Imposter syndrome is the real deal

In June 2025, I wrote a blog post about the Dunning-Kruger Effect and how I had experienced that across my life. You can read it here. 

If you are not familiar with Dunning-Kruger Effect, it’s the condition when you overestimate your expertise on a particular subject when, in fact, you actually know very little.

In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Fast forward a year to 2026.  I was visiting with a former colleague from my days as a reporter and editor at The Oklahoman newspaper when she asked me about my time as the paper’s Business Editor.

I told her I didn’t really enjoy it and thought I was not prepared for the role and that I suffered from Imposter Syndrome. She said she knew what I was talking about because she also had Imposter Syndrome in some of the positions she had held.

Imposter Syndrome is that feeling that you are not capable or as deserving as other people think you are for a particular job. In my case, it was the role of Business Editor at the state’s largest daily newspaper.

Every day that I worked as Business Editor I found myself falling short of my own personal expectations for the role and assumed everyone was judging me for being so bad. Maybe it wasn’t Imposter Syndrome that I was suffering from but the Peter Principle, which is yet another condition that is well known.

You know the Peter Principle; It’s when you rise to your level of incompetence. In my case, I thrived as a reporter and was asked to step into an editor’s role, which, of course, I accepted.

It has happened to me a couple times in my life, including my first newspaper job in Fort Smith, Ark. There I worked as a sports reporter and was then asked to take over the position as Sports Editor, which I did.

Peter Principle at work!

Back to Imposter Syndrome. My Oklahoman colleague and I shared a laugh over our feelings of being an imposter in our past roles.

It’s funny now — ha ha — but wasn’t funny then.

Now my role is that of retiree, and it’s a perfect fit. I have zero feelings of Imposter Syndrome as a Geezer in 2026. I’m meeting all my expectations.

I’m the real deal.