The way you have phrased your statement "I've cleverly fooled everyone into believing that I'm actually good at this." makes me think of two different situations.

The first is when you have low self-esteem and simply do not think you are worth much as a person. With low self-esteem comes also low self-confidence, which This is a very common situation in academia, I recognize it from myself. Self-esteem can be a sign of depression and can in such cases be medicated. Self-confidence is something one can build through positive feedback from others so that the value of ones work is seen. It is possible to have reasonably good self-confidence but still have poor self-esteem. In such cases you have to keep up a facade to seem confident although you do not feel as such.

The second case I think of is more of a psychological (permanent) condition, akin to narcissism where you deliberately thrive from deceiving people that you are more than you really are. In such cases you thrive to fool other into thinking something and the goal is the manipulation and nothing about the truth. I think we can see some of this as well (of course since it is a human aspect) in persons who try to cheat more or less successfully. I would not be surprised if some of the more famous scientific cheats suffer from this affliction although peer pressure could certainly play a role.

So in the end, regardless of type, you will find these feelings/afflictions because they are all part of the human psyche and becomes a burden if not in balance.

The way you have phrased your statement "I've cleverly fooled everyone into believing that I'm actually good at this." makes me think of two different situations.

The first is when you have low self-esteem and simply do not think you are worth much as a person. With low self-esteem comes also low self-confidence, which is a very common situation in academia -- I recognize it from myself. Self-esteem can be a sign of depression and can in such cases be medicated. Self-confidence is something one can build through positive feedback from others so that the value of ones work is seen. It is possible to have reasonably good self-confidence but still have poor self-esteem. In such cases you have to keep up a facade to seem confident although you do not feel as such.

The second case I think of is more of a psychological (permanent) condition, akin to narcissism where you deliberately thrive from deceiving people that you are more than you really are. In such cases you thrive to fool other into thinking something and the goal is the manipulation and nothing about the truth. I think we can see some of this as well (of course since it is a human aspect) in persons who try to cheat more or less successfully. I would not be surprised if some of the more famous scientific cheats suffer from this affliction although peer pressure could certainly play a role.

So in the end, regardless of type, you will find these feelings/afflictions because they are all part of the human psyche and becomes a burden if not in balance.

The way you have phrased your statement "I've cleverly fooled everyone into believing that I'm actually good at this." makes me think of two different situations.

The first is when you have low self-exteem and simply do not think you are worth much as a person. With low self-esteem comes also low self-confidence, which This is a very common situation in academia, I recognize it from myself. Self-esteem can be a sign of depression and can in such cases be medicated. Self-confidence is something one can build through positive feedback from others so that the value of ones work is seen. It is possible to have reasonably good self-confidence but still have poor self-esteem. In such cases you have to keep up a facade to seem confident although you do not feel as such.

The second case I think of is more of a psychological (permanent) condition, akin to narcissism where you deliberately thrive from deceiving people that you are more than you really are. In such cases you thrive to fool other into thinking something and the goal is the manipulation and nothing about the truth. I think we can see some of this as well (of course since it is a human aspect) in persons who try to cheat more or less successfully. I would not be surprised if some of the more famous scientific cheats suffer from this affliction although peer pressure could certainly play a role.

So in th eend, regardless of type, you will find these feelings/afflictions because they are all part of the human psyche and becomes a burden if not in balance.

The way you have phrased your statement "I've cleverly fooled everyone into believing that I'm actually good at this." makes me think of two different situations.

The first is when you have low self-esteem and simply do not think you are worth much as a person. With low self-esteem comes also low self-confidence, which This is a very common situation in academia, I recognize it from myself. Self-esteem can be a sign of depression and can in such cases be medicated. Self-confidence is something one can build through positive feedback from others so that the value of ones work is seen. It is possible to have reasonably good self-confidence but still have poor self-esteem. In such cases you have to keep up a facade to seem confident although you do not feel as such.

The second case I think of is more of a psychological (permanent) condition, akin to narcissism where you deliberately thrive from deceiving people that you are more than you really are. In such cases you thrive to fool other into thinking something and the goal is the manipulation and nothing about the truth. I think we can see some of this as well (of course since it is a human aspect) in persons who try to cheat more or less successfully. I would not be surprised if some of the more famous scientific cheats suffer from this affliction although peer pressure could certainly play a role.

So in the end, regardless of type, you will find these feelings/afflictions because they are all part of the human psyche and becomes a burden if not in balance.