How to Conquer Imposter Syndrome and Know You Belong

Session 109

Imposter syndrome never really goes away, but today, I’ll share a few ways you can turn anxiety into excitement.

Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

By the way, the episodes in this podcast are recordings of our Facebook Live that we do at 3 pm Eastern on most weekdays. Check out our Facebook page and like the page to be notified. Also, listen to our other podcasts on MedEd Media. If you have any questions, call me at 617-410-6747.

[00:21] Question of the Day

“I just want to talk about how I can beat imposter syndrome. I’m in the middle of the application cycle right now. And I definitely feel like I’m never going to see the light at the end of this tunnel. And even if I do, am I going to be good enough in medical school? And how will that affect me throughout medical school?”

[00:58] It Never Goes Away

The scary thing is that it never goes away. Whether you’re a junior or a senior, or when you’re taking the MCAT, you will still feel like you’ve never done enough. It all comes rushing back. And obviously, you’re sitting on applications and on that timeline, and you don’t know what to do.

Then you start medical school, you question whether or not you are supposed to be there. You start your time in the hospital, and question if you’re smart enough to be there. What if you’re going to kill someone?

Then you start your residency so now you have more responsibility. And you’re wondering what if you’re writing the wrong prescription. And then you start your attending position, and now the buck stops with you. And the imposter syndrome is just exacerbated.

At the end of the day, you just have to tell yourself what you’ve done what you needed to do at this point. You are smart enough and you’ve worked hard enough.

“Every day, you're doing what it takes to get into medical school and to get through medical school. This is not a mistake.”Click To Tweet

[02:37] Anxiety vs. Excitement – They’re the Same!

'Doubting yourself tells you that you're taking this seriously and you continue to take every step seriously and not take it for granted.'Click To Tweet

Doubting yourself or having those fears and emotions are good as long as you harness them in the right way.

From a physiological perspective, there’s really no difference between anxiety and excitement. It’s your interpretation of how your body is reacting in that moment based on all of the context around the scenario and your previous history with the scenario. In the end, those two are the same. It all depends on what you tell yourself.

The imposter syndrome gets a negative connotation because of what we tell ourselves. You tell yourself you don’t belong or you haven’t done enough. When in fact, you have done enough.

So try to replace those feelings with positive affirmations. Tell yourself how exciting it is. You’ve worked hard to get to this point and you’ve prepared as hard as you can. There are going to be tons of things that you don’t know. And that’s okay because you’re excited to learn those new things. So you see, it’s the exact same feeling you’re having, but just a different message you’re telling yourself this time.

The next time you catch yourself feeling anxious, just work through it from a logical perspective. For example, if you’re walking into an interview and you haven’t prepared at all, then you should be anxious. But if you’ve prepared for it, then there’s no reason to feel anxious. There are going to be some unknowns and you might get some questions you didn’t think of. But you’ve prepared and you’re excited to prove that you’ve worked hard to get to this point.

[07:59] Stop Playing the Comparison Game

You just need to shut that down because you can play the comparison game every single day against every single person in this world. There are going to be students who are smarter than you. But just run your own race and get better every day. Don’t compete against those people.

Everyone else is applying to medical school at the same time. They’re running their own race. They have their own stories, their own weaknesses. You have your strengths and your own weaknesses. And so, everybody who deserves to be in medical school from a complete application perspective usually gets in.

On the other hand, there are lots of reasons why people don’t get in. Those who don’t get in either are lacking, have huge gaps in their application, they made big mistakes on their application, or they just didn’t know how to reflect on their journey in the proper way. They just came at the application from the wrong angle. So

“For you to look at it more from a quantitative measure – enough shadowing hours, high enough GPA and MCAT scores – usually those things don't matter as much as students think they do.”Click To Tweet

There are a lot of students who have put together an application that really focused on their story. And even without the best stats, they got interviews and acceptances to schools they never thought were possible.

[11:30] Find Success Stories of People Who Have The Same Story as Yours

There are thousands of students applying every year and getting into medical school every year who don’t have parents who are physicians or in health care. There are many of them who are first-generation college students who are embarking on this journey without the support of a physician parent.

“If you are looking for reasons why you're not going to get into medical school, you can find a million of them.”Click To Tweet

Whether that’s because you didn’t come from a family of physicians or you don’t come from a high-income family, or that you don’t have enough experience – they’re all excuses. But I’ve seen stories of students who have all those things and they’ve gotten in.

And you will find stories of students who are in medical school, or who are now physicians who have the same story as yours. They don’t have the resources and they don’t have the connections. Look for those kinds of people and network with them.

[14:38] Final Thoughts

Use positive affirmations. Grab a pen and paper and write down affirmations. Post them on your wall around your house so you can read them every day. And then again, all of those same fears, thoughts, and physiological experiences are going to come back. So just remember to turn those into excitement instead of anxiety.