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Comment by _8j50 | Hacker News Reader

I feel like an impostor because I don't write blog posts, I am terrible at public speaking and haven't done anything noteworthy in my field that is recognized. I do think unless you are well recognized by others there is some truth to the imposter syndrome. It may just be your subconscious knowing you could do better.

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You do realise it's absurd right? Why would you be an 'impostor' because you don't write blogs? Less than 1% of (programmers|mathematicians|physicists|etc) write blogs. Less 1% of people do public speaking, even less do it well. Less than 1% of people in any given field do noteworthy things that are recognised.

I don't mean to pick on you or anything. I think you've written down what a lot of people feel, but it's kind of crazy to expect that of yourself.

It's OK to just be OK.

I get what you are saying but it comes down to the relationship you have with yourself. I don't care about others opinions, in my own opinion I can't accept myself as just OK, even really good is not acceptable. "I was barely good enough at work and sucked at everything else" is not a good way to remember one's life in the end.

To each his own, the imporant piece in my opinion is to not judge others by your own measuring stick or live your life trying to measure up to others to get their acceptance or approval.

Every runner practices and runs to win the race. Every fighter also fights to win a championship. I realize a job isn't any of those but when you realize that ultimately a runner and a fighter both run and fight against themsleves, to be the best they can be and nothing more then maybe that is something we can all relate with.

> I don't care about others opinions, in my own opinion I can't accept myself as just OK

"I'm not better than everyone else but I think I should be" is not impostor syndrome. You don't see yourself as an impostor, wanting to push yourself hard to achieve more is not impostor syndrome.

If you ran a very popular blog and still felt you couldn't write blog posts then that would be impostor syndrome. If you had published a lot of papers and still felt you couldn't make something noteworthy then that would be impostor syndrome. But feeling bad over not being able to do those things when you haven't done them then that isn't impostor syndrome at all.

Yup, that is the distinction I wanted to make as well. When correcting for imposter syndrome we shouldn't overcorrect and tolerate mediocrity unless we are also ok with mediocrity or under achievement.

Yep, fair enough. As you say, to each his own. I would argue that a life spent believing you're not good enough is also not a good way to live, but that's a tradeoff for each individual to make for themselves.

Be kind to yourself :)

FWIW, I struggle to relate to "competers". I do things because they make me fulfilled (or put food on the table), not to "win" or be the best at something. I don't think it's something everyone can relate to.

> Every runner practices and runs to win the race. Every fighter also fights to win a championship.

This is definitely not true.

"Amor fati"

Recognition is a terrible metric. It can signal greatness (Einstein, Shakespeare). It can also signal vapid, substanceless, attention-seeking abandon (reality TV stars, Donald Trump). Goodhart's Law in full effect here.

Now, this isn't to say that others' opinions don't count. You need some external sanity check to avoid turning into a crackpot smelling your own farts all day. But doing something of substance, and marketing it are two very different things. Blogging and public speaking are useful for the latter, but irrelevant and potentially detrimental to the former if one lacks the proper motivation.

I would say, figure out what you're good at and what your goals are independent of recognition. Learn from experts, and develop self-awareness, but always keep your own barometer of success. If you do this, then whatever recognition that comes will be genuine and you have no reason for imposter syndrome. If recognition does not come, whether because your contributions were mediocre in the grand scheme of things, or because of lack of self-promotion, you can still sleep at night knowing that you made the most of your gifts. The idea of pursuing greatness and global personal competition among 7B people fueled by instantaneous connectivity and social media is absolutely toxic and undermines each individual's ability to follow their own muse and make their own unique contribution.

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