When we look at prominent leaders who stride across the world stage projecting unflappable confidence, we never consider they may be fighting\u00a0major insecurities.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no question that most people in positions of power deal with self-doubt, but the good ones are able to hide it.<\/p>\n
Former first lady Michelle Obama opened up about the insecurities she\u2019s dealt with as a public figure while speaking to 300 students at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in north London.<\/p>\n
Her speech at the all-girls school was a stop on the U.K.-leg of her book tour.<\/p>\n
According to the BBC, when she was asked how it felt to be seen as a \u201csymbol of hope,\u201d she admitted, \u201cI still have a little [bit of] impostor syndrome. It doesn\u2019t go away, that feeling that you shouldn\u2019t\u00a0take me that seriously. What do I know? I share that with you because we all have doubts in our abilities, about our power and what that power is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m giving people hope then that is a responsibility, so I have to make sure that I am accountable,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
According to the International Journal of Behavioral Science, up to 70% of people may experience impostor syndrome at some point in their lives.<\/p>\n
People with imposter syndrome were first described as\u00a0having\u00a0\u201cintense feelings that their achievements are undeserved and worry that they are likely to be exposed as a fraud. This causes distress and maladaptive behaviour.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
People who experience the syndrome have an intense feeling of intellectual phoniness and are unable to internalise their success.<\/p>\n
Kevin Cokley, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis at the University of Texas at Austin, says that women and people of color are more likely to feel like imposters \u201cespecially when they are in environments where they have historically been underrepresented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama told the girls at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School they can\u00a0overcome imposter syndrome by addressing their own internal demons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe questions I ask myself \u2014 \u2018am I good enough?\u2019 \u2014 that haunts us, because the messages that are sent from the time we are little is: maybe you are not, don\u2019t reach too high, don\u2019t talk too loud,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere is the secret,\u201d she continued. \u201cI have been at probably every powerful table that you can think of, I have worked at non-profits, I have been at foundations, I have worked in corporations, served on corporate boards, I have been at G-summits, I have sat in at the UN; they are not that smart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Share image via Roy Rochlin \/ Getty Images.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we look at prominent leaders who stride across the world stage projecting unflappable confidence, we never consider they may be fighting\u00a0major insecurities. There\u2019s no question that most people in positions of power deal with self-doubt, but the good ones are able to hide it. Former first lady Michelle Obama opened up about the insecurities…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}