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Feeling like an Impostor on LinkedIn? 3 Tips to Safeguard your Mental Health

July 20, 2023

When I joined LinkedIn in 2021, translators, copywriters, and freelancers quickly lit up my newsfeed like Christmas night. I’d never seen so many linguists from diverse backgrounds discussing their challenges, goals, and experiences.

But once I started checking their profiles?

Their headlines were so inviting — they had attractive banner designs, professional-looking headshots, dozens of recommendations, and compelling writing on their pages. “I got it all wrong,” I thought while browsing through my own profile in dismay.

The ghost of impostor syndrome rose from the back of my brain as I watched hundreds of thriving professionals sharing their successes.

• Specialized certifications
• Stellar feedback from clients
• Rate increases
• Monthly round-ups with all of the above and beyond

The achievements piled up like a mountain I didn’t have the tools, time, and energy to climb. My schedule was filled with work, hobbies, and family time, and I couldn’t fathom how everyone else managed to accomplish so much.

Fast forward two years, and here I am sharing — almost weekly — how LinkedIn changed the game for me. But every now and then, a brave soul shares their sense of overwhelm on LinkedIn, and I’m reminded of those first few days.

They all came to this network looking to change their careers for the better. Instead, they end up discouraged by the perceived gap between themselves and the more active users. Some eventually quit the social network. But, for others, LinkedIn’s potential is too great to pass up. And so they choose to remain, begrudgingly.

So how do you push away self-doubt and see LinkedIn under a different light?

Before we get to that, there are a few aspects to keep in mind when you navigate LinkedIn.

Creators are at varying stages in their careers. When you have less than two years of experience, it’s easy to be triggered by more experienced colleagues. You should keep in mind that, as their rates and salary increase, they can make time to invest in themselves. It’s a compounding feedback loop: gain experience → get paid more → build more valuable skills → get paid more. If you’re only focused on the later stages of the process, you’ll inevitably feel like you’re missing something.

People have different social backgrounds. A single mother will hardly have the same time and energy as a single man who doesn’t need to, say, drive their kids around. Others may have emotional and financial support from their families when you don’t.

Projected success. As with any other social media, users want to project a successful and fulfilling life. We want to show we are great in our jobs, valued by employers, and resilient in the face of hardship. Real life is more nuanced, though. We get impostor syndrome, we are laid off or denied a payment increase, and we feel like breaking down.

With that in mind, here is what you can do to navigate LinkedIn on your own terms.

Share your struggles. As a result of success projection, we are discouraged from letting out our pain. But there are dozens of colleagues out there who could relate to whatever you’re experiencing, and they’ll feel represented by your story. I’m constantly humbled by the engagement I get when posting about assignment scarcity, low pay, and procrastination, for example.

Seek support from like-minded colleagues. If a post resonates with you, DM the author. People on LinkedIn are surprisingly approachable. You can support each other, and their unique background might even give you a fresh perspective. Maybe they know a bit more about the job market than you do. Maybe they’re developing skills to pivot to a related, yet more promising, role. Maybe they’re part of a supportive professional community on Slack or Discord that you can join.

Curate your feed. Finally, there’s no shame in unfollowing gurus, mentors, and accomplished professionals. Most of them mean well, but they’re just writing to a wider audience, oblivious to your individual circumstances. If their content is not useful to empower you or to reveal a path you can realistically walk, hit that Unfollow button.

The decision to be an active user on LinkedIn was a pivotal step in my career. But it hasn’t always felt that way. I, too, dreaded opening the app, afraid of feeling too far behind the pack. What changed for me was finding my own pace of moving forward.

I’ve been working to build an audience on LinkedIn, but (against the advice of every growth mentor out there) I don’t post every weekday, let alone twice a weekday. Does that cap my growth? Definitely. But that’s not an attainable goal for me, at least for now. That day may come, eventually, but I’m not losing any sleep over it.