This photo was part of a clever Aprils Fools post by Daniel Priestley this year.
It was delectable clickbait and a light-hearted, topical joke.
But what made it so funny?
The heart of comedy is a twist on the normal.
Many a true word is said in jest, after all.
So maybe there’s a little nugget of truth in there?
As an imposter syndrome specialist, I wanted to know.
Here are the possibilities I toyed with;
– Vaccines are front and centre right now, so it’s a topical twist
– It’s the lure of a great result for no effort (the same reason many people want diet pills)
– Fascination, could it be possible that chemicals might alter your self-belief
– The assumption that imposter syndrome has no cure, and you just have to live with it
– Imposter syndrome is like a pandemic (it affects 70%+ of high-achievers)
– Or something else?
When I asked the LinkedIn community, the majority view was that imposter syndrome has no ‘cure’.
That it is part of your personality or character, a weakness or flaw.
That you just have to suffer it, live with it, and hope it doesn’t get so bad you need to give up your career.
That imposter syndrome goes with the territory of leadership and entrepreneurship.
Not much of a joke then!
The reality is imposter syndrome does have a permanent ‘cure’, it’s not you and you don’t have to live with it.
The cure is not a magic shot in the arm, though.
It takes the right methods in the right order, and 32 hours of work on your part.
After that, yes you’re free from it for good – effortlessly confident, authentic, and resilient.
Free to be the kind of leader you’d always hoped you would be.
Now that’s worth smiling about!
Here’s Daniel Priestley’s post if you’re curious.