Self-doubt can show up at every stage of your career transition. It’s important to recognize its purpose and work with it so it doesn’t stop you from moving forward.

Real life examples.

Self-doubt usually stems from a sense of unworthiness, imposter syndrome, or a fear of failure.

One physician told me their biggest fear about leaving clinical medicine was they wouldn’t succeed in a non-clinical job the way they had medicine. This kept them from actively pursuing non-clinical opportunities.

For another physician, self-doubt was related to the decision about leaving medicine. They doubted if leaving was right and didn’t trust the validity of their feelings. This caused them to ping-pong between staying and leaving for years.

For yet another physician, self-doubt showed up after they had landed a non-clinical job and were on the verge of taking the leap, when the “What If?”voice showed up. “What if I don’t like this?” “What if I miss patients? What if this is the wrong job?”

How to unpack self-doubt.

1.  Appreciate self-doubt and don’t always believe it!

Self-doubt and feeling like an imposter aren’t always a problem.

When you start something new, or want to improve a skill, you might feel like an imposter. In some sense, you are! That’s OK. That feeling can motivate you to improve your performance and become skilled.

However, when self-doubt is unchecked, it leads to analysis paralysis and indecision. A mind “plagued by doubt” has the power to take you out of the game. It’s as if the self-doubt feeds on outdated beliefs and stories about who you are and what you are capable of.

The internal voice that’s asking, “what if?” or saying, “You’re not good enough!” might believe you’re still young and need protection from failure or rejection. It hasn’t caught up with your growth into a capable, smart adult. It needs a software upgrade!

2.  “Fact-check” self-doubt.

The voice of self- doubt can sound wise, compassionate, and state partial “truths” with authority.

For example,

“You don’t do well with change and finding a new job will be stressful. You don’t need all that stress now.”

“Maybe you should wait until [insert whatever is going on in your life right now] is over. Then you can start looking at other jobs seriously.”

“You’re too old/it’s too late to make a change now.”

Fact-checking means asking, “Is the story, statement, or belief really true?” What factual evidence do you have for its veracity? If you can come up with an exception to self-doubt’s “truth”, you’ve popped the bubble.

Here’s where it can be helpful to remember:

• You can do almost anything you really want to do.
• Others have gone before you and made it. You can too!

3.  Generate counter evidence.

Remind yourself of past challenges you’ve overcome.

Here’s an example: You made it through the challenges of medical training! You can do hard things. 

4.  Reconnect with your “Why?” as an antidote to self-doubt.

Why do you want to make this change?

What’s important about doing it now?

What will likely happen if you wait?

5.  Connect with the part of you that can do hard things.

From this place of courage, what’s the NEXT BEST step you can take to move forward?

Most physicians experience self-doubt during their career transition. When you recognize and appreciate what self-doubt is trying to do (protect you from failure and rejection), you can begin to work with it, update your mental software, and harness the courage to do hard things.