Post date: Apr 15, 2013 11:31:18 PM
A while ago, I attended a workshop about "Imposter syndrome". It was quite interesting to hear a room full of people admitting that at some point in their scientific careers they have considered themselves as worthless people!
What is an imposter syndrome? Briefly, if you keep thinking that you are a loser, your success is a "mistake" and people will find it out, don't feel like you deserve any praise for it, keep feeling apologetic/ guilty about yourself, you keep blaming yourself for not doing things "perfectly"--you have an imposter syndrome. Of course the severity of the syndrome varies from person to person. Such thoughts may sound strange to many, but when I was in a room with people at all stages of their careers nodding their heads when the "symptoms" were described I had to believe that the Syndrome is real! Well, may be I should confess too that at some point in the past I had felt like a loser. It was a relief to know that there were many such people having similar thoughts and it is so common that it has a name... The workshop not just helped with identifying the symptoms of the syndrome but also gave tips how to get over it. I could add my two cents of wisdom with many other people because I had passed that stage a while ago. But the whole conversation got me generally thinking about the crazy race in every field, pressure to perform and deliver and the definition of "success" itself.
Then I got to read this wonderful article by Martin A. Schwartz. He describes the importance of stupidity in scientific research. (You can read the original article here) He talks about the "absolute stupidity" - the fact that our ignorance is infinite. But that should not deter anyone in the field of science from trying to find answers. It should rather motivate us more to push the boundaries of unknown, be more productive. As Dr. Schwartz puts it wonderfully "Science involves confronting our ‘absolute stupidity’. That kind of stupidity is an existential fact, inherent in our efforts to push our way into the unknown." So one almost NEEDS to feel stupid about not knowing the reasoning behind certain phenomenon in order to do good science.
Hummm, Isn't feeling stupid same as feeling like a loser? Not really! It only means that we need to be aware of our ignorance, short comings, mistakes (whatever else you want to add to that list) but not be bogged down by it to the point of becoming depressed and inactive (what's the point in finding out? My ignorance is infinite anyway!)
Its okay to feel "stupid" guys, but not okay to feel like a loser!
So be productively stupid :):)