Robert Mark Smith Professor College of General Education

In this month’s issue, I would like to focus on a concept called ‘imposter syndrome’. It can be defined as a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments, and has a persistent internalised fear of being exposed as an ‘imposter’. It could also be the belief you have that other people have an inflated view of your own abilities or skills.

As students, you may wrongly feel not good enough after receiving a low grade, or conversely not feel deserving enough after receiving a high grade and put it down to luck rather than your hard work. These imposter thoughts can continue as you progress through university and advance in your career. I would like to highlight how and when they might start, and what to do if you are experiencing these feelings and use them for betterment.

After you graduate and enter the workforce, you will probably be the least, or one of the least, experienced employees at your chosen place of work. At this moment, imposter syndrome could hit you hard, and it really did with me. As I stood before my first class in 2005, I had this intense fear that I was about to be found out and exposed as a fake. Everything was so new and overwhelming to me, and, in many ways, I WAS an imposter.

However, it is important to remember that we all have to start somewhere when we try something new and need time to learn and develop new skills in our chosen profession. Be patient, and through time and effort, you will be able to cultivate the skills required.
Additionally, at the beginning of your career it is important not to be too hard on yourself, and rather than comparing yourself to others, which can make us feel somewhat less, try to learn from those around you.

For me, after joining Kookmin, I sought advice and mentorship from colleagues who were far more experienced than myself. Fortunately, Professor Leeds, Professor Turnbull, and Professor Peckford, all provided advice, guidance, knowledge, care, belief and encouragement when I needed it the most. I wouldn’t be at Kookmin now if it wasn’t for their support, especially in the initial stages of my career. Therefore, finding mentorship in your life or career, can be a great way to help you realise that you are actually capable, not an imposter, but just need more time to adjust to a situation.

Imposter syndrome though is not only something that you could experience at the beginning of your career, but actually these thoughts can creep in whenever you are trying to progress or already have achieved success. Legendary Hollywood actor Tom Hanks recently said, “No matter what we've done, there comes a point where you think, 'How did I get here? When are they going to discover that I am, in fact, a fraud and take everything away from me?'” Therefore, if someone as famous as Tom Hanks has such thoughts, it will come as no real surprise that it is widely estimated that at least 70% of people have experienced imposter syndrome. Even after working at Kookmin University for 20 years, I consider myself to be a person firmly rooted in the 70% camp.

A recent personal experience of this is when I opened an elective liberal arts class called, ‘BBC Worklife News and Discussions’ in March 2023. I had an idea to design a course to help students think about life beyond pure academics. The idea of the course was to highlight how personal growth, self-care, achieving a sense of accomplishment, managing stress, and maintaining healthy human relationships are all interrelated and will help students progress through their life. It was new to me and, in all honesty, felt scary to open the course. The first class felt like a complete disaster and I seriously doubted why I had opened the course. On reflection, I was experiencing common causes of imposter syndrome. These were setting unrealistic expectations (being a perfectionist), negative
self-talk and not feeling good enough. So, how do you overcome such feelings?

Well, there is good news! An advantage of experiencing imposter syndrome is that it can be a huge motivator in helping us improve, keeping us sharp and filling in gaps of our knowledge and skills. You can use these imposter syndrome thoughts to better yourself rather than perceive them as your enemy. As well as developing technical skills, you can use imposter syndrome to develop your soft-skills too. This is because you need to show ‘bravery  and ‘courage’ when trying something new, or starting a new role, and feel out of your comfort zone. So, be brave students because a beautiful thing is that we are not always aware of what we are actually capable of.

In life, we often overthink our mistakes, which can lead us to doubt ourselves and even hold us back. But if truth be told, we are all probably doing a little bit better than what we give ourselves credit for. One year after opening my class I now have almost 150 students participating every Friday. Even though I still can’t help but think students have an over inflated view of my own abilities, I will finally talk nicely to myself and acknowledge the little bit of success that I have might be down to hard work rather than just luck.