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imposter syndrome

concept · in 29 sources (2018–2024)

The feeling of having nothing to teach or not being expert enough.

Sources by year: 2018: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 12

Also named in the threads: Ali discovers Austin Kleon's book Show Your Work, which gets him to start his blog (2016) · Ali co-directs the Cambridge clinical school pantomime in his fifth year with no theatre experience (2017) · Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

YouTube (8) · Show Your Work! (3) · Addenbrooke's Hospital (2) · LinkedIn (3) · Sunday Snippets (3) · Part-Time YouTuber Academy (5) · Austin Kleon (2) · Molly Hunt (3) · Facebook (2) · Tim Ferriss (3)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2024

  • 2024-01-19 · Why You Feel Lost in Life — Ali: Azul told Ali this whenever Ali was racked with imposter syndrome while writing Feel-Good Productivity, feeling he had nothing useful to write. — 00:14:02
  • 2024-03-12 · How to Grow a YouTube Channel From Nothing in 2026 — recommendation: Izzy Sealey: Alongside her personal journal, Izzy keeps a separate business journal for her feelings about her business, such as limiting beliefs about money and imposter syndrome. — 00:32:17
    • Izzy Sealey: Against the imposter's question "who am I to make this video?", Izzy says no one else can make her video, and if it helps even one person it is worth making. — 00:35:50
  • 2024-03-15 · The Perfectionism Trap (And How to Escape It) — Thomas Curran says imposter syndrome correlates more with socially prescribed perfectionism, driven by other people's expectations, than with self-oriented perfectionism. — 00:06:54
  • 2024-03-22 · This book cured my imposter syndrome 📖 — Ali says Austin Kleon's book Show Your Work taught him that what held him back was imposter syndrome, the fear that what he had to say was not valuable enough. — 00:00:00
  • 2024-05-21 · A Beginner's Guide to Making Money with Online Courses — recommendation: Ali: To people who feel they have nothing to teach, Ali says they probably do: they could list five to ten things they have learned in the last ten years. — 00:53:11
    • Ali says you need something to teach but not to be an expert: you only need to teach people one or two levels below you. — 01:00:55
  • 2024-07-09 · If I Wanted to Make $10,000 as a Student, I'd Do This — Ali: Looking back, Ali felt bad charging £59 for a course as a student, did not realise he could charge businesses, thought like a consumer and had so much imposter syndrome around charging money, all unnecessary. — 00:13:16
  • 2024-07-26 · Stop Waiting: Productivity Advice I Wish I Knew Sooner — Ali: Perfectionism, imposter syndrome and overthinking generally get better with expertise, Ali says; he no longer feels much of them making videos on how to grow on YouTube. — 00:05:12
  • 2024-11-26 · 13 Brutally Honest Lessons to Grow on YouTube in 2026 — Ali: A maths problem is tactical, such as raising a landing page's conversion rate from 0.4% to 0.8%, Ali says; a drama problem is everything else, such as feeling demotivated, that your videos are not good enough, or imposter syndrome. — 00:16:05
  • 2024-12-20 · How To Actually Achieve Your Goals in 2026 (Evidence-Based) — Ali: For ages imposter syndrome kept Ali from identifying as an author or writer; once he leaned into that identity, deciding in the mornings to do some writing became much easier. — 00:13:06
  • 2024-12-27 · My honest advice to someone who wants passive income — Ali: Harry chose the audience route rather than selling emotional intelligence workshops to corporates, though he knew they could make money, because he had too much imposter syndrome about it. — 00:36:00
  • …and 6 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

2023

  • 2023-03-29 (said on 2023-03-13, implied) · My Goals for 2023 - Life Update — Ali says his six years of making content have been an exercise in getting over imposter syndrome: even for this life update, the thought in his mind all day was why anyone would care. — 00:16:34
    • Every creator Ali has spoken to feels the fear of "who am I to make this video" just before hitting publish or record; you feel the fear and do it anyway, because sharing online is great. — 00:17:25
    • Aria (quoted): In a coaching session, Dr Aria, soon to appear on Ali's podcast, told Ali it is less about sharing without fear and more about sharing in the face of fear. — 00:17:25
  • 2023-07-20 · I Have a Huge Announcement — Ali: Through imposter syndrome and fear while publishing his book, what kept Ali going was the thought of holding it in his hand, sold in bookstores around the world. — 00:08:12
  • 2023-07-25 · How to Stop Procrastinating (Forever) — Ali: When he first started writing his book, about three years earlier, Ali struggled with imposter syndrome because he did not see himself as a writer, nor as a YouTuber when he started his channel; now he fully embraces being a YouTuber and somewhat embraces being a writer, so he writes and films whether or not he feels like it. — 00:07:04

