Impostor Syndrome Is a Dream Killer

What if I’m not good enough? What if I don't succeed? Other designers seem to be doing such a better job at creating than I am. How will I ever compare?

Photo Credit: Tara Winstead

For the majority of my life, I’ve struggled with impostor syndrome, the feeling of simply not being good enough at what I do. As a designer, it can be so easy to compare your work to other creators. Since good design is primarily visual, simply looking at the work of others was enough to send me into a spiral of comparison, self-doubt, and genuine self-pity. For a long time, I convinced myself that I wasn’t actually good at designing. I would look at my work and pinpoint every tiny error, every little thing I could change, every alternative way I could’ve designed it. This caused me to create work that wasn’t authentic. Am I actually a bad designer? Or did my doubt prevent me from reaching my full potential?

When you get stuck in this never-ending loop of feeling like you should always be doing more; you could always be better, you destroy your creative capacity. Burnout is a real thing, and the sad part is, it's primarily our own doing that leads to this eventual downfall. The good news is, we have the power to rewrite our realities. We have the power to shift our mindset. Think about it, creation is essentially bringing something that didn't exist to life— use that same logic when it comes to believing that you are the best designer you can be, at any given moment. Impostor syndrome won't stand a chance.

You work should be a reflection of you

Photo Credit: Tara Winstead

One of the biggest things I’ve learned in my many years of designing is the power of authenticity. It can be so easy to aspire to follow design trends, mimic the work of a designer you love, strive to achieve something you saw that one time on a billboard, that you forget that you yourself are a creative vessel filled with unlimited potential. Instead of looking outside of yourself and yearning to achieve things you didn’t create, ask yourself 'what do I want to create? What message do I want to send? What do I like?'

The minute I deleted the mental folder that contained my definition of what ‘good design’ looks like, and replaced that with my own individual style and uniqueness, I found I was so much happier with the things that I was creating.

Creativity is not a competition

Being part of the creative world can be challenging. There are so many designs, and concepts, and ideas, and innovations constantly being thrown in your face. Whether it's on the train to work and seeing the ads, or walking into your local coffee shop and identifying their brand identity, or scrolling through TikTok (shameless plug) and seeing a small business’ social strategy— you’re constantly in creative overload, constantly in an endless loop of seeing design. It can be so easy to fall into the trap of comparison. The best thing to do is to separate your mind from ‘I wish I could do this’ to ‘this is a great design!' Learning to appreciate it for what it is, rather than taking on the identity of it being something you didn’t make or couldn’t make helps change your perception of your own creative capacity.

You have your own diverse skill set and your own design style that is uniquely you. That is what makes you stand out against the rest. Remember: good design is completely subjective. What you might think, 'damn, I wish I made that,' your dream client might hate. What you offer is uniqueness. Remembering that you are a human creative and not a copy machine (or an AI robot) is helpful in bringing yourself down from the impostor syndrome chokehold. Who said your style isn’t someone’s definition of good design? If you don’t believe in yourself and what you create, how can you expect someone else to?

Break free from your own limitations

I started looking at design as an observer. What do I like? What do I not like? What would I change? How does this work from a user perspective? It started to become research. It started to become ways I could improve upon my own design process. I changed my mindset from I could never make this, to what do I like about this? And asking myself how I can adapt a strategy that fits into my way of designing. Inspiration is quite literally everywhere; it’s all about how you receive it and what you do with it. Don’t be the reason you don’t succeed. If you stay stuck in your own self-doubt, you’ll never achieve your goals because you’re constantly placing them on a pedestal that is forever out of your reach. Exist as you are, learn to adapt, be open to change, receptive to feedback, and find strength in your own authenticity and uniqueness. That is when you’ll start creating the best work you’ve ever done. That is when comparison will fade away because you are designing from a space of self.

Instead of asking yourself: what if I’m not good enough? What if I fail? What if I don’t succeed? Start asking yourself: but what if I am good enough? What if I do succeed?

I'm by no means perfect, still figuring things out as I go. If you're interested in following along on my design journey, connect with me on Instagram & TikTok @morebymorgan.

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