Hey, TED Talks Daily listeners, I'm Elise Hu.
Today we have an episode of another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, handpicked by us for you.
This time it's from How to Be a Better Human, hosted by comedian Chris Duffy.
Imposter syndrome is one of many therapy-speak words that has gone mainstream the past few years.
But what is it, really?
Aparna Nancherla knows all about it.
Aparna is a comedian and the author of Unreliable Narrator, Me, Myself, and Imposter Syndrome.
Despite her success as a performer, she, like many of us, isn't immune to self-doubt.
She and Chris talk about the curious and often funny ways she's learned to deal with this, like creating a resume listing all her failures or making up words at parties to gauge other people's reactions.
And speaking of finding humorous ways to deal with life's many ups and downs, I just want to take a second to give my fellow TED podcaster some love.
Chris Duffy has a new book that just came out called Humor Me.
How laughing more can make you present, creative, connected and happy.
If you're interested in hearing more from Chris about his book and how he's learned to keep laughing through it all, mark your calendars for February 18.
That's when I'll be talking with him in front of a live TED audience for our first TED Talks Daily Book Club interview of 2026.
To learn more in RSVP, visit go.ted.com slash membership.
And now on to Chris's conversation with Aparna.
You're listening to How to Be a Better Human.
I'm your host, Chris Duffy.
Sometimes if I think too hard about this podcast, my head starts to spin.
Like, who am I to host this show or host any show for that matter?
Why on earth would I think that people should listen to me ask questions about being a better human?
And why would these successful, intelligent guests agree to an interview?
It's easy to start feeling like this whole thing is a fraud and I'm about to be found out and kicked out and that I'll never work again.
I want to say, but of course, that's not the case.
That's like what would make sense to say here.
But of course, that's not the case.
But if I'm being honest, I don't know that I really believe that that's not the case.
Sometimes I really wonder.
I hope that these feelings of insecurity are wrong and inaccurate, but I can't say that I know for sure.
And I think that almost all of us have those doubts sometimes where we question ourselves and feel like we're faking it.
But for some people, those feelings can be constant, intense and powerful.
Imposter syndrome.
Today's guest, Aparna Nancherla, writes about her own experiences with imposter syndrome and other mental health challenges in her book Unreliable Narrator, which comes out September 19th.
Amy Poehler described Aparna's book as a deeply honest and funny look at how exhausting it can be to live a human life.
And here's a clip from the audiobook, courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio.
I wanted to write a book about imposter syndrome because it's an identity I've embraced, without question, my entire life.
Like being a Leo.
I'm right on the cusp, but it's the more fun, flamboyant one.
My pragmatic Virgo heart unenthusiastically understands. or having brown eyes.
I used to think they were black, you know, like a meerkat's.
But there's no wiggle room on this one, as fun as a wiggle room sounds.
My scammer-identifying roots go way back.
On my mother's telling.
I was born with jaundice and suctioned out via vacuum, so I showed up unwillingly with a cone head and yellow eyes, perfectly styled for my National Enquirer cover photoshoot.
Even then I arrived in the manner of someone who wants everybody else to understand.
I wasn't thrilled about my whole deal either.
We're going to have a lot more from Aparna an undeniably successful amount of conversation in just a moment.
But first, a few podcast ads.
And we are back.
On today's episode, we're talking about imposter syndrome with Aparna Nancherla.
Hi there.
I'm Aparna Nancherla.
I'm a comedian and the author of Unreliable Narrator, Me, Myself, and Imposter Syndrome.
Aparna, you wrote a book about imposter syndrome, but what is imposter syndrome?
So imposter syndrome.
As I learned in writing the book, the technical definition is the feeling that you are just a fraud or just undeserving of any success or things you've accomplished.
And it's all due to kind of luck or chance and not any skill you possess.
And you kind of this just persistent feeling that you're going to be found out by someone you know your peers or those around you for not having the capability that they think you do.
