The High Achiever's Paradox: Why Your Success Makes Imposter Syndrome Worse

7 Feb

You've just delivered a flawless presentation to the board. Your colleagues are congratulating you. Your manager is impressed.

And all you can think is: "When will they realise I have no idea what I'm doing?"

Welcome to the high achiever's paradox: the more successful you become, the more convinced you are that you're faking it.

Research from Stanford University shows that impostor syndrome affects anywhere from 9% to 82% of professionals, depending on how it's measured, with particularly high rates among high achievers. The cruel irony? The people most likely to experience it are often the most competent. Your awareness of what you don't know is actually a sign of expertise.

But here's what most people get wrong: it's not a thinking problem. It's a nervous system problem. And until you understand that, no amount of rational self-talk will make it go away.

Why This Matters for Leaders

If you're a leader experiencing imposter syndrome, it's not just affecting you. It's affecting your team.

When you don't claim your expertise, you model self-doubt to your team, miss opportunities to advocate for your people, hold back from bold decisions, and create a culture where achievement isn't celebrated.

Harvard Business School research by Professor Amy Edmondson on psychological safety shows that leaders who acknowledge their expertise whilst remaining open to learning create higher-performing, more innovative teams.

Your team doesn't need you to be perfect. They need you to be competent and authentic. And you are.

What Imposter Syndrome Actually Is

Imposter syndrome is the persistent belief that you're not as competent as others perceive you to be, despite evidence of your success. Originally identified by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes at Harvard in the 1970s, it's the conviction that you've fooled everyone, and it's only a matter of time before you're exposed.

Stanford research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that impostor syndrome is associated with increased anxiety and depression, lower job satisfaction, reduced performance, and burnout.

Why Success Makes It Worse

Every promotion, every achievement, every piece of recognition just raises the stakes. Now you have more to lose. More people can become disappointed.

Success doesn't cure imposter syndrome. It intensifies it.

The Self-Science

Here's what's actually happening in your body:

Your amygdala (your threat detection system) has learned to associate visibility and success with danger. Every time you step into the spotlight, your nervous system interprets it as a threat.

Research from Oxford University's Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience demonstrates that the amygdala is integral to threat detection and processes social evaluation as a survival-level concern. When you're in a threat state, your prefrontal cortex (the rational thinking part) goes offline. That's why listing your achievements doesn't help.

Studies from Yale University published in Biological Psychiatry show that when the amygdala perceives threat, it disrupts the prefrontal regions responsible for rational thought. Your brain literally processes professional evaluation as a survival threat.

Why Positive Thinking Doesn't Work

Most advice sounds like this: "Just remember your achievements!" "Fake it till you make it!" "You're more capable than you think!"

If you've tried this, you know: it doesn't work.

You're trying to solve a nervous system problem with cognitive strategies. When your nervous system is in survival mode, rational thoughts don't have access to the control centre.

Options Which Can Actually Work

The solution isn't convincing yourself you're competent. It's teaching your nervous system that visibility and success are safe.

1. Recognize the physical signs

Before the thoughts ("I don't belong here") come the sensations: tightness in your chest, shallow breathing, racing heart, feeling disconnected from your body. These are your nervous system activating a threat response.

2. Create safety in your body first

Try this before your next high-stakes moment: lengthen your exhale (breathe in for 4, out for 6), press your feet firmly into the ground, notice five things you can see, place one hand on your heart, one on your belly. These are nervous system reset tools that tell your body: "We're safe here."

3. Separate your competence from your feelings

You can feel like a fraud and be exceptionally skilled. Both can be true. Your feelings about your competence are not evidence of your actual competence.

4. Understand the pattern

Imposter syndrome often follows this cycle: you're given a new challenge, your nervous system activates ("Danger!"), you over-prepare or procrastinate, you deliver successfully, you attribute success to luck, the cycle repeats at a higher level. Breaking this cycle requires interrupting it at step 2—regulating your nervous system before the thoughts take over.

5. Find the underlying belief

Imposter syndrome usually has a root belief: "I have to be perfect to be accepted," "If I'm not the best, I'm worthless," "Being visible is dangerous." These beliefs were formed early in life. They made sense then. They don't serve you now.

The Difference Between Imposter Syndrome and Humility

Imposter syndrome says: "I don't know what I'm doing. When will they find out?"

Appropriate humility says: "I know some things. There's more to learn. I'm qualified to be here and I'm still growing."

See the difference? Humility is grounded. Imposter syndrome is anxious.

The Truth About Belonging

You don't earn belonging through achievement. You don't prove your worth through perfection.

You belong because you're here. Your expertise is real. Your contributions matter. And the sooner your nervous system believes that, the sooner you can stop exhausting yourself trying to prove it.

Your Self-Science

Where do you feel imposter syndrome in your body?
What's your nervous system pattern when visibility increases?
What would change if you trusted your competence as much as you trust your doubt?

You're not an imposter. You're an expert with a nervous system that hasn't caught up yet. You now have the self-awareness to start to re-wire your beliefs to catch up with your talent.

If this article resonate and you are seeking support to improve your confidence, follow me on LinkedIn, and visit The Self-Science Lab for more info.

Lauren Cartigny, Leadership Trainer, Executive Coach and Mindfulness Practitioner

Following a successful international corporate career in Sales for leading Tech firms, Lauren faced an unexpected burnout, life and health crisis. After re-building her life, transforming her career, and healing her body, heart and mind, Lauren has created transformative coaching and training programs to teach High-Performance from a place of Well-Being to prevent burnout, and employee churn in organisations.

Lauren Cartigny