The Savvy Scribe

Imposter Syndrome Deep Dive: Why We Have It. What We Can Do About It.

September 04, 2019 Carol & Janine Episode 20
The Savvy Scribe
Imposter Syndrome Deep Dive: Why We Have It. What We Can Do About It.
Show Notes Transcript

Imposter syndrome is feeling out of place in the scenes you’ve dreamed up for yourself. It’s reaching that big goal and looking around thinking, “I don’t belong here, someone is going to call me out.”

Imposter syndrome plagues even the most accomplished, successful people because it has nothing to do with our qualifications or experience. Imposter syndrome attacks your confidence and changes your inner dialog, and it can impact your productivity, big time.

Big Shout Out to our Savvy Scribe GrowthLab graduate, Amy Burianek, whose question inspired this episode!

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Adam:

Welcome to the savvy scribe, a podcast for freelance healthcare and medical writers who want to start or grow their business. Your hosts, Carol Bush and Janine Kelbach will help you build a profitable health writing business without having to spend years figuring it out on your own. Now, let's join the conversation

Janine:

Today. You have the pleasure of having Carol and Jeanine. I've had cast episode. I'm so psyched because you know what? It's amazing that as work besties, truthfully, our schedules don't oxen matchup. I mean we definitely have our dates. Okay. That, that we touch base Tuesdays and Fridays. We do a lot of coworking, but I, it's just a thrill for me, Jeanine, to do you know, and they're with you. Thank God we have Voxer to talk in between because otherwise we do talk every single day you guys, but do we actually work together all the time? No, unfortunately. But that's life, right? Yeah. Our goal is actually to live next door to one another. Yeah. However, I need to convince our husbands and kill what we're going to have to work for the summer home on the lake. I think that would be pleasure, wouldn't it on the beach. So today you guys, we are here to touch you about imposter syndrome, what it is. Maybe dive in deep into our own stories and tips for you to overcome it.

Carol:

