In this letter
the real reason you doubt yourself: it's good news
In 1978, two professors at Oberlin published a paper that spread like wildfire. Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes had spent five years studying high-achieving women, and what they discovered had a name: The Impostor Phenomenon.
Citation: "The Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention". Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1978.
What started as a single study has become a cultural touchstone. In the decades since, countless articles, books, and research papers have explored this feeling.
As it turns out, impostor phenomenon aka impostor syndrome, shows up across industries, across backgrounds, and across every measure of "success". Doesn't matter if you're a CEO or artist, scientist or teacher, seasoned professional or rising star.
Even Maya Angelou - the Maya Angelou! - admitted, “I have written eleven books, but each time I think, Uh-oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.”
And Neil Gaiman, said in a graduation speech that went viral: he lived in fear of being busted by the “fraud police,” whom he imagined showing up at his door with a clipboard, ready to tell him he had no right to the life he was living.
Do I deserve this? Did I earn this? Am I really up for this? What if they find out I've been faking it?
Sound familiar?
Here's what's wild: while the original study focused on women (because they were the first to speak up about it), these feelings don't discriminate—in men, in artists, in musicians, in anyone pushing beyond what feels safe.
But here is the good news: that feeling of "not enough" isn't a red flag. It's actually a signal.
Self-Doubt Means You're Aiming High
When you doubt yourself, it doesn't mean you're failing. It means you're raising your standards. You're reaching for something bigger and stepping outside your comfort zone.
Harvard's Arthur C. Brooks (a behavioral scientist, aka "the Happiness Professor") puts it this way: doubting yourself often reflects healthy self-awareness. If you're worrying that you're incompetent, that worry itself is proof you're not. Truly incompetent people rarely question themselves.
Psychoanalyst Nuar Alsadir, in her book Animal Joy, explains that impostor feelings spike hardest at thresholds—when you're crossing from one level to another. One social class to another. One culture to another. One career stage to another. One musical standard to another.
You're not incompetent. You're transitioning. Growing, getting better, becoming.
Why does this matter for musicians and performers?
Here's what I remind myself and my students everyday:
- Doubt isn't the enemy—it's your brain's way of saying you care too much to coast. High performers don't eliminate self-doubt. They use it to stay hungry, humble, and aware.
- The more you accomplish, the more you compare yourself to a higher standard.
- Being successful doesn't mean you have zero doubt. It means you've learned to move forward while feeling the doubt. You don't wait for confidence to show up—you bring the doubt onstage with you and perform anyway.
- High performers listen to doubt. They let it refine them, fuel improvement, and sharpen their focus.
So if you're feeling that impostor voice questioning you? Don't panic. That's a sign you're stepping up!
I leave you with Arthur Brooks, who says:
Even if other people overestimate how awesome you are (which of course they do!) you don't have to, and you can focus on the ways you can actually get better. If you feel imposter syndrome, that's good news. It means you have an opportunity to focus on the ways you can keep getting better, to strive more, to lean into imposter syndrome without giving in.
Just like nerves (as we've talked about before), you can perform brilliantly in spite of these feelings. You don't need them to go away. You just need to keep moving!
In your corner,
Ixi
p.s. We're thinking of creating a 30-day Health + Wealth Challenge for musicians—and want to know: would you join us? Every day, you'd get one small action that builds either your mental & physical or financial & artistic wealth - including a way to step into the impostor phenomenon with bravery. Interested in adding this and 30 new tools to your toolkit?
Reply and let us know what you'd most want to get out of it.
p.p.s. Want to read further? Here're the books and articles I mentioned, linked:
Animal Joy, by Nuar Alsadir
The Happiness Files, by Arthur C. Brooks
The Dubious Rise of Impostor Syndrome, New Yorker Magazine 2023.
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