Why Feeling Like an Imposter Can Actually Mean You’re Becoming More Flow Prone

Author: Dr. Cari DeCandia, CMPC

There is a moment that tends to catch people off guard.

You are working toward something that matters more than it used to. The expectations are higher. The room feels bigger. And instead of feeling confident, you feel unsettled in ways you didn’t anticipate.

You hesitate before taking action. You wait a little longer before sharing your work. You keep refining something that is already solid. From the outside, this can look like discipline or high standards. On the inside, it often feels like holding back.

Many people describe this experience as feeling like an imposter, like they’re standing in a room where they’re not yet sure they belong.

I know this pattern well. Years ago, as I moved from a successful sales career into performance psychology and leadership, I found myself in it. I had spent over a decade building credibility in one domain, and suddenly I was starting over. Even though I had studied high performance throughout my career, I questioned whether I belonged in graduate school. Whether my ideas were worth sharing. Whether I was ready to work with high performers.

What helped me make sense of that experience came from two places. The research I was studying. And the patterns I kept seeing in my work with clients.

Over the past decade, I’ve worked with hundreds of high achievers who describe remarkably similar moments. Athletes moving up a level. Leaders stepping into larger roles. People doing meaningful work who suddenly feel exposed.

What became clear over time is that these feelings tend to show up at a very specific point in the growth process. And they are often misunderstood.

What is often happening in these moments is not a lack of ability, but a mismatch. Goals have expanded faster than identity has had time to catch up. You are aiming at something larger, more visible, or more meaningful than what your current self-concept is used to holding.

When Goals Outpace Identity

Identity tends to lag behind action. We update how we see ourselves more slowly than we update what we are capable of pursuing.

When goals stretch beyond familiar identity, uncertainty and self-monitoring increase. Our nervous system starts scanning for signals of risk. What once felt automatic now requires attention. The margin for error feels smaller, and everything feels more visible.

This is often the point where people misinterpret what they are experiencing.

They assume that their hesitation is a result of unreadiness. That their discomfort means they’ve moved too fast. That confidence should arrive before having taken any action.

But there is another way to understand what is happening.

Imposter feelings tend to surface when identity is in transition. When growth is real, but the internal narrative hasn’t caught up yet.

Seen this way, feeling like an imposter does not mean you don’t belong, but rather that your identity has not fully caught up to what you are doing.

This distinction matters, because it shapes whether this moment becomes something you protect yourself from, or something that increases your capacity for flow over time.

Why Interpretation Matters So Much

In performance psychology, heightened physiological activation, such as increased heart rate or changes in breathing, is not treated as inherently harmful, but instead as a signal. And the impact of that signal depends on how it is interpreted. Research has shown that elite and non-elite performers often experience similar levels of activation. What separates them is not the absence of these physiological signs, but how their presence is understood (Hase et al., 2019).

When activation is interpreted as readiness, attention stabilizes, and performance often improves (Jamieson et al., 2010). When the same signals are interpreted as a threat, attention narrows, self-monitoring increases, and performance is more likely to suffer.

Imposter feelings tend to follow the same pattern.

When they are interpreted as evidence of inadequacy, the nervous system shifts into protection. Perfectionism is one common response. Tightening standards creates a sense of control as uncertainty rises. Delaying action is another. Waiting to feel ready reduces exposure to evaluation, even though it also delays feedback.

These responses are understandable. They aren’t character flaws. They are attempts to reduce perceived risk.

Identity threat research helps explain why these strategies are so compelling. When people fear being negatively evaluated in areas that matter to them, attention turns inward and gets pulled toward self-monitoring and protection, leaving less available for the task itself, even when the skill is there (Steele, 1997; Schmader & Johns, 2003).

These protective responses, aimed at preserving identity, often create conditions that make flow harder to access.

Flow depends on absorption, reduced self-consciousness, and sustained engagement. Perfectionism, hesitation, and threat interrupt all three.

Why This is the System Default

To understand why these patterns emerge so reliably, it helps to zoom out.

