Something that comes up a lot in my mentoring sessions is the struggle with imposter syndrome, which in short is that feeling you get when you are working a patient, and self doubt starts to creep in. The patient may mention their previous Osteo and you think to yourself “Im not as good as them”. Or the patient gets up off the table and says “Im still sore” and you immediately think that you haven’t done a good job.
I want you to know that I also had these feelings when I was first working as a new graduate, and I still have them from time to time now. I worked in a busy clinic, where I saw a lot of patients in my graduate year. Because I appear confident on the outside, my mentoring and support dropped off very early on. I think my boss thought I was a breeze compared to other practitioners that she has worked with in the past. And because she thought I was confident, I found it difficult to ask her for help. When I had a moment I felt like I wasn’t good enough, it would play on my mind all week. Or until I saw that patient again. I was so scared to ask the question “how did you go after our treatment last week?” as I really didn’t want to hear the answer. However, my patients did get better. And slowly those feelings appeared less often. I must admit it took me a while to realise that actually I was the one who was making these patients better. Initially I would always think it was anything but my treatment.
The people that struggle most with imposter syndrome are the perfectionists and people pleasers. In health care, these are great traits to have. Your patients will like you because of your attention to detail and your empathetic nature. But, these behaviours can also have a negative impact on our self confidence and our constant feelings of comparison. Likely, it will never go away 100%. BUT – having support around you is invaluable when dealing with these feelings. And this is because – we have a desire to learn off people who have been where we want to go. We envy people who seem confident in the way they show up and the way they speak. If we can find someone to look up to, we will slowly build our confidence. It’s important this mentor not only teaches us to BE better, but teaches us how to show up when things don’t quite go to plan.
If you are someone who struggles with self confidence and imposter syndrome, you can do one of two things.
One – you can ride it out and see where it takes you. Over time, things will get better, and I would suggest to lean on the support network of your peers, friends and family. Talk about how you are feeling, and often.
Two – you can find yourself a mentor. The sessions you have with a mentor will be invaluable. They will teach you strategies to overcome self doubt. They will show you some hard truths, but ultimately you will grow as a person and as a practitioner with their ongoing guidance and support. Combining this with the support of your peers, friends and family, your growth will be exponential. Just think of how far you can go with the right mentoring and support.
If you want to chat further about how I could be the right mentor for you, I’d love for you to book a discovery call. I currently only have 2 spots to work with me for the first half of the year, so if you have been on the fence about getting a mentor I would encourage you to book a call soon.
As always, reach out if you need to chat! I would love to support you.