And you talk about in the book how it's caused some like very real issues and mental struggles for you.
It's also a term that I think a lot of people use kind of very casually, like oh, I have imposter syndrome.
So why do you think that is?
I mean, I think that goes along with kind of a lot of things like kind of therapy.
Speak has become increasingly for lack of a better word gentrified in our culture, in that they just have become more shorthand for a bigger like umbrella things.
Like if you're feeling sad, you're like oh, I'm depressed today, or something you know, like it's just become a little diluted.
And I think so.
Imposter syndrome has kind of, I think, become an umbrella term for anything where you kind of feel out of place maybe, or like you don't fit in, or people are undervaluing you.
And I think it is targeted towards, you know, women and minorities.
So in that sense maybe it's like a term that can cover a lot of feelings of maybe not quite knowing how you fit in.
And you talk about in the book a joke that you love from the comedian Joshua Benowitz about how cool people have gentrified the word awkward so that, like actual awkward people like him no longer have something to use because, like they call things awkward that are not awkward at all.
Put it like beautifully, because I do think these words get co-opted.
And then I mean, I think it's very much a good thing that certain terms get pulled into the mainstream in terms of just being able to have, you know, more open conversations about mental illness and feelings that are typically associated with, like shame or things we don't want to air in public.
But yeah, I do think the other, the flip side of that is, Just once you bring something into like a broader spectrum, then the term itself becomes a little bit distorted from the original meaning.
Like now.
If you say imposter syndrome, it might not always mean the technical definition when people are using it.
I really love the book.
I think it's so good.
You walk a kind of a really difficult line in the book, which is you write about some really serious stuff and you talk about it without undercutting its seriousness.
But then you also have moments of pure silliness and you talk about the kind of meta moments of writing a book, about feeling like you're an imposter, which is a thing that is a role that normally an expert would do, right.
To like write it in.
And so in some ways, you're like of course you are an expert in this and you have so many things to say, but there's these feelings that get brought up by the very nature of writing a book about it, that make you feel that imposter syndrome more acutely.
And you talk about that in the book.
My full-time job is a comedian and not taking things seriously or framing things in a sillier or more absurd way.
But then I also have an undergrad psych major.
And I think I do have a very layman's background in doing a little bit of research and reading an article and letting that inform me.
So I think I really leaned into any you know tiny background I have in the like scientific inquiry process and was like I'm gonna figure this out.
So when you think about like the way that imposter syndrome intersects with your life and your work as a stand up you talk about in the book a lot of different places,
And one of them is how you look and your sense about your appearance and fitting in.
And you write about how you haven't really felt like you conformed.
You used to have a joke that you used to start sets with.
That was something along the lines of like, I know I'm also surprised that I'm a comedian.
Yeah, I mean, I think part of it is just the luck or privilege of having gotten to do this as a career and kind of made a little bit more of a name for myself.
But then I think on the other hand, I was just like, I don't.
I'm a little bit also doing myself a disservice by being like yeah, I also am like what the heck am I doing here?
You know, like it is a way of kind of front and center airing your imposter syndrome out loud.
But then I was like am I in a way kind of setting the audience up to be like, prove yourself in a way that I don't need to be?
It's a joke that worked for you with audiences worked in the sense that they laughed, but that, like if I was to walk out on stage and say that joke, it wouldn't have worked, because I think people wouldn't have been like.
They would've been like.
Why are we surprised that you're a comedian?
You look exactly like 900% of comedians.
Like that's not the thing.
And so it's interesting to think in the chapter about your appearance how you'd felt like you didn't conform to people's ideas, which often were like straight.
It did feel like a joke about external identity and stuff that you know you would know immediately upon physically seeing me.
But they're also.
I think there's also something about my personality or how I present, in terms of like, you know, not not being like this loud, like boisterous, maybe a certain type of comedian energy that I was also kind of commenting on in saying that.
So I have thought in the past like oh, I wonder if I was like my identity.