And you know what's really cool about this, Jeanine is not cool about it, plaster syndrome but cool is because in our recent savvy scribe growth lab, eight weeks, Brent, one of our cool students, Amy asked this question, said, hey, can you talk a little bit about imposter syndrome? It is and how you overcome it. So I love, while we had this question from Amy and I thought about first, what is it? But I'd never even heard of imposter syndrome until I was in my role as a near nurse consultant with the K U Cancer Center. And I had this feeling of, okay, I'm doing, I am performing this role. Like I'm creating something no one's ever done before. And I was tasked with building something from scratch. And everyone else looked at me as an expert. And I had these days where I thought, oh my gosh, people are gonna think you're al. I don't know what the heck I'm doing. They're going to be like the wizard of Oz and pull back that curtain and go, you're a fried carrots. You don't know what the heck you're doing. You guys have ever felt like you're not qualified. You're uncomfortable when being praised that you're afraid you'll be found out. That fear of being found out that you're not a writer, that you might just be a nurse, something like that. We're here to knock that out of you guys today. So First Carol, let's tell them what it is. Where did it come from? Is it recognized condition? So of course the first time I even had someone tell me, hey, guess what curl you're suffering from imposter syndrome. Of course I had to look up the evidence behind it, right? Like every good health care pro and I found out. So imposter syndrome is actually a psychological term that refers to a pattern of behavior where people doubt their accomplishments. And just as you said, Janine, they often have a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud. So what I did learn is it is not an actual disorder, but it coined, that was termed first by clinical psychologist, Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978 folks. And at that time they found that despite having adequate external evidence of accomplishments, people with imposter syndrome remain convinced that they don't deserve the success they have. So isn't that interesting? Since 1978 well I also found it interesting cause I looked it up as well. And 70% of people have it so we're not alone. You're not alone. 70% I don't know the other 30% are doing, but that's 70% sure speaks to me. Exactly. So I think that's one of the big assurances that you really want to share is first of all how to overcome it. Just know you are not alone, just like Janine said. And here we are. We're always about talking about how we're helping people, like real people. We're delivering real training, real strategies to real writers in real time. I really want to dig deep with you guys today and I'm going to be really transparent and I'm going to relate to you a personal story. So I've not told anyone else this other than Janine, and so I'm laying it out here folks, but I know it will make a difference in someone's life. Someone needs to hear this. So many of you know, earlier this summer I made a big business pivot and that was really as a result of when I first started this podcast. I rediscovered my joy of creating content when I was working as the operations manager and managing editor on the for-profit side of the health care marketing network with clients. I was really focused on a lot of operations and workflow and I didn't get to write. I hardly ever got to create. The writing I did was proposals and I supported writers, but I didn't get to coach people or do the things like this, like really connect with people. And quite frankly, it was sucking the joy out of my life. U m, at the time, I also had a lot of challenges in our family, like my aging parents. So that required a lot of care. And at the same time I had a grandson and his mom move in and live with us. So I had a lot of stress going on with my life. B ut as a result, a made t he pivot and really focused on podcast and my passion, which is helping high performing health writers build profitable businesses. That's what I love. So as you can imagine, just like the rest of you with any business pivot, I needed to take a step back and obviously that wasn't going to bring in a f ull t ime, you know, r eplace my, u m, consulting income, u m, with clients. So I had the opportunity to go back to a few things that I love doing and that is working as a community health consultant, um, in our region. And as a result of that, I needed to update, kind of tweak some of my skillset. So what I wanted to let you know is I all of a sudden discovered through this transition, through this business pivot. I started feeling like I wasn't good enough that who am I to make this transition? People are gonna find out. I don't know what the heck I'm doing. Right. Hey, you haven't been in this community consulting role for 10 years. Carol, who are you to do this? So I thought that was really interesting and when as I was working through it, I want to share with you some of the things that I did that have really helped me. Hi everyone. It's Carol here. I just couldn't help it. I had to break in and let me know about something really awesome coming up. This episode is sponsored by our upcoming free Web Bodar called are you ready to make an extra$1,000 a month? As a health writer, we have limited seating and I don't think you want to miss it. It's interactive session that we'll provide you with some simple strategies to increase your revenue and impact. Can we have limited seating? So you'll want to reserve your seat now. Here's how you can do that. You can join the savvy scribe collective today to learn more or registered directly on our website, thesocialnurse.com or writern.net. Take some action and elevate your professional practice. I bet you could use an extra$1,000 a month. We'll see you t here. Now, back to the show, so how the heck did I work through this? Here are the strategies. First I recognize that I felt like I was an imposter, right? I felt it because it was just like I felt way back when I first started working as a knowledge worker and you know, I was creating something from scratch and I was afraid people were gonna find out. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. Next, I really just took some time to think about and do that whole nursing thing. I'm looking at evaluating, well, why in the heck am I feeling that way? What I observed was m y S elf Talk, so I was really telling myself those stories like I'm 59 or actually 58 and a half years old. Who am I to be doing this again? I haven't done it for 10 years. Again, it was all of this negative self talk and I decided to take my own advice like I tell everyone else and just draw an Underline...Enough is Enough. And I realized also at the time that I was feeling that fear. So just like the evidence, it says people feel that fear. And here's one thing, I know that when ever I have felt fear in my life, in my business, I know that if I take one simple action, no matter if it's a whole plan or just one step, I know that taking action, combats fear. So what did I do? I reached out to one of my local pals who specializes in online branding and she's a HR professional as well. I s aid, you know, for this grant application on this consulting project, I need to revamp my CV and my resume. I really need some help. And she s ays, great. So she took everything that I had, you know, historically crafted and then she interviewed me and what she came up with totally blew me away. I think Janine, sometimes we may not always see our brilliance or our expertise by reaching out to someone else, taking some action and seeing ourselves in our accomplishments from another person's perspective can really, uh, make a difference. So I definitely believe that that was really a key for me. And maybe it's a strategy that you can use. It might be as simple as just writing out your accomplishment and in your health writing business and claiming that expertise. But I know for me it made a big difference and I have it in a nice little paragraph. I have it right by my PC. I look at it every morning now because it's just a great affirmation of what others have seen. That was very empowering for me and it made a big difference in my trajectory. So I hope that's helpful to people.

