A personal and professional guide to the latest research on imposterism and psychological flexibility, Imposter No More is the professional’s handbook to combatting ‘impostor syndrome’ and overcoming self-doubt to achieve career success.
Dr Jill Stoddard is a recovered imposter. For years, she was convinced that the only reason she was accepted into a competitive grad school programme was because her father knew the programme director. Dr Stoddard isn’t alone in this: deep down, the majority of successful people question their professional legitimacy a good amount of the time.
Why do we do this, and how can we stop? Although she’s in recovery, Dr Stoddard still struggles with feelings of imposterism. She works through them with psychological flexibility, the ability to be present with all thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and urges, fully and without defence, while making conscious, deliberate choices based on what deeply matters to a person. Essentially, we’re not attempting to change the substance of the thoughts and feelings that naturally occur to us; instead, we change the way we relate to those thoughts and feelings, so we aren’t caught up in constant battle to control them.
Throughout Imposter No More, Dr Stoddard lays the groundwork for understanding the imposter phenomenon; she outlines the traps professionals often fall into regarding their imposter feelings, and provides actionable steps for cultivating psychological flexibility to be able to choose bold career moves despite self-doubt and imposterism.
