October 5, 2023
Almost everyone in gaming has experienced Imposter Syndrome at some point in their career. It is especially prevalent in this industry due to a lack of formal education and a highly competitive job market. You can find dozens of posts and articles on social media covering Imposter Syndrome.
At its minimum, Imposter Syndrome makes you feel insecure. At its extreme, it can affect your work performance and mental health. To help you overcome your inner critic, we will deeply dive into the causes, signs, and remedies for Imposter Syndrome.
What is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter Syndrome describes a range of thinking patterns that can undermine you and worsen your life experience. For example, feeling inadequate or not deserving of something good (e.g., a job opportunity) can lead you down a negative spiral of fearing being found out as an imposter among those you perceive to be more intelligent, talented, etc.
Here are some signs indicating Imposter Syndrome:
- Self-doubt
- Inability to realistically assess your competence and skills
- Berating your performance
- Fear that you won’t live up to expectations
- Overachieving
- Sabotaging your success
- Setting very challenging goals and feeling disappointed when you fall short
- Suddenly feeling stressed or anxious all the time
Types of Imposter Syndrome
Although Imposter Syndrome is commonly portrayed as a universal experience, different types of Imposter Syndrome reflect varying thought patterns. Therefore, it can be beneficial to identify which type you belong to as it will give you a better understanding of your situation and its origins. However, your type may change over time, as well as the number of types you belong to.
| Type | Main Characteristic |
| The Perfectionist | Must always be better |
| The Superhero | Must always do more |
| The Expert | Must always know more |
| The Natural Genius | Must be able to do everything easily |
| The Soloist | Must accomplish everything on their own |
Check out this article if you want to know more about each type!
How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome?
The key to overcoming Imposter Syndrome is to reframe the thought patterns that are not serving you well. Whatever negative thought spiral you are in, you deserve to have thoughts that support your daily activities. If you feel like you are not good enough, you can reframe this thought into “I am good enough.” Here is a self-care prompt to start with. Ask yourself:
- How are my thoughts behaving right now?
- How are these thoughts serving me right now?
Reframing is a long process that requires continuous effort from you. After all, habits are hard to break, and positive thought patterns might not come naturally to you. But do not worry; I have some strategies to accelerate your reframing journey!
1. Fake it till you make it
This prompt you have probably heard before in the context of entrepreneurship and hustle culture. However, the notion of fake it till you make it can also play a supportive role in your reframing process. For example, thinking that you deserve a promotion may not feel natural to you. Therefore, repeating “I deserved this promotion” will:
- Make you feel less intimidated by this thought, and
- Eventually, accept it as a fact.
You can practice faking it till you make it by, for example, journalling or saying positive affirmations out loud. Most importantly, remember that you are not fake for doing this kind of work. There is no shame in combatting Imposter Syndrome. Instead, you can be proud of taking care of your mental health!
2. Be your own cheerleader
Similar to the previous concept is the idea of being your own cheerleader as you go about your day. If Imposter Syndrone arises during specific situations, a strategy to hype you up can be helpful. This will give you a short-term confidence boost, preparing you to tackle any challenge! Here are some mental cheerleading strategies for you:
- Performing a superhero pose
- Doing a hype monologue
- Using motivating visuals in your workspace
3. Communicate openly with colleagues and management
Imposter Syndrome often leads to irrational, self-berating thinking. So, colleagues and management members are excellent for getting a reality check on your skills. This does not have to be an intimate process. It also does not have to involve emotionally burdening the person you engage with. On the contrary, open communication can happen in simple and subtle ways. Here are two examples:
- You receive a message from your manager asking you to meet with them. You immediately start wondering why they want to meet with you. Has your work not been good enough? Are you about to be fired? Did someone complain about you? Instead of heading into the meeting with a sense of dread, you ask your manager what the meeting will be about. It turns out that they will be introducing a new project. Now, you feel more confident about the upcoming meeting.
- You send some work assets that you have created to a colleague. The assets are crucial for their ongoing project. When they receive them, they respond only with a few words. You do not know what to think about their reaction. Was there something wrong with the assets? You decide to take control of the situation. You send them a follow-up message asking them for feedback. It turns out that your colleague loved your assets but was just very busy at that time.
4. Celebrate your successes
Finally, I would like to encourage you to celebrate your achievements. Too often, we scrutinize every mistake we make but gloss over our many accomplishments. Moreover, we tend to forget about them quickly. Writing down your successes will help you see them in a different light as you move through the reframing process. There are many ways of noting your accomplishments:
- A daily journal of the things you are grateful for
- A “feel good” folder where you collect your achievements
- A “proud of me” channel in your work team’s digital communication platform
- Visualization collages with screenshots and pictures
Conclusion
Imposter Syndrome can make us feel isolated, yet it is common among gaming professionals. We all experience the volatile, demanding nature of this industry. Recognizing the irrationality of your negative thoughts and eventually reframing them is key to dealing with Imposter Syndrome. Doing so requires patience, but I hope that the tools in this article will support you on your journey. Most of them I have learned from other folks in gaming. So, always remember that you are not alone with this!
Feel free to connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn for more mental health talk!