But it does something almost as useful. It stops the feeling from being the only voice in the room.

If You're Still in the Room, Doubting Yourself

Whatever room you walked into recently, whatever moment gave you that quick flash of not-enough, comparing yourself to someone who looked more sure of themselves than you felt, I want you to hear this. The people you're comparing yourself to are very likely getting that same flash about themselves. You just can't see it, because nobody walks into a room wearing their self-doubt on the outside.

Imposter syndrome is a bitch. There's no polite way to say it. But logical brain knows the truth even when imposter brain is loud. You are allowed to belong in the room you worked to get into, degree or no degree, years of experience or brand new, feedback in hand or not yet earned. You are allowed to trust the experiences you've already put in.

The next time you catch that flash of not-enough, try just naming it. Say to yourself, there's imposter brain again. That's not a fix. But it's a start, and it's usually enough to let logical brain get a word in.

What does your imposter syndrome sound like? Does it show up in a specific type of room, or does it follow you everywhere?

As always, carry social kindness with you everywhere you go. The world needs you and your positive mindset!