It’s common for people who experience overnight success to experience impostor syndrome.
That’s what happened to viral sensation Sarah Cooper, known for her hysterical videos on Tiktoc lip-syncing Donald Trump’s speeches during the 2020 election.
Here’s how Cooper described her experience in an interview with The Daily Beast.
Each video I made got millions of views… then my life did start to change.
I started getting attention from all kinds of journalists and celebrities and people I’d always admired. Ben Stiller was commenting on my videos.
Cher retweeted me.
Halle Berry called me “iconic.”
I went from 60,000 Twitter followers to two million.
I was on Ellen.
I had an interview with Lawrence O’Donnell. And Nicolle Wallace.
Jimmy Fallon had me on The Tonight Show.
Kamala Harris wanted to do an Instagram Live with me.
And suddenly, very suddenly, like so fast it’ll make your head spin, and my head was spinning, I was pretty much handed the keys to Hollywood.
I signed with WME and started auditioning for high-profile projects.
I got offered a series regular role on a sitcom.
We sold a pilot for 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings to Netflix and I’d be working with Ricky Gervais. Ricky Gervais.
We sold another pilot for How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings to CBS with Nina Tassler and Cindy Chupack.
My manager texted me and said they want me to guest-host Kimmel. HOST. KIMMEL.
I met with Natasha Lyonne and Maya Rudolph and they wanted to work with me on a Netflix comedy special. I was getting a Netflix comedy special.
And then I was like, wow, I’m really glad I voted for him.
Just to be clear, I did not vote for him.
If this feels fast to you, it felt that way to me, too.
I can’t describe the imposter syndrome that engulfed me as all this was happening.
It engulfs me even now. I’m getting imposter syndrome writing my own memoir.
I’ve never had the kind of highly public, rapid rise to national fame as Sarah Cooper.
But I did understand when she talked about experiencing impostor syndrome because of it.
In graduate school, I wrote a paper on white racism for a class I took.
The following week people I’d never met stopped me in the hall to congratulate me on my paper.
It ended up being required reading in classes at three universities.
But unlike Cooper, I didn’t continue to produce.
Indeed, I didn’t write anything else for a year.
I had no idea how I did it the first time… how could I possibly replicate this success?
When success comes quickly, it can be hard to process.
We may wonder if we deserve it.
Even more so when the outcome far surpasses any goal we’d set.
However, success has its own timing.
And it’s not always equally distributed.
Plenty of talented people who dream of stardom spend years working hard to find it but will never be discovered like Cooper.
Plenty of students have written remarkable, even groundbreaking papers that will never get read by anyone other than their instructor.
Still, this doesn’t take away from the accomplishments, abilities, or insights of those for whom these things did happen.
There is nothing logical about impostor syndrome.
We can feel like an impostor if success comes too quickly or easily.
And we can feel like an impostor if success takes a lot of time and effort, falsely believing that”real competence” should be innate and effortless.
If you – or someone you know – has experienced success faster than expected my advice is this:
Recognize the sometimes-unexpected nature and consequences of success.
Recognize that it wouldn’t have happened had you not acted, so give yourself credit for that.
Recognize that success can last a lifetime, or it can be fleeting.
So, enjoy the wild ride and keep going regardless of how confident or ready you feel.
And know that like Sarah Cooper, you are no impostor. And never were.
