## Imposter Syndrome is Normal Neil Gaiman tells a story about attending a gathering of extraordinary people - artists, scientists, writers, discoverers. He felt out of place until he found himself talking to a quiet older man. > *"I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They've made amazing things. I just went where I was sent."* The man was Neil Armstrong. First person on the moon. Feeling like an imposter. Gaiman's conclusion: > *"There aren't any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for."* ### Why This Matters for Officers You will feel out of your depth. That's normal. Every officer before you felt it too. You're sitting in meetings with Pro-Vice-Chancellors who've been in [[Higher Education]] for decades. You're making decisions about budgets you've never managed. You're representing 26,000 students when last year you were one of them. The feeling doesn't mean you don't belong. It means you're paying attention. ### What Helps - Talk about it. Your fellow officers feel the same way. So does the [[Senior Leadership Team|SLT]] - Remember that you were elected because students believed in you. That hasn't changed - Accept that you won't know everything. Nobody does. That's what the staff team is for - Focus on what you *can* do, not what you can't - See also [[Vulnerability]] - being willing to admit what you don't know is a strength, not a weakness