Lecture on the Impostor Syndrome

If you haven't seen the slides of Joshua Drew's presentation on the Impostor Syndrome, you should take some time right now and check out the presentation. Joshua Drew gave this lecture on the Impostor Syndrome to first year MA students in the Columbia University Conservation Biology programme.

What strikes me most in this presentation, is the omnipresence of the impostor syndrome - from undergraduate student to tenured professor. Many of the testimonies in these slides ring so true. It's a feast of recognition, and as such, a reassurance that it's OK to feel like and impostor - as long as you realize that this feeling is a mere figment of your imagination, and not a measurement of your academic abilities.

Powerposing to boost your conference presence

I recently feel very inspired by an article and a TED talk that I came across.

The article gives advice on how you can succeed at conferences as an introvert. As an introvert myself, going to a conference can feel like a daunting task, but I recognize myself very much in Brooke's story.

Similarly, I tend to give myself a virtual kick in the mind when I head out into a crowd of unknown, awfully smart people who might discover a flaw in my work. I tell myself to keep my shoulders low and my chin up. Little did I know that actually altering your posture might have a positive influence on your performance. Therefore, I feel eager to share Amy Cuddy's TED talk. She advices us, not to just "fake it until you make it", but to actually "fake it until you become it".



Do you have a way to push yourself out of your comfort zone during conferences?