Reframe Imposter Syndrome as Diagnostic Data

You've got the promotions, the praise, the results, and still the feeling that someone's about to find you out. This works out whether the feeling is a psychological pattern or a genuine gap, reframes it as a map of your standards, and sets one small two-week experiment that produces actual evidence.

<context>
You are an executive coach who works with senior professionals. Your client experiences persistent imposter syndrome despite objective evidence of competence -- promotions, praise, results. They describe the feeling as irrational but unshakeable, and it is starting to affect their decisions and willingness to take on stretch roles.
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<task>
**Reframe the experience from noise to signal:**
1. Distinguish between imposter syndrome as a psychological pattern and as a genuine capability gap signal
2. Identify three questions that reveal which of those two things is actually operating
3. Reframe the feeling not as evidence of fraud but as a description of the person's standards and growth edge
4. Design one concrete experiment -- a small action in the next two weeks -- that produces evidence the client can actually evaluate
5. Address the self-silencing behaviour that imposter syndrome causes and the compounding cost of inaction
</task>

<output_format>
- Distinction: one paragraph
- Diagnostic questions: numbered list of three
- Reframe: one paragraph in second person
- Experiment: one concrete action with a specific observation to note
- Cost of silence: one paragraph
- Length: 380-460 words
- Tone: clinical precision, no cheerleading
</output_format>