You're not alone. I have coped with imposter syndrome for much of my adult life. It is odd to be gripped with feelings of self-doubt, a lack of confidence, and a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud when all evidence points to the contrary. This led to excessive preparation and constant second guessing and continually reminding myself after-the-fact that a lot of this effort was unnecessary.
When I took a leadership course several years ago, one of my personal goals to work on over time was learning to gain control of my imposter syndrome. You may roll your eyes (cue the eye rolls!), but courses in improvisation helped me gain a confidence in myself that I was lacking. And before I knew it was even happening, I found that I worried far less about that upcoming presentation, spent far less time trying to anticipate all the questions I would be asked, and cared less about getting things "absolutely perfect". Yes! Through silly group exercises, I learned to make bold choices and commit to them, think on my feet at the top of my intelligence, and experience how things that did not go quite according to plan could still lead to an amazing outcome.
And if I could do all of that with a topic given to me in the moment, I realized I could certainly do it with the discipline that has become my life's work.
While there are plenty of opportunities to learn the "other AI" at JSM. I hope you will join me for an introduction to Applied Improvisation with course CE21: Quick-Thinking, Confident, Communicative, and Collaborative: Fundamentals of Applied Improvisation for (Bio)statisticians and Data Scientists (Tues, Aug 5: 08:30-12:30). This course is not about performance or being funny (though that happens). It's about developing skills that are useful in any workplace. We will examine the parallels to every exercise we do.
This class may put you outside of your comfort zone. Taking risks to try something new will do that. But you will learn and practice some important interpersonal skills, and you will absolutely have a good time. By the end of it, you may even find that you're disappointed it was not a full day class! Space is limited to 20 individuals. And while I'd recommend this course to anyone attending JSM, students, young professionals, and those seeking to develop their confidence can especially benefit for participating.
------------------------------
Richard C. Zink, Ph.D.
Principal Research Fellow
JMP Statistical Discovery LLC
------------------------------