MRS BEETON

on beating imposter syndrome

No matter how many professional coups you pull off, deep down you believe all compliments are lies and that you’re only one mistake away from being ‘found out’. So how to deal with it? Isabella Beeton ought to have felt this more keenly than most, but seems to have laughed in the face of her ineptitude and achieved more in her short life than most of us can hope for over many years.

Mrs Beeton was a young, forward-thinking entrepreneur, translator, journalist and editor who was rubbish at cooking. Having been advised by her aunt that culinary expertise took years to develop, she nicked many of the recipes for her Book of Household Management. She cherry picked the best from the books around her, benefiting from lax copyright laws. She did come up with one innovation though: listing ingredients at the beginning of the recipe so that the cook could have everything she needed in front of her. She died aged only 28 in 1865 after contracting an infection during the birth of her fourth child. After her death her fame grew, her book was constantly updated and given as a wedding present and it remains a fixture on people’s cookery book shelves even today. What’s extraordinary is that this dynamic young woman with few culinary skills grew into a byword for homemaking perfection. So if you’re suffering from imposter syndrome look to the original domestic goddess, who was anything but. She was an imposter but styled it out; she understood that the path to success lies in taking risks, accepting your limitations and realising that your flaws are no barrier to being completely amazing.

“MRS BEETON LAUGHED IN THE FACE OF HER INEPTITUDE”