Nicole Carlson
November 10, 2026
Recently, we talked about a pattern many of us know well: imposter syndrome, the persistent sense that we don't deserve our success and will eventually be found out, even when the evidence says we're competent.
In my work with students, including PhD students, midwifery students, and undergraduates who came of age during the pandemic, I've watched this pattern do real harm. Capable people over-prepare to exhaustion, or freeze, procrastinate, and sometimes walk away from programs they were well prepared to finish. Self-doubt can blind us to our own skill.
It shows up on the cushion, too. A drowsy sit, an old unskillful reaction we thought we'd outgrown, and suddenly the mind says: You're not a real practitioner. We get so focused on the goal of being a good meditator that we lose sight of the path. And this isn't purely individual. Expectations of perfection are trained into all of us, and more deeply into those whom our institutions signal don't belong.
Even the suttas can feed the doubt. In MN 70, the Buddha describes a disciple resolving to keep striving even if only skin, sinews, and bones remain. Read through self-doubt, that becomes one more standard we fail. So what helps? We explored three teachings for dealing with imposter syndrome.
1. The path is a gradual training
The same sutta says final knowledge doesn't arrive all at once. It unfolds step by step, from faith, to listening, to reflection and effort, and finally to seeing for oneself. As lay practitioners, our lives are messy, and practice ripens on its own timeline. It isn't our business to measure the distance to the finish line. What is ours is direction: staying aligned with our intentions and bringing real energy, while holding results lightly.
2. Not-self
In MN 22, the Buddha invites us to give up what isn't ours, including all five aggregates. The inner critic is a mental formation; it arises and passes away. That doesn't make it unreal or painless, but we don't have to take birth in it. Instead of believing it, we can get curious: when did this thought arise, and what conditions brought it here? Sometimes those roots run deep, and tracing them with a therapist can help.
3. Our inherent goodness
Imposter syndrome is a form of self-aversion. Practice brings us face to face with everything in our minds, including what our histories and cultures have made of us. The Dhammapada (verses 183–184) points us toward cultivating the good, and names patient acceptance as the highest form of effort. So when aversion arises, we turn toward remembering our good deeds, our intentions, and compassion for our own pain. Many people find that setting down these stories feels like spaciousness.
What I tell my students
Perfection exists only in the mind. The alternative to you isn't a perfect person; it's another person, imperfect in different ways. None of us controls everything, so the best we can do is stay present and respond wisely. And our intentions, to be kind, attentive, and to do no harm, are not destinations. They are directions, rooted in goodness.
As Ruth King summarized the 3 Marks of Existence, life is not personal, permanent, or perfect. May we recognize the path as gradual, and walk it anyway. May we hold ourselves with care, because life is hard. And may we remember that we are already worthy of this path.