But, you know, maybe a more extroverted, like gregarious, bubbly kind of person would that joke have worked as well.
Like sometimes, I think it's like yeah, more than just the external factors too, Have you come up with some new way of explaining that sense of like?
Maybe I don't always feel like I'm supposed to be here, but that feels more cohesive to who you are as a as a whole.
Yeah, I mean I have a joke I do now where I'm like a lot of comedians like to break the fourth wall, where they kind of like really get with the audience.
And I kind of pre-established that I'm like pretty uncomfortable with the audience.
Leading up to the joke I say, which is like I'm actually working on breaking the fifth wall, which is just that I abruptly stop talking and go home.
So like I sort of frame that I'm like yeah, I have a lot of, you know ambivalence about being here too.
And in that way like commenting not only on like, if they feel weird that I'm a comedian, but I'm like, I also am like, what is this?
Like, this is so weird in a way that's more, yeah, personal to me.
So...
If someone's listening and they're not a comedian, but they are dealing with these feelings of like being a fraud and really struggling with, like the sense of belonging.
What are some things that you found in your research or in your own life that they can do to help themselves to deal with imposter syndrome?
Yeah, I mean, I think one big thing for me is just like talking about it with other people.
Like I know that's probably well-trod advice in a lot of areas, but I do think, with a lot of feelings around imposter syndrome whether that's shame or like doubting yourself like it is you kind of can create a vacuum where you're just like so convinced of your own incompetence.
You just start like...
Seeking evidence of it and it becomes a little bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So I think, the more you can get out of your head and like talk to other people and realize that a lot of people are either experiencing the same feelings or don't feel that way about you.
It can be really helpful like reminders or just reframing of your own perspective, and you know therapy is always a great thing.
I also think now imposter syndrome has been like there's been more pushback against it.
I think the term has proliferated in terms of just its usage and the way it's marketed as, like some, like the newest thing you can like, fix about yourself and and I do think some of it maybe is more just like an institution not doing enough to like support who's there and like people who might not conform to who's been there in the past.
So so also remembering it might not just be an individual level problem at all, is like really important in terms of like more systemic change.
You talk in the book.
You have this moment where you're talking about being on a panel show, basically where you're just chatting.
You're not actually doing stand up.
And you mention struggling with imposter syndrome.
And then one of the hosts of the show just kind of lists off all of the reasons why you are a successful performer and comedian and that it kind of blows your mind in a way.
Yeah, I mean, I would say the experience in the moment was horrifying.
Like if someone just like reads your resume out loud during an interview, it is kind of excruciating, though I'm sure there is like a personality type out there that would love that, but not me.
But yeah, I think it was like if you are having, like an actual debate with someone about your, you know, is Aparna an imposter or not?
And then their side presents like, well, you've done this and this and this and this.
It is like, it does feel like my brain's rebuttal would be like, yeah, but she still sucks.
You know, like it doesn't.
It's quite not as strong an argument like outside sometimes as it is in the confines of your brain.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think about this a lot, in the sense that like, even though I know it, it's hard to believe it that it's so easy to see other people more accurately than it is to see myself.
Like when I see a friend I'm like oh, the fact that you got rejected from one thing, that doesn't mean anything.
You're going to be successful.
And then when it's me, I'm like, they finally found me out.
All the rejections from here on out.
There never will be another acceptance.
And.
Like that feels real internally, even though I know when I talk to a friend who's going through that I'm like, of course, that's not what that means.
I think it's just because the way we relate to ourselves is so intuitive and like instinctive that we never think that, like you know, some impulse we have on how we read ourselves could ever be like incorrect or distorted.
Cause we're like, but it feels so real or it feels like beyond the intellectual, like rational side of things.
You also talk in the book about this idea of a failure resume.
Yes.
And you write one.
Can you explain that?
Yeah.
So I did this failure resume.
I actually had this idea.
I was like what if I just make a resume of all the ways that I've failed but kind of brag about in the way a resume does?
