Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, TED Talks Daily listeners, I'm Elise Hu. Today we have an episode of another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, handpicked by us for you. Up to 80% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point in their lives, or a feeling of inadequacy and anxiety about perceived flaws. I've certainly been there. So today we're sharing a recent episode from Fixable, where hosts...
Anne Morris and Frances Fry break down exactly what is imposter syndrome, why we tell ourselves stories that distort reality, and how to break free from those harmful thought patterns. Whatever you're dealing with at work, Fixable is here to help, offering actionable insights to create meaningful change in your life and workplace. Listen to Fixable wherever you get your podcasts.
And if you have a problem you want fixed, call their hotline at 234-FIXABLE. That's 234-349-2253 to leave Anne and Francis a voicemail with your workplace problem. Learn more about the TED Audio Collective at audiocollective.ted.com. Now on to the episode.
You are listening to Fixable, a podcast from TED. I'm your host, Anne Morris.
Chapter 2: What is impostor syndrome and how does it affect people?
I'm a company builder and leadership coach.
And I'm your co-host, Frances Fry. I'm a Harvard Business School professor, and I'm Anne's wife.
Thank you so much for having me. We got so much out of that conversation and we think you will too. So definitely check it out.
And we have additional great experts ahead, but we also want to hear your thoughts and your questions. So please keep calling and texting us at 234-FIXABLE. That's 234-349-2253. Or you can shoot us an email at fixable at ted.com.
Frances, today it is just the two of us, and we're going to go deep on an aspect of confidence that we see trip a lot of people up, which is the phenomenon known as imposter syndrome. All right, Frances, this is how I propose we do this.
I want to spend some time on what imposter syndrome is because it's a phrase that people throw around all the time, and I think it's going to help us fix it to have a better understanding of what it is. And I want to fix it because this is fixable.
And then I want us to talk about some of the cousins and variants of imposter syndrome because it's going to help us spot it in ourselves and in other people. How does that sound?
I love this frame, Anne, because it's an accurate diagnosis yields a clever prescription. And we really do need an accurate diagnosis of imposter syndrome. And then we're going to have some pretty clever prescriptions, including bringing the cousins to the table.
Yeah, that's what we're going to get into today. We're going to talk about imposter syndrome and also some of its close cousins, including the perfectionist.
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Chapter 3: What are the common stories we tell ourselves that distort reality?
I believe we are revealing it a lot more than to everyone else, but perhaps not to ourselves.
So let's talk to the 80% of people who have experienced this at some point in their lives. How do I know if I am distorting my reality in this way? What are some clues that I might be experiencing the symptoms of imposter syndrome?
I love this question because I almost never think about it. People come to me with a self-diagnosis of imposter syndrome and I help them overcome it. So I'm not sure that I've ever helped anyone diagnose it, but that's what you do with your coaching. So let me ask you,
Yeah, I mean, I think the clues are in the definition. So if you are regularly experiencing self-doubt, if there's a storyline that pops into your head in the form of anxiety about being found out, if you are attributing... your success, you know, entirely to factors that are outside of your control. I think these are clues that you might be subject to this kind of a distortion field.
That resonates because when people have self-diagnosed and they come and talk to me, they do indeed use that language.
Okay, after the break, Frances, we're going to get into this. We're going to move on to strategies on how you fix imposter syndrome.
I love the fixable part of any conversation.
Okay, I am anxious to fix this. So let's get into the things that you have seen work for people to break out of this false reality, essentially.
So I'll give one really practical technique to begin with, which is when we acknowledge that we are not seeing reality accurately, what we want to do is get an accurate portrayal of reality that we believe in.
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Chapter 4: How can recognizing impostor syndrome help us?
to using it. What you are saying is one of the reasons it works is because if you ask me at the end of the week, how did you do on contributions to meaning? You're going to say terrible. You know, because I cannot be trusted, right? I'm subject to this syndrome. But in real time, like if we're fast enough, we can outrun it. We can outrun it.
In fact, you'll have instead of one data point that you're inferior, you're going to actually have 40 data points. That's going to show. Now, I don't know if you were good in meetings or not, but if you were, they'll be disproportionately good. And if you were bad in meetings, they'll be disproportionately bad.
What I can say is they'll be accurate, whereas your weekly assessment is going to be inaccurate. Got it.
You're really solving for the distortion part of cognitive distortion. You're like, OK, let's replace the story here with some actual data.
Yeah.
And start to pull our minds out of this.
And what was an amazing finding for us is we used to go through such laborious processes to get the data. And we found that even the distortionists could accurately collect data if they did it in the moment. And that has just made this like a DIY project now. Like we can get over imposter syndrome on our own.
Do you recommend like an accountability partner here? Should I be scoring this with someone else? Can that be useful?
I think if you find yourself to be a more accurate scorer with someone else, do it. But it's got to be in the moment. So don't violate the in the moment to get a really good companion. Got it. So you could imagine two people that both subject that, you know, are both subject to the distortion and you're in a lot of similar meetings. You'd be pretty good buddies.
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