Back in 2012, fantasy author Neil Gaiman had an encounter with another Neil in a party, which finally led to a startling discovery of the human nature. Neil Gaiman, author of numerous fantasy novels, some of which have won prestigious awards like the Hugo award felt out of place in the party which was filled with actors, writers, and directors. His uneasiness made him crawl to a silent corner, where he met another Neil, who was also facing the same conundrum.
Imposter Syndrome is defined as a startling feeling of being out of place, and the constant fear of being caught as a fraud among a group of truly talented people, despite being adequately talented to deserve the place. This psychological pattern makes an individual doubt his/her past achievements, sometimes stretching it to the point that an individual might attribute his/her success to sheer luck. This pattern has many implications, one of them is making the individual as a fatalist, acquiescing with life’s various stages.
Earlier, it was thought that only high-achieving women were affected by this. But recent studies have proved that this psychological pattern affects men too. Coming to the B-School life, where the laziest among us are pushed beyond their comfort zones, this pattern emerges in all its glory. Being constantly surrounded by a diverse and talented bunch of people has its own rewards, but, it also takes its toll in the long run, if you’re one of those with impostorism.
MBA is an exquisite melting pot for people from all types of backgrounds, with their own set of skills. Some come equipped with their razor-sharp financial dexterity, and some are persuasive enough to sell snow to the Eskimos. In such a diverse pool, where do you find yourself? When everyone's seeming to swim upwards at dizzying speeds, what thoughts flood your mind when you’re struggling to hold your breath? In this race to the top, it’s absolutely alright to feel anxious, to feel that you don’t belong here. The reason is quite simple; the way we are brought up. All our lives, most of us have been treated as the chosen one, rarely trying to burst the comfort bubble of our family and friends. And suddenly, we are exposed to the real world, like a photographic film to the blazing summer sun. As we keep struggling with our anxieties, the load gets piling up, until it reaches the breaking point. And that’s where the other Neil from our first paragraph comes in to save us.
Coming back to Neil Gaiman and the other Neil at the party, the discussion which followed will probably help those who think all their achievements are for naught. As Gaiman talked to the gentleman, he found out that the other person felt the same; a fraudster among true pioneers. As it turns out, the other Neil was none other than the first man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong.
Gaiman had this to say afterward:
And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.
And that’s what life is all about. All of us contributing our shares with our full might, hoping for a better tomorrow, on a planet revolving at a colossal speed in the vast cosmos.
Akash Senapati
Batch of 2018-20, XIMB