Janine:

Absolutely. I think so. And I've watched you go through this journey and I and I, I've helped you in a sense of being impatient and just trying to guide you and let you know that you are worthy and how I always saw the great in you and it's hard to see it in ourselves.

Carol:

I think a lot of the time, and I think even in the, in the evidence shows that it's very common if you're at a women's conference or a women's leadership conference that as women it's more common for us to have imposter syndrome than men, meaning 30% it could be.

Janine:

The other way I know that we're not alone is one of my business mentors is Natalie Eckdahl and she is the host of the Biz CHix podcast and she has a great book called reset your mindset. And there's a really cool chapter in there that specifically addresses impostor syndrome and she has some nice quotes from, I would call it experts and celebrities of which guess what? There's one from Maya Angelou, so a writer, and here's the quote directly from her about impostor syndrome. Maya related. I have written 11 books, but each time I think, oh they're going to find out now I've run a game on everybody and they're going to find out I'm a fraud. So folks, everyone experiences impostor syndrome. n o matter their status. You know the most elite experience i t for sure you see it and you don't see it as much when you're a beginner person because you're not looking there c ause you just see these people as such a high ranked profile person.

Carol:

Exactly. So what about you Janine?

Janine:

Oh Gosh, my imposter syndrome. I don't know if I have a direct story. I'm related like yours, but in writing for sure, I experienced imposter syndrome all the time when it comes to beginning progress as a writer. I think because I didn't even know that this could be a business. I had such doubt in myself and I never owned a business and I don't come from a big entrepreneurial family. So I didn't even know really how it worked. All I knew is that I did like to write and I was quote unquote an aspiring beginner writer and I'm going to talk to you guys about that. But you know, I think that was the biggest thing was, you know, then I wrote the book and everybody complimented me on it and I'd be like, Oh yeah, it's just a book. It's not a big deal. Duh, Duh, Duh. Again, imposter syndrome coming at Ya. I'm also, I experienced it in my nursing career. You know, I've been doing this for a little while now and the doctors will, will say things about me and I still am like, oh, it's none of the deals. It is what it is. And no, they're like to be, you are an excellent nurse and the other side of it, Janine, you're an excellent writer and you know, it's hard for me to take that compliment sometimes when you know you don't feel like you're anything, you know, it's, it sounds like bad self esteem. But I think it's more of that imposter syndrome of the fear of people thinking or knowing that, you know, I'm not the best, I'm not this, but they, they think what you do is great and you need to embrace it.

Carol:

I think it's important that you brought up, uh, just something that made me think about a question sometimes that I hear people ask themselves or say to themselves when they're experiencing imposter syndrome. And this happened to me was I kept having this question in my mind. And one way to overcome that is to flip that around and say, who are we not to do this? Right? This is a huge part of what you and I work with people all the time, is to help them understand that as healthcare professionals, we have wonderful subject matter expertise and we are the most trusted professions..... Nurses, physicians, pharmacists, social workers, et cetera. So we have knowledge that people are craving. Number one, write this down on a sticky note Folks! Put it up on your PC or your laptop and say, who am I not to do this? Right? I like that. Earlier when we were talking, I think that you shared with me that you had some pointers that you wanted to share. And this really came as a result of working with our Savvy Scribe Collective um, the folks there and on our students in our eight week sprint via our Savvy Scribe GrowthLab. And that's for people who are building their health, writing business and landing that first gig. So I think you had some tips.

Janine:

