That we are the captains of our professional destinies is a lie Western capitalism tells us to prevent the poor from burning the entire system to the ground. You are not the captain of your destiny. It’s possible you’re the rare person who took over your destiny through a thrilling yet bloody mutiny. But successful mutinies are one in a million, and most of us are more like our destiny’s hard-working deckhand. At best, we’re maybe co-captain; at worst, the stowaway who’s tagged along with the cargo.
Which brings us, of course, to imposter syndrome—that illness of the contemporary working world. Imposter syndrome is the creeping suspicion of successful people that they perhaps do not deserve their success, that they didn’t achieve it from their own talent and grit but from a fluke of fate, and that at any moment they’ll be revealed as the phonies they are. As such, imposter syndrome is inherently the disease of a culture which believes that we achieve professional success because we study hard, work hard, schmooze hard, and generally earn it based on our own merit.
Read the full article at Coax.
Reina Gattuso 