The nervous system is not designed to maximize potential. It is designed to reduce uncertainty and maintain safety. When situations feel predictable, the body settles. When uncertainty increases, especially around visibility, evaluation, or identity threat, the nervous system is pulled into high alert.

Growth creates uncertainty by default.

New roles, higher expectations, unfamiliar standards, increased exposure. Skills may be developing, but certainty hasn’t caught up yet. In those moments, the brain does exactly what it evolved to do. It scans for risk. It increases self-focus. It asks whether this situation is safe.

The challenge–threat framework helps explain this shift. When demands are perceived as exceeding available resources, even temporarily, the nervous system shifts toward a threat state. Attention narrows, the body mobilizes for protection, and decision-making becomes less flexible, often outside conscious awareness (Tomaka et al., 1993; Seery, 2013).

This appraisal can occur even when someone is objectively capable. The nervous system responds to uncertainty faster than conscious reasoning has time to catch up.

That helps explain why imposter feelings so often show up precisely when something matters.

The Edge Where Flow Becomes Possible

Flow research adds an important final layer.

Flow proneness refers to how likely someone is to enter a flow state. That likelihood increases when people consistently engage in activities that activate known flow triggers. One of the most reliable triggers is the challenge–skill balance (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002; Fong et al., 2015).

That balance requires stretch. It requires operating near the edge of your current capacity. And it often arrives before comfort or confidence does.

In other words, the feeling of being an imposter frequently shows up at the same edge where flow becomes possible.

What determines whether this edge increases or decreases your flow proneness is interpretation.

When imposter feelings are read as evidence of inadequacy, the nervous system moves toward protection. Self-monitoring increases. Engagement becomes more cautious, and attention becomes harder to sustain.

When the same feelings are understood as signals that challenge has increased, and growth is underway, the nervous system is more likely to remain in a challenge state. Attention stays with the task, and engagement lasts longer.

This matters because flow proneness is built over time.

Each instance of staying engaged at the edge of capacity creates the conditions for skills to develop. Over time, identity begins to update, and confidence follows. Repeated exposure to challenge without threat increases the likelihood that flow will emerge.

From this perspective, becoming more flow-prone isn’t about eliminating these signals. It’s about how meaning is assigned to them.

Flow doesn’t usually arrive once everything feels settled. It emerges when you stay engaged through uncertainty, long enough for your system to settle into the challenge.

Seen this way, imposter feelings aren’t something to eliminate. They’re information about where you are in the process.

Interpreted as threat, they pull you away from flow. Interpreted as challenge, they may be one of the clearest signs that you are operating in the conditions where flow becomes more likely over time.

Continue the conversation inside the Flow Lab

This article is part of an ongoing discussion connected to our masterclass on why imposter experiences often accompany growth and increased flow proneness.

Past masterclass:

Why Feeling Like an Imposter Can Actually Mean You’re Becoming More Flow Prone

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References

Fong, C. J., Zaleski, D. J., & Leach, J. K. (2015). The challenge-skill balance and antecedents of flow: A meta-analytic investigation. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(5), 425-446. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.967799

Hase, A., O’Brien, J.W., Moore, L.J., & Freeman, P. (2019). The Relationship Between Challenge and Threat States and Performance: A Systematic Review. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 8, 123–144.

Jamieson, J. P., Mendes, W. B., Blackstock, E., & Schmader, T. (2010). Turning the knots in your stomach into bows: Reappraising arousal improves performance on the GRE. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(1), 208-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.08.015

Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002). The concept of flow. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 89-105). Oxford University Press.

Schmader, T., & Johns, M. (2003). Converging evidence that stereotype threat reduces working memory capacity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(3), 440-452. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.3.440

Seery, M. D. (2013). The biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat: Using the heart to measure the mind. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(9), 637-653. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12052

Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52(6), 613-629. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.6.613

Tomaka, J., Blascovich, J., Kelsey, R. M., & Leitten, C. L. (1993). Subjective, physiological, and behavioral effects of threat and challenge appraisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 248-260. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.248