Impostor Syndrome

Talk given at Barcamp Omaha 2013.

Transcript

1. IMPOSTOR
   SYNDROME
   

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2. @zachleat
   http://zachleat.com
   Filament Group
   

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3. http://nebraskajs.com
   @nebraskajs
   

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4. IMPOSTOR
   SYNDROME
   

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5. People with Impostor Syndrome are
   unable to internalize their
   accomplishments […] convinced that
   they are frauds and do not deserve
   the success they have achieved.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
   

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7. First off,
   before I get too far,
   I should say—
   

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8. I’m not the most qualified
   person to give this talk.
   

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9. I’m not the most qualified person
   speaking at this conference.
   

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10. No one invited me to speak.
    

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11. I’m not a professionally
    trained speaker.
    

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12. I hope no one finds out that I’m
    faking it.
    

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13. Actually—now that I think about it—
    I’ve given talks at conferences before.
    

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14. People that I respect seemed to like them.
    

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16. Surely I’m more of a
    con-artist
    than a public speaker.
    

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17. I’m probably not qualified enough
    to speak at any conference.
    

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18. Oh, God—I’m sure I shouldn’t
    have talked at those meetups.
    

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19. Meetups have Q&A—
    

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20. —it’s harder to fool people
    during Q&A.
    

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21. There will not be Q&A
    after this talk.
    

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22. Okay, to be safe I just won’t
    do any more speaking.
    

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23. Maybe I should have written a blog
    post on this topic instead.
    

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24. It’s safer on my blog. I can edit
    and proofread and rewrite.
    

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25. No one will know that I
    make mistakes.
    

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26. But—my blog post ideas feel
    unoriginal and derivative.
    

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27. and the Web is
    huge.
    

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28. My post has to compete with
    the rest of the world?
    

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29. No one is going to read it.
    

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30. There are far better
    writers.
    

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31. Sure, I’ve written a few posts that people seemed to like.
    

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32. My personal web site has had over 1.3M page views.
    

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33. I’ve convinced almost
    6,000 people to subscribe
    to my blog.
    

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34. Surely I’ve pulled the wool
    over their eyes.
    

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35. Okay, to be safe I just won’t
    do any more speaking or
    blogging.
    

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36. Maybe I’ll stick to tweeting
    instead.
    

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37. Twitter is ephemeral.
    

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38. The half life for mistakes is
    about 20 minutes.
    

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39. Sure, I’ve posted a few good tweets.
    

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40. I’ve convinced a few people to follow me.
    

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41. I basically got my job through Twitter.
    

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42. But maybe it’s easier to
    fool people on Twitter.
    

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43. If Justin Bieber can get 45M
    followers, the bar must be
    pretty low.
    

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44. My followers probably have
    me on Twitter probation.
    

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45. I’m sure my next tweet
    will get me unfollowed.
    

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46. “It's better to keep your
    mouth shut and appear
    stupid than open it and
    remove all doubt.”
    

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47. “It's better to keep your
    mouth shut and appear
    stupid than open it and
    remove all doubt.”
    —Mark Twain
    

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48. Okay, to be safe I won’t
    speak or blog or tweet.
    

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49. To beat Impostor Syndrome,
    I can stop participating.
    

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50. But that certainly won’t
    make me happy.
    

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51. I need to create
    to feel alive.
    

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52. The best way to beat
    Impostor Syndrome is
    to participate.
    

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53. Encourage other people.
    

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54. Accept encouragement
    from others.
    

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55. Share what you know.
    

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56. http://www.cyclonelife.net/2013/07/crushing-the-impostor-syndrome/
    

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57. Share what you don’t know.
    

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58. “I have written eleven books, but
    each time I think ‘Uh oh, they’re
    going to find out now. I’ve run a
    game on everybody, and they’re
    going to find out.”
    —Maya Angelou
    

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59. Impostor syndrome
    doesn’t go away.
    

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60. But if we recognize it,
    we can begin to deal with it.
    

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61. Thank you.
    

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62. @zachleat
    http://zachleat.com
    

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