2022

  • 2022-12-27 · My Regrets about Quitting Medicine — Ali finds purpose and meaning in writing, making videos and giving talks, and in people telling him a video helped them, such as one whose video on imposter syndrome helped them take a risk and get a raise. — 00:06:06

2021

  • 2021-01-31 · How To Beat Imposter Syndrome — recommendation: Ali: Whenever imposter syndrome springs up, Ali keeps reminding himself that what is obvious to him can be amazing to others. — 00:03:01
    • To get out of his own head, Ali reminds himself that no one is judging him, since everyone is worried about their own performance; separating his sense of self from the role let him step into being the director. — 00:06:04
    • Overcoming imposter syndrome, Ali says, is a constant challenge of separating ourselves from our role and our feelings from what is happening, and recognising that no one cares about us, which he finds liberating. — 00:07:01
    • Ali feels imposter syndrome very strongly about the book he is in the process of writing. — 00:07:59
    • Ali reminds himself that you do not need to be an expert to teach: rather than pretending to be a guru, he can be a guide and help people go on the same journey he is on. — 00:11:19
  • 2021-04-04 · 9 Lessons From My Favourite YouTuber — Ali: Whenever Ali has imposter syndrome about YouTube or feels he is not interesting enough to make videos about himself, he goes back to McKinnon's "you are the story" video, which makes him more okay with putting himself out there. — 00:01:41
  • 2021-08-16 · I was an imposter for a day...here's what I learned. — Ali heads to Steven Bartlett's studio in Shoreditch, London, to record an episode of The Diary of a CEO, and feels imposter syndrome because Bartlett's guests are of very high calibre. — 00:00:00
    • Steven Bartlett thought he had never felt imposter syndrome, then realised that, as with pre-stage nerves, we probably all feel something similar and what we tell ourselves about the feeling, from our biases, insecurities and fears, changes its name. (hedged) — 00:03:41
    • Steven Bartlett: Against imposter syndrome, when Steven Bartlett is clearly out of his depth, as on his first Dragons' Den beside dragons of 15 and 17 years, he tells himself he is supposed to be out of his depth and uncomfortable. — 00:04:40
    • Taking Steven Bartlett's point, Ali says the same feeling in the stomach can be read as nervousness, excitement, anticipation or imposter syndrome; having read it as nerves and imposter syndrome, he can now reinterpret it as excitement and anticipation. — 00:07:07
  • 2021-10-09 · Helicopters, Travel and Film Making - A Conversation with Becki and Chris — Chris says nobody on YouTube knows where they are going: the channels that have seemingly made it, Becki and Chris included, do not know what they are doing. — 00:31:36
    • Ali says he does not really feel qualified to give people advice; his stance is "here are some things that work for me, maybe they'll work for you". — 00:58:42
  • …and 7 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

2020

2019

  • 2019-08-16 · Money, Relationships and Hair Loss - Answering your Assumptions — Ali felt imposter syndrome when he started his YouTube channel; reading Austin Kleon's Show Your Work completely eliminated it. — 00:20:18
    • Ali thinks he would get bad imposter syndrome if he presented himself as an expert; instead he shares what works for him. — 00:20:18
  • 2019-09-06 · Life Advice Q&A with my Brother — Taimur Abdaal: Taimur had imposter syndrome for a while in tech; hearing enough people say that everyone is making it up eventually sank in. — 00:20:41
    • Ali had imposter syndrome badly in his fifth year at university, co-directing the clinical school pantomime with Will, an experienced actor and singer, while he had no theatre experience at all. — 00:20:41
    • Ali's imposter syndrome vanished once he internalised that no one was thinking about him: as long as he was friendly and did a reasonably okay job, people were tied up in themselves. — 00:21:17

Also named in: Reading Mean Comments

2018

  • 2018-05-01 · First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A — Ali says he never feels imposter syndrome. — 00:43:01
  • 2018-09-24 · Graduate Entry Medicine - A comprehensive guide + Q&A — Samah says graduates with only a BSc can easily feel intimidated by applicants with master's degrees and PhDs and get imposter syndrome, especially at Cambridge. — 00:32:00
    • Samah tells graduate applicants not to feel imposter syndrome beside better-qualified rivals: they got where they are for a reason, and at interview everyone is on an even keel. — 00:32:30
  • 2018-12-08 · Ask Doctor Ali - 100k subscribers Q&A — recommendation: Ali: Against imposter syndrome and feeling inadequate, Ali says first recognise that everyone is just winging it: no one really knows what they are doing, so making it up as you go along is fine. — 00:28:38
    • Ali says he personally does not really get feelings of imposter syndrome, because of his motto "how hard can it be?". — 00:28:38