Psychology says people who doubt themselves are often the most high-functioning in the room

I used to think confidence was the goal. That the people who moved through the world with absolute certainty, never second-guessing, never hesitating—those were the ones who had it figured out.

Then I started paying closer attention.

The colleague who seemed most sure of herself? She was also the one who triple-checked every detail before sending an email.

The friend who looked completely composed in groups? She’d text me afterward asking if she’d said something wrong.

The leader everyone admired? He once told me he lies awake wondering if this is the year everyone realizes he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

I used to interpret their self-doubt as something to overcome. But over time, I’ve come to see it differently. The people who doubt themselves—really doubt, not the performative kind—are often the ones holding the room together. They’re just too busy worrying about whether they’re doing enough to notice how much they’re actually doing.

Psychologists are starting to catch up to this. New research shows that employees who experience frequent impostor thoughts don’t just survive under pressure—they outperform their peers when workloads spike. Turns out, that quiet voice of doubt? It might be the very thing keeping them sharp.

Here’s what else the research says about the high-functioning doubters in the room.

1. They work harder when the pressure is on

An MIT Sloan professor looked at employees facing high workloads—too much to do, too little time. The ones who reported more frequent impostor thoughts? They didn’t crumble. They put in 13% more effort than their peers and got higher performance ratings as a result. MIT Sloan found that instead of seeing overload as a reason to shut down, they saw it as a challenge to rise to.

The doubt didn’t paralyze them. It propelled them.

I’ve felt this in my own work. When a deadline looms and the stakes feel high, something in me sharpens. The fear of not being good enough becomes fuel. Not healthy, maybe. But effective.

2. They prepare like their life depends on it—and it pays off

People with self-doubt don’t assume things will just work out. They assume things could go wrong, so they prepare accordingly.

Research on high achievers shows that when you’re genuinely good at something, you become more aware of its complexity. You know what you don’t know. You see the nuance, the gaps, the ever-expanding standards. Psychology Today notes that this awareness—far from being a weakness—often drives the kind of thorough preparation that produces exceptional work.

I once watched a friend spend a week preparing for a twenty-minute talk. She was convinced she’d bomb. The talk was flawless. She attributed it to luck. I attributed it to the week she spent making sure luck wasn’t required.

3. They see complexity where others see simplicity

Here’s something the Dunning-Kruger effect teaches us: people with lower ability tend to overestimate their competence, while people with higher ability tend to underestimate theirs. Britannica explains that the metacognitive ability to recognize deficiencies in one’s own knowledge requires possessing at least a minimum level of that same knowledge, which those who exhibit the effect haven’t attained.

Why? Because the more you know about something, the more you realize how much you don’t know. You see the nuance. The gaps. What looks simple to a novice reveals itself as endlessly complex to an expert.

The person who sees complexity anticipates problems before they arise. They produce better work because they’re equipped for the hard stuff, not just the surface level.

When I first started writing, I thought I was pretty good. The more I’ve learned, the more I’ve realized how much I still have to figure out. That’s not imposter syndrome talking. That’s just accuracy.

4. They’re more open to feedback and growth

People who are certain they’re right don’t ask for input.

They don’t seek out criticism.

They don’t wonder if there’s a better way.

People who doubt themselves? They’re hungry for feedback. They want to know where they missed something, where they could improve, and what someone else sees that they don’t.

Research from the University of Rochester Medical Center shows that cultivating a growth mindset—believing abilities can be developed—is one of the most effective ways to combat the imposter phenomenon. People who doubt themselves are often already oriented toward growth because they’re not convinced they’ve arrived.

5. They’re less likely to have blind spots

Overconfidence has a hidden cost: it leaves you vulnerable to what you can’t see.

When you’re sure you’re right, you stop looking for evidence that you might be wrong. You stop questioning. Stop double-checking. Stop considering alternative perspectives. And then, sometimes, you fall hard.

People with self-doubt are already looking. Already questioning. Already scanning for what they might have missed. It’s exhausting, sure. But it also means they catch things that confident people walk right past.

This is where the doubt becomes an asset. Because the person who assumes they might have missed something? They’re the one who reads the email one more time. Who asks the clarifying question. Who considers the angle no one else thought of. They’re not just protecting themselves from failure—they’re actively uncovering problems before they exist.

6. They’re more attuned to the people around them

Here’s something I’ve noticed about people with self-doubt: they’re often the ones who notice when someone else is struggling.

Because they’re so attuned to their own perceived shortcomings, they’re also attuned to everyone else’s. They pick up on the colleague who seems quiet. The friend who’s not quite themselves. The person in the meeting who looks lost. This makes them better collaborators. Better managers. Better humans, honestly. They’re not so wrapped up in their own brilliance that they miss what’s happening around them.

Research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science shows that competitive work environments can actually fuel impostor feelings by prompting people to compare themselves upward to higher-performing colleagues. But that same sensitivity to others—that attunement—can also make them more aware of team dynamics and interpersonal needs.

7. They’ve learned to translate anxiety into action

People with self-doubt feel the anxiety.

The fear of being found out.

The worry that they’re not enough.

But instead of letting it stop them, they’ve learned—through practice, through necessity—to channel it into something productive.

They prepare harder. Check more carefully. Think more thoroughly. The anxiety doesn’t disappear. It just gets put to work.

Here’s what happens in the brain when self-doubt shows up: the default mode network—the part that handles self-referential thinking, rumination, all that good stuff—lights up. Neuron research shows this pattern clearly.

For some people, that activation spirals. They get stuck in the loop. But for others—the high-functioning ones—it becomes fuel. That same mental energy gets channeled into self-evaluation, into improvement, into asking “how can I do this better?” instead of “what’s wrong with me?”

8. They’re protected from seeming arrogant

Arrogance has a cost. It pushes people away and closes doors, making someone impossible to teach.

People with genuine self-doubt rarely suffer from this. They’re not insufferable or convinced they have all the answers. They’re not looking down on everyone else.

This doesn’t mean they’re pushovers. It means they’re approachable. Humble in the right way. The kind of people others want to work with, learn from, and be around.

9. They’ve made peace with never feeling done

People with self-doubt learn, eventually, that the feeling of “enough” may never come.

There may never be a moment when they look in the mirror and think:

You’ve made it. You’re good. You can stop now.

So they stop waiting for it.

This is what sets them apart. While others coast after reaching some imagined finish line, the doubters keep going. Keep refining. Keep showing up. Not because they’re driven by insecurity anymore, but because they’ve learned that the feeling of completion was a mirage all along.

That takes a kind of courage that confidence never has to develop. The courage to move forward without ever quite believing you deserve to.

I’m not fully there yet. Most days, I’m still waiting to feel like enough. But I’m learning that the feeling and the reality aren’t the same thing. And that the people who keep going despite the doubt? They’re often the ones who end up going the farthest.