How to Win Against Imposter Syndrome

Have you ever played the game 'Among Us'? It's an online, multiplayer social deduction game. You can play with 4 to 10 people you know or with internet strangers. The goal of the game? Root out the player who's playing the imposter before they can kill the rest of you.

Among Us is a great case study in how we, as humans, can also be played — by Imposter Syndrome. 

Imposter Syndrome isn't related to an accurate view of our skills or abilities. In fact, 70% of people will experience Imposter Syndrome at some point, meaning:

In 'Among Us', one way for the imposter player to get busted is to go through the vents and be caught by the other players. Players can also enter into a security room and watch others on the cameras — and catch the imposter that way.

Sometimes, like in the game, we're really aware of our imposter. They'll make moves or create an internal dialogue that's so ridiculous we can easily call them out. For example, say you go into a non-threatening room to give a talk you've given fifteen times before to an audience who's eager to hear what you have to say. If the imposter creeps into that situation and whispers that you're going to bomb, it's easy to spot them and say I don't believe you. We can easily move on, kick the imposter out, and keep going.

Right now, we're in a systemically stressful time—we're going through personal loss, community stressors from the pandemic, resources being shut down or modified, and people feeling more physically disconnected and socially isolated. Those conditions mean that it's easier for the imposter to sneak up because the stakes are so high.

When the imposter is being sneaky, here are three takeaways to banish them — and win the game: 

You can also add new tools, given that these are unprecedented times for most of us:

Life isn't a game (especially these days!), but we can still use the framework of Among Us to put together some powerful tools to root out and expose our imposter — before they can get to us.