A Researcher's Guide to Impostor Syndrome
How to overcome the epidemic of self-doubt in research
An introductory note of gratitude!
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Now on to this week’s topic…
We’re all impostors
Research is composed of people with completely different skillsets and backgrounds. People can be experts in data science, in-depth interviewing, behavioral science, experimental testing, market research, and many other disciplines, yet they can all be “researchers”.
This is more extreme than specializing in different programming languages, statistical methods, or design software. One researcher may have zero experience in statistics and extensive experience in qualitative methods, while another researcher may have entirely the opposite background. But both can be successful researchers at the same company with minimal overlap in skills and experience.
In some ways, this is pretty cool. Bringing together people from vastly different career backgrounds and asking them to solve the same problems can produce highly creative insights. On the other hand, it can create tension and exacerbate problems that many people struggle with, one of which is impostor syndrome.
What’s going on with impostor syndrome?
Impostor syndrome is an unfounded feeling that your career success isn’t deserved or legitimate. It’s often accompanied by a lingering anxiety that you’ll be labeled a fraud whose success relied on sheer luck. I’ve heard people in all kinds of roles—engineering, design, data, product management—talk about how this feeling impacts their self-esteem and occasionally even their motivation to work. But I think the diversity of expertises within research makes it a particularly significant risk for researchers. An inability to do basic things that others with the same job title do every day can be scary.
One problem here is that the job of “researchers” is actually many jobs rolled up under the same label. If you gather a machine learning researcher, a market researcher, and a biology researcher into a room, the only thing their jobs will have in common is that they’re all trying to discover new insights. This is a very loose connection given that “new insights” can cover an infinity of different types of information and research methods.
Nobody is good at everything, and research can require any number of a diverse set of skills including communication (speaking and writing), data analysis, team management, project management, design, product development, leadership, collaboration, programming, etc. Even when you have the illusion that someone may be a superstar across these categories, you can usually start to identify some weaknesses after briefly chatting with them. Expecting an individual researcher to excel in every possible aspect of research is irrational, and yet we scrutinize ourselves with that standard when we battle impostor syndrome.
Like any type of confirmation bias, impostor syndrome makes us dismiss examples of personal success that support our competence while accepting examples that make us feel insecure. For example:
“My project was successful but someone helped me design it”
“My talk went well but only because the audience made it easy”
“I have experience with that method but only in a completely different industry”
“My interview went well but I got lucky with the questions”
If you’re one of the many people—like me—who lets thoughts like these bounce around your head, there are a few things you can do to cut yourself some slack.
Managing feelings of impostor syndrome
Here are a few suggestions for helping to reduce impostor syndrome feelings when they get overwhelming:
List the things you’re good at: As I mentioned earlier, impostor syndrome is a confirmation bias problem at its heart. So sit down and list three or more skills, research areas, or past experiences that you’ve found significant success in. Even the harshest self-critics can identify their strengths when forced to—they just don’t come to mind as easily when you’re vulnerable to feeling like an impostor. So balance your biases by explicitly paying attention to what you’re good at.
Don’t let discomfort restrict action: Impostor syndrome might be uncomfortable but it shouldn’t stop you embracing ambitious tasks. Whatever the task is, break it into tiny steps and focus on getting the first step done (uncomfortably is fine). Then focus on the next step, and the next. How many times in your life has a challenge outside your comfort zone ended in outright disaster? My bet would be almost never. You might have a few minor embarrassments that make you cringe when you look back, but you usually come out the other side having learned something important even through failures. Whether you’re considering a large talk, being asked to tackle a new research problem, or wondering whether to put yourself forward for a leadership opportunity, embrace it one step at a time and deal with any hurdles if they appear.
Talk to a friend or colleague you trust: It helps to ask for another person’s perspective, especially if they’re someone you trust to be empathetic and supportive. It’s possible the person you talk to has dealt with similar challenges before, in which case they can remind you that you’re not alone in experiencing self-doubt. Depending on the type of industry you work in, you may also find great support and confidence in talking to your manager if you have a good relationship with them. You can ask them directly for examples of when your performance has contributed to major team successes. Impostor syndrome is driven by a lack of perspective and getting trapped in your own unproductive and unrealistic ruminations. Making contact with a real anchor out in the world helps to recenter you and interrupt negative thought spirals.
Don’t avoid people who scare you: Whatever you do, don’t avoid meeting with colleagues who have impressive but intimidating research reputations. The more you talk to people, the more you give yourself the opportunity to identify their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Like I said before, nobody is good at everything. So although you may find that they have more skill than you in one area, you may also discover that you can support their weakness in another area. When you help others, it builds a massive amount of confidence, and self-confidence is the anti-venom to impostor syndrome. In a field as diverse as research, people should do everything they can to understand, learn from, and support each other.
“As is our confidence, so is our capacity.”
~ William Hazlitt
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