Imposter Syndrome

I received a call from a friend a while ago, who used to practise as a barrister. He was faced, for the first time in his life, with the prospect of a workplace performance appraisal.

Despite being the perfect sort of employee for his new job, I could tell that he seriously doubted whether he would ‘pass’.   It’s not an unusual response for a barrister.

Feeling like an outsider 

“We’re both outsiders, you and me” said the gazillionaire bencher commercial QC to me during a practice design session over a decade ago.

That he made this observation about me and my new business was unusual but explainable, but I did wonder why he put himself into that bracket.

Surely if anyone ‘belongs’ at The Bar, it’s someone with his profile?  Apparently not, as I’ve observed over the years.

Looking at the evidence  

In the last ten years, I’ve noticed that many barristers believe like they don’t quite belong at The Bar. It sounds like this:

I don’t have the right family connections. I didn’t go to the right school. I’m a square peg in a round hole. I hate going to the dinners because I feel so awkward. Everyone else seems to know what they’re doing but me.

It’s endless, exhausting and simply not true.

If you’ve done the work, got the qualification and you’re observing the Code of Conduct, you deserve to be there. That’s really all there is to it.

Choosing to belong 

Your close mates aside, have you ever spoken to a barrister for the first time who, with a furrowed brow, tells you how overwhelmed they are with the sheer volume of high-profile work they are working on, and the strong pipeline of cases running for the foreseeable future?

I have.  Sometimes it’s true, but not always.

If someone is making you feel like your practice isn’t performing, or that you don’t belong or you’re not good enough, take a step back and ask whether it’s a case of them projecting their own insecurities onto you.

You do have a choice about how you feel about belonging at The Bar.   Choose to belong and act in accordance with your belief, and you will.

Since you are someone who likes to understand the detail I’ve attached here the academic paper which coined the term ‘imposter phenomenon’ in 1978.  The second part of the paper contains interventions that could help your practice.

Download the paper here.

Oblivious to hierarchy

Remember the former barrister I mentioned in the first paragraph? Imagine for a moment the sort of work he might be doing now.

If you’re suffering from Imposter Syndrome, be assured that you’re in very good company indeed.

Offer of help

If you sometimes feel paralysed by what others might be thinking and would like to learn some techniques that help you move your practice forward, book a call with us here.

All calls are governed by the Jurilogical Confidentiality Notice.

By Heidi Smith
Creator of Jurilogical.com