But then I looked it up on the internet.
And of course, someone had already done it before, as with everything.
But it was like more in the academic sphere, like someone had written a CV of, like you know, all the research grants they didn't get and all the yeah, all their failures as a scientist.
And so I was like, well, I guess I'm in a different field.
I can do it and it will be different enough.
And the funny thing is i cite the person who had done it previously in the science world.
And then i listened to a podcast recently and someone cited the failures tv and it was someone else who did it.
So i feel like it just that there's like become now a meta level of like everyone kind of doing this failure cb but then maybe not crediting other people for it, which it just creates a whole another level of failure.
Um yeah, to have failed at doing it i failed at doing the failure cv properly is a really great way to start your failure cv or failure resume Yeah.
But then it's funny because with the person, I guess, who originally did it, who I didn't even know about, they said it was like, of all the things they had done in their career, that was the thing that got the most traction, which was just like kind of funny.
A funny thing to realize that people, because I in you know, in writing the book I did a bunch of research on failure and like how it impacts us and how we internalize it.
And it is like you know, when we fail it is so threatening to our ego that we do kind of shut down and it does kind of impact our performance.
But If we hear about other people's failures or like learn from their mistakes, we actually take in quite a lot and it like helps us quite a bit.
So it's almost like an act of altruism to share your failures, because you're like helping other people, maybe even more than yourself.
So is that why you did the failure CV for yourself?
I did it for myself because I also was just like I –
I think there are some rejections I've had in the past that I really like, felt like they really stuck with me in terms of like oh, this really proves that you don't belong.
And I was like, what if I just tell everyone about them?
Like.
I don't know if that'll make them less triggering to me, but at least then they won't be secrets.
So I think that's kind of where the seeds started.
Once I wrote them down, I was kind of like, oh yeah, who cares?
One of the interesting parts of a failure resume to me is that when I started to even think about what I would put down, I realized that the list was so kind of impossibly long.
But that actually made me realize like, oh, these things don't matter, right?
Like you can get rejected a hundred times before you get one job.
Yeah, and I think the reason they stick with us is because we maybe in some cases are like so convinced of like if I got this, like my life would then go this way and I would be on this path.
And I also try to remind myself when I have gotten the things that, That doesn't happen.
Like I'm the same person with the same like doubts going into that job and I'm like scared about it or scared again that they're going to find out.
I don't deserve to be there.
So it's like I guess, as I've gotten older, I just remember that like getting the thing is not going to necessarily like fix everything or even be what you wanted in the first place.
Something that I have found really changes goals for me and makes them feel more attainable is to focus on what's in my control rather than what is out of my control, which is often getting picked right.
So like, if I say like, I'm gonna get a new job, That's not actually totally in my control.
But if I'm going to apply to a new job, that actually is in my control.
And so I started at the beginning of the year when, if I make like a list of goals for the year, I almost always include rejections.
So like on my list right now, for me personally is like I'm going to get 10 big rejections from places where that publish articles.
Like I'm going to submit articles that to big places and they're going to reject me.
But if I get 10 rejections, that'll mean that I at least tried 10 times.
Right.
If I ever get my act together enough to make a list of goals, I'm going to do that.
Yeah.
Well, your first one can be.
Your first goal could be fail at making a list of goals, and then you can check that one off.
But that's so smart because it's true.
There's like, there are definitely going to be rejections.
So to, to kind of even anticipate them is so smart.
I have the feeling of like if someone wasn't a fraud, they would be getting approached all the time.
They wouldn't have to reach out.
People would say like, will you do this exciting thing?
Whereas I'm like begging, will you please let me do this thing?
Like, will you let me write for you?
Will you let me perform on your show?
Will you let me do these things?
And I, the narrative I have in my head, which I know is not true, is that, like that is the sign that you're a fraud?
That like.
If you were real, they would just ask you.
You wouldn't have to ask them.
And so if I flip it around and I'm like well, I'm going to just embrace that a little bit and I'm just going to get rejected from the things that a non-fraud would would have gotten offered,
Got it.
