"If people really knew what I was like they would find out that I’m fraud"

Ever had a similar feeling that you are going to be found out? That you don’t really deserve your job or to be standing in front of an audience? Or even if you really know your subject somehow you know far less than the audience?

"Everyone else" we seem to think "is better than me"

In every group I run on public speaking these feelings are expressed by lots and lots of people

In her book Presence, Amy Cuddy expresses like this;

It’s not simple stage fright or performance anxiety; rather it’s the deep and sometimes paralysing belief that we have been given something that we didn’t earn and don’t deserve and at some point  we’ll be exposed”

When I was on a leadership course some years ago with 60 managers from the public, private and voluntary sector that I was amazed to find that every single manager talked about this feeling. They were going to be found out. 

The trouble is with the impostor thinking is that it can undermine our confidence massively.

However the research quoted in Amy Cuddy’s book shows that 70% of people experience this feeling. This impostor syndrome is incredibly common. It’s so normal  that it should be renamed as the “impostor experience” . And lots and lots of people  have it. So relax, let go of that worry unless you really really truly are a fraud!