Imposter Skills

Topic #1: Imposter Syndrome
Feeling that you’re a fraud in your respective position. That you’ll be discovered as a liar and a fraud.

Topic #2: Skills on a Spectrum
Obvious statement is obvious. People have varying skill levels in any given task. Some can run marathons. Many can’t. Some of those who can run marathons do so at world-record speeds. It’s a spectrum of performance, and everyone falls somewhere along that spectrum. 

Topic #3: Adequacy vs Excellence
So given that there’s a spectrum: where on that spectrum is “good enough,” and where along is it is “truly excellent?”

Is it contextual to the situation? (Do I judge my art skills dependent on if it’s on a napkin or paid project?)
Is it contextual to the historical tradition? (Do I compare myself to Picasso?) 
Is it contextual to my peers? (Dammit Jerry, stop not sucking.)
Is it contextual to my standards? (Do I have standards?)

I suspect it’s some combination of the four. But I lately I look harder at the last one. If it’s all relative, then why not anchor it to my sensibilities? (Unless I don’t trust my own taste. At which point, it’s all over anyways.) The fear is that I’m fooling myself. (Or really “the fear is looking foolish.”) But that’s a black hole, isn’t it? Everyone at a different vantage point leads to different opinions. Different realities. 

“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” ―George Carlin