Is imposter syndrome designed to protect the power in place?

Design by Soren Hamby

If you feel like you are not doing enough and someone will soon discover that you are a fraud, you are probably experiencing imposter syndrome. You are not alone: 64% of the people I interviewed (100 people, mostly from tech) feel like they don’t do enough to prove that their work is good. When I launched the survey in June 2021, I had no clue what the answers will be. It was eye-opening to discover the overwhelming results.

64% feel like they don’t do enough to prove that their work is good (inner power)

Do we all have imposter syndrome?

When I started creating my workbook about imposter syndrome, I knew I wanted to offer activities and exercises to empower people. I initially wanted to support folks who had burnout or were close to crashing down, but I realized through the survey that it touches more people than I thought.

61% have a hard time not thinking about the potential failure of their ideas and projects (future self)

64% go along with a decision even though they disagreed with it (future self)