This talk was born, quite surprisingly, out of listening to Carrie Fisher talk about her struggle with addiction. What really resonated with me was when she talked about how she coped with her struggles by talking about them with others.
It creates community when you talk about private things and you can find other people that have the same things. Otherwise, I dont know - I felt very lonely with some of the issues that I had or history that I had. And when I shared about it, I found that others had it, too. Carrie Fisher on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, 28 November 2016
At that moment, I decided I had to talk about my struggle with Impostor Syndrome. As I reflect on my life, Ive identified Impostor Syndrome as a central theme. Over the years Ive been terrified to raise my hand in class, speak up in meetings, file bug reports, and especially contribute to open source projects. I was constantly afraid that Id be seen as a tragically uninformed dolt not worthy of the position Ive been put in. So, most often, I kept quiet.
Until recently, I had no idea what this feeling was and where it came from. I didnt have a word for it until reading an article where Luke Kanies described these feelings and provided me with a name for it: Impostor Syndrome. Once I had a word for what I was feeling, I was finally able to understand it. I was able to identify ways to cope with it and learn about it and how other people handled it. This is my story of Impostor Syndrome and how Ive coped with it and come to understand it as one of my biggest strengths; hopefully, itll help others do the same.
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Princess Leia and Open Source: A story of understanding and coping with Impostor Syndrome
1. PRINCESS LEIA
AND OPEN SOURCE
A story of understanding and coping with
Impostor Syndrome
David Danzilio
2. ABOUT ME
> Bostonian
> Cloud and Platform Automation
Manager at Kovarus
> Previously at Constant Contact,
Sandia National Laboratories, and a
few other places you've never heard
of
> Open source contributor to a number
of projects, mostly in the Puppet
ecosystem
3. It creates community when you talk about private
things...I felt very lonely with some of the issues that I
had or history that I had. And when I shared about it, I
found that others had it, too.
Carrie Fisher
息 Riccardo Ghilardi
13. I was convinced that I would be discovered as a phony when I
took my comprehensive doctoral examination. I thought the final
test had come. In one way, I was somewhat relieved at this
prospect because the pretense would finally be over. I was
shocked when my chairman told me that my answers were
excellent and that my paper was one of the best he had seen in
his entire career.
- A Doctoral Student interviewed by Dr. Clance
14. Although my grades were fine, and I was there on a scholarship, I
was sure that my colleagues, professors, department and
University would find out that they had made a mistake; that
they shouldnt have admitted me to grad school; that they
shouldnt have given me a scholarship.
- Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D
45. THANK YOU!FIND ME ON:
> Twitter @djdanzilio
> GitHub danzilio
> ddanzilio (at) kovarus (dot) com
> blog.danzil.io
46. RECOMMENDED READINGTHE IMPOSTOR PHENOMENON IN HIGH ACHIEVING WOMEN, CLANCE AND IMES, PSYCHOTHERAPY, VOL.
15 NO. 3, 1978
THE IMPOSTOR PHENOMENON, SAKULUKU AND ALEXANDER, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE, VOL. 6 NO. 1, 2011
THE IMPOSTOR PHENOMENON: RECENT RESEARCH FINDINGS REGARDING DYNAMICS, PERSONALITY
AND FAMILY PATTERNS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR TREATMENT, LANGFORD AND CLANCE,
PSYCHOTHERAPY, VOL. 30 NO. 3, 1999
THE IMPOSTOR PHENOMENON: AN INTERNAL BARRIER TO EMPOWERMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT,
CLANCE AND O'TOOLE, WOMEN & THERAPY, VOL. 6 NO. 3, 1987