Yeah.
And I think sometimes societally there, we are so enraptured by the idea of like success after success, or just the person who just keeps winning, or whatever.
And I think it does create this idea that there's some people that are just like chosen, you know, like they're undeniable or they like worked harder than the next person.
And I don't.
I think there is so much randomness and chance that's always involved, and that we don't fully acknowledge the myth of the kind of like they did it all themselves or like they pushed a little harder than the next person.
Like we just, I think, love that idea, especially as Americans.
And I think it just doesn't account for what it is to actually like live a human life.
We're going to take a quick ad break here because that is how we live the podcast life.
But we will be right back after this with more from Aparna.
Fast forward four decades and on the heels of moderate success as a comedian, I still only warily accept I've accomplished anything or that I ever could again.
I'm relieved I don't consider my continual breathing itself a fluke.
Eh, my lungs got lucky.
There was an extra opening for oxygen intake.
I'm aware that my self-image is distorted, but does it matter if I fully buy into it?
Hello, fringe religions and small-batch cults.
Sometimes it's almost like my imposter syndrome is the majority of me and the rest is my shadow.
That was a clip from Aparna Nancherla's audiobook, Unreliable Narrator.
And, as she discusses a lot in the book, even though Aparna has had a ton of documented career success, it doesn't always feel like that internally.
So Aparna, something that I've always really admired about you is that, rather than waiting for gatekeepers or to be selected as the featured comic at a club or something like that, you've you've built this career on your own terms, often outside of the traditional stand up comedy world.
Right.
By using the Internet or by performing in places that aren't comedy clubs.
And I think that's really wonderful that you've like blazed your own trail.
I didn't quite feel like I fit what they wanted or were looking for.
So I think I tended to, when I was coming up, lean towards spaces that were kind of outside of that model.
And I think I was lucky in that.
You know, the internet kind of exploded as my comedy career progressed.
And, you know, there were all these platforms where you could put up content.
And I feel like I benefited from like early days of Twitter where I could like put a bunch of my jokes online and everything and be you know noticed that way.
And so I do think as I chose these sort of alternate venues, there became more opportunities.
So I again got a little lucky in that sense, but I decided like that model wasn't going to work for me, or I just like didn't really understand the terms and how I could conform to them.
So I was like, well, I guess I'll just do it a little differently and see what happens.
Well, I think that the reason I bring it up is because it feels connected to imposter syndrome, because it's like, if you're listening, whatever your version of the comedy club is,
Right.
Like, maybe it's like oh, I'm supposed to go to this specific type of academic institution, or I'm supposed to work at this prestigious company, or I'm supposed to have this type of house or this type of partner, you know, whatever the boxes that you're supposed to fit in.
There's this sense where if the, if you don't fit into that box, or that box isn't working for you, or you can't get in for any reason, that then like well, there's no way to have success.
And so how do you, in that moment, be like I'm going to just kind of do my own thing and it's going to, it's going to be OK.
Like, what do you tell yourself?
I realized for me, like certain comedy show environments, like certain types of clubs and stuff they just like made me feel bad more than good.
Like I think you have to at some point just be able to take those risks and be okay with knowing that it might happen.
You know, in the short term or maybe even like in the foreseeable future, not necessarily be like assured great decision or like the right decision.
But know that it kind of fits what your intuition is telling you.
Well, I feel compelled to do this because we're talking about imposter syndrome and you wrote a book about imposter syndrome, to just tell you that you're doing a really great job right now.
And this is a great interview.
And you are giving the advice that a wise and established expert would give, which is who you are.
So if you're not feeling that it is actually true and happening from the outside, just so you know internally,
Oh, no.
The oh, no, that's not what you wanted to hear, huh?
Yeah, I'm so bad.
I'm still like practicing as a human, like learning to take a compliment or be like praised in sort of any kind of public format.
I'm just like, well, okay, I guess you can say that.