I sure do. On the SavvyScribe Podcast, we're always talking about finding a tribe o r finding those l ike m inded people. So Carol and I thought, why not make our own community of podcast fans? It's open now. Come join us, search on Facebook savvy s cribe collective and join us for discussions, exclusive tips and tricks and more that you might not hear on the podcast. See you over at the collective. So you guys, there are some actionable tips and we've mentioned them a little bit throughout the podcast, but there are some things I want you guys to take away from this or write down or tell yourself daily, weekly, monthly, whatever you got to do with them. So the first thing, especially as a new writer, don't see your new, don't say you're a beginner and don't say your aspiring. I am a writer, my name is Janine Kalbach and I am a writer and that's what I want you to repeat to yourself. I am so& so and I am a writer. I'm not a nurse writer, I'm not a health writer. I'm just a writer that that's okay. Just say that right now. A lot of us add that nurse in there. A lot of us had the doctor or physician or you don't have to do that. You could just say writer, health writer or just writer and your qualifications will come after. The other thing is to focus on some positive affirmations. When you wake up in the morning, this is a good time to do this. Take some quiet time, get your cup a coffee and a lot of people will meditate. Do whatever that means to you. Does that mean take a walk? Does that mean just sit and close your eyes and just listen to the birds or whatever and tell yourself, you know, maybe like three positive things a day. Who am I not to do this? The money will come, my cloud clients will come. Whatever those positive things are to tell yourself you're going to grow your business, you're going to do great things, visualize your success. So where do you want your business to go? Do you want to replace your income? Do you want to just do this as a side job? Do you want to just make it your extra 12 hour shifts a week? Do you just want to escape some burnout at work? Whatever that is to you. Think about that and visualize it. Really sit there and think, what does that look like? Does that look like I work Tuesdays and Thursdays and do my writing on Wednesdays? What are you could even go down to the days like that. Does that mean you work here every other weekend? Does that mean you take off a day during the week to just do your writing? If you visualize it more, you visualize it, the faster that vision will come. True. So another thing is to minimize your language. Again, we talked about this a little bit, especially on myself, Janine, that's a great book you wrote, Oh, it's no big deal. Oh, it was nothing money-wise that don't say that. Say thank you. Take the compliment and run with it. Write that down. Write down all of your successes. Built a website. I gained a client, I wrote a book, I wrote three articles, I pitched five people. Whatever that is, that's a success. That's an achievement because all progress is good progress and we need to tell ourselves that time isn't linear. We all have very busy lives. If you can fit in, you know, we might want to say, oh this, by the end of this week I want to do this, and you don't do it. Doesn't mean you're a failure. It could be life happened. It could mean, you know, life stuff that got busy at work. You ended up working longer and you're exhausted. Give yourself some time to rest. Any progress is good progress.

Carol:

I'd love that. I'm g oing t o interrupt you because I love that. Um, it's very important. So that in itself, the d ebris affirmation, y ou don't beat yourself up. Yeah, it's great t oo. It goes right along with taking small actions, combat fear, any progress is good progress.

Janine:

And when you do f lagged some sort of goal r eward yourself, I'm going to say is s pend all the money that you made on one article on, you know, a new purse or something for yourself, but really reward yourself. Does that mean you get to go get an extra cup of coffee this week and work at the coffee shop shirt, whatever t hat b eats to y ou, whatever a little reward is. Maybe you've been e yeing u p this new like desk accessory for your Home Office. Go get it. You deserve it. You worked hard. That's what I got f or y ou. Those are my tips. And does i t, it will help it go away. No, no. Like we said, all levels of business have this. So it's important for you to recognize it for one, let it be, let it be there. We understand that it happens. It's going to happen. Let it be. It's never going to go away. But learn to help yourself through it with those positive affirmations and rewarding yourself and visualizing success and take compliments from others. And if you need a boost, find someone in our community at the Savvy Scribe Collective. We are all like minded individuals. And the big thing is rising tides lift all boats and we want you guys to feel that love and we're here to support you if you need. If you're having a hard day, come on over to the group, tell us what your struggle is and we'll pat you on the back and get you back up and running.

Carol:

So we're all about taking some action and here's a small action I'd love for each of you to take. If you've ever experienced imposter syndrome, maybe as a beginner or possibly a well-experienced health writer who's making a business pivot, we'd love to hear from you. I want you to go to the savvy scribe collective on Facebook, and there's going to be a post in there and asking you to share any kind of experience as an imposter syndrome and how you have overcome that. We'd love to hear from you!

:

And that's all we have for you guys today. We hope you enjoyed this episode and go, Get Your Write On! Take care

Adam:

for today's episode of the savvy scribe. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy today's show, we'd love for you to subscribe and leave a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast. And until next time.