Like, but no, thank you.
That's very nice.
It'd be hilarious if you just ended this interview now.
You're like, that's it.
I'm out.
Walk out of the interview.
They're like, interviewee walks out due to excessive praise.
Yeah.
Was offended by being complimented.
Walked out.
This interview's over.
You can't treat me like that.
So there's some really serious parts of your book obviously, but there's also some really funny parts where you talk about like ways that you've dealt with the idea of imposter syndrome and like the feeling that you're the only one who is making it up and is faking your way through it.
And one that made me laugh a lot is you play a party game where, when you're at a party, you try and drop a word that you made up and see if anyone will even say anything about it.
I haven't done this as of recent as much, but sometimes I'll just like slip in a word that I kind of made up that it's not like it can't sound too silly, but it, you know, it sounds like S-A-T word adjacent or something.
And then I just see if anyone kind of like asks like, oh, what does that mean?
Or is that a word?
And, you know, no one ever challenges it.
I think they're either like afraid to seem dumb or yeah, they're like oh, I guess everyone else knows what this word means, so I'm not gonna say anything.
And I've, I've been that person, you know, on the other side of things, where everyone's like talking about a movie I haven't seen and I just I'm like, oh yeah, that movie's great, you know, and fully don't know what anyone is talking about.
So I think it is a little just the micro social experiment of how we all are just trying to like keep up with everyone else.
Can you help us generate a few right now so that people – if they're struggling to come up with their own word like what are some good fake words that sound real, that people can just like toss into conversation there?
I think the one in the book is furnicious.
Furnicious, yes.
It's a very furnicious exercise.
And furnicious is great.
Yeah, it can't be like too silly because like, if I try to think of one right now, they're going to be like too silly.
Like I was thinking of like –
Brad-icide?
Yeah, that feels like it actually.
I believe 100% that is the real act of killing a brat.
Yeah, I was thinking of like plungeant.
Oh, plungeant's great.
There's also words that are just created all the time by the media, you know, or like...
Slacktivism or like, there's always words being generated by the internet, like every second.
So you're just like, maybe people are also now just like, oh, that's probably a word.
I just didn't read the latest, like, you know, Twitter storm or whatever it is.
Yeah.
A way that this comes up for me a lot is I've read a word, but I've never heard it said out loud.
And then I'm like, oh, maybe that's the thing.
Like I remember being 100 percent sure, thousand percent sure, that M-A-C-A-B-R-E was pronounced Macabre.
And then I heard someone say Macabre and I was like, Macabre?
What is Macabre?
I remember I had a friend.
Now I can't remember who it was, but she had always pronounced misled, misled.
That's really good.
I don't know why.
I was like, what?
Like, how could you?
And she was just like, I don't know.
That's how I read it.
Yeah, I knew someone from my high school who was like, if not the top of the class, extremely close to the top of the class.
Very well read.
And he was positive that the word prima donna was P.R.E. dash Madonna.
And he thought it was like it meant like you're a big diva because it's like before Madonna.
He had this whole explanation in his head for why I was like, oh, yeah, she's a prima donna.
She's before Madonna.
And when he learned that it was not that, he was truly shocked.
Wow.
I kind of want that word to exist, though, as he imagined it.
Like, it feels like a very incisive way to talk about pop history.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you know it all goes back to this idea of like we're all in some ways trying to like look around and see hey, does everyone else know what's going on here?
Totally.
Do I fit in?
Have I been saying this thing wrong the whole time?
Have I been acting wrong?
Am I been like living my whole life wrong?
To pivot a little bit here and to talk about something significantly more serious.
I think that, at least for me, when I first think about the concept of imposter syndrome, it mostly registers to me as being like professional success or like I don't belong in this.
But I think you make a really compelling case in the book that that sense of being a fraud or of not belonging or of you know, having somehow faked your way, that it's not just professional.
It can be about, you know, our body image.
It can also be about illness.
You know, you have a chapter where you talk about this sense of dealing with really acute mental illness but also having this weird feeling of like oh, I'm not really a depressed person.
Like I don't deserve to use the title of having depression because this isn't how a quote unquote depressed person would behave, or this isn't how they would feel.
The murky thing about like, yeah, especially mental illness.
It's like everyone.
You know.
There are things like a constellation of terms that everyone might associate with, like depression or anxiety, or like bipolar disorder, like schizophrenia.
But I...
I do feel like everyone's experience of them on an individual level can still vary so much that it it can be hard to to know, like if you're kind of completely fits the model of like what it's supposed to look like.
So.
I think the tricky thing, especially with having an anxious, depressive brain, is you're already prone to doubting yourself or undervaluing yourself, or thinking your thoughts are maybe not, as you know, valid as compared to other people.
So then to then question your own mental illness kind of feels like, of course you would.
But it is.
Yeah, it is interesting to me that, like the scales of depression in our society, it's like you have to kind of be the person who can't get out of bed to be considered like an actual depressed person.
Whereas I feel like a lot of my depression has been Me living a life but just like having a really hard time internally for a lot of it.
There's this interesting kind of paradox where you talk about like, on the one hand, you have to trust your own emotions and your own thoughts.
But on the other hand, when you are in a really bad mental space, you have to question those thoughts too, to be like what my brain is telling me about myself.
Isn't true?
So you both have to like push back and believe, and that's going to be a really difficult balance to strike.
Yeah.
And I think, especially with things like depression or anxiety, it's like you, just as a human your moods are going to fluctuate.
So it's like, even if you're a well-balanced, like healthy person, you're going to have days where you feel a little more down compared to you know another day where you're feeling a little more upbeat.
And Sometimes, when I have had my meds working and things are pretty stable and I feel like I'm able to function pretty well then, if I suddenly have a day where I'm feeling down, instead of just being like oh, you're just having a day where you're a little bit in the blues, I'm just like, oh my God, is the depression coming back?
It does make you question yourself sometimes a little more internally.
And I think, yeah, that leads back to those self-doubt feelings sometimes.
What kind of progress have you made on your own imposter syndrome over the course of this book and also just the years between when you started it and now?
Yeah.
I mean I wouldn't say it's gone or fixed, but I do think I've just – come to understand it more as a part of myself rather than all of myself, and and kind of it has its own role of of what it wants to play in terms of like.
I think maybe keeping me small or like trying to make sure I stack up with everyone else is a very human, you know, desire to just like fit in and know what everyone else is doing.
So I just try to remember that it is coming from like a healthier, self-preserving place.
And then it just, you know, is a bit of a like control freak or like a micromanager, in that it wants to take over everything and be like actually You don't know what you're doing and you should really like go away, or whatever it is.
Like I try to remember, it is like a piece of me, but it sometimes has some like ideas that maybe aren't great.
I feel like the title of your book is the perfect summary of that, right?
It's an unreliable narrator.
Yes, yes.
Well, I genuinely felt like this was such a helpful book and so funny and really meaningful.
And I know that people are going to really get a lot from it.
So so it's really it's fantastic.
Oh, thanks, Chris.
Well, it's been an absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much for doing this.
It's been great talking to you.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks for reading the book.
That is it for today's episode of How to Be a Better Human.
Thank you so much to today's guest, Aparna Nancherla.
Her book, Unreliable Narrator, Me, Myself, and Imposter Syndrome is available for pre-order now.
Special thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the clips from Aparna's audiobook.
I am your host, Chris Duffy, and you can find more from me, including my weekly newsletter and upcoming live shows at chrisduffycomedycom.
How to Be a Better Human is brought to you on the TED side by Daniela Bellarezzo, Chloe Shasha Brooks and Banban Cheng a team so impressive that even when I doubt myself, I never doubt them.
Every episode of our show is professionally fact-checked and you can trust that.
That means today you had a fully reliable narrator.
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