Am I ready for this job?

Some coping strategies if you are feeling out of your depth:

• • Be aware of always trying to be perfect, where you are exhaustively seeking the best, obsessing over outcomes and comparing yourself with others. Perfectionism is a highly common trait in doctors, but at its worst, it can lead to indecision, procrastination and/or self-criticism. Can you move towards a new position of thinking that your effort has been ‘good enough’, rather than having to be ‘perfect’?

• • Remind yourself of all your achievements. Keep a list of these, for example you could keep this saved on your computer and you can keep adding to it. Review it from time to time, to remind yourself and to celebrate everything you’ve achieved. 

• • Work on your self-limiting beliefs (see section below).

• • Adopt some of the strategies I mention in my ‘boosting your confidence’ article.

• • Consider coaching. Coaching will help you to reflect on your feelings and to reframe (turn around) your negative thoughts.

Remember, however, by having this feeling of taking on a role you don’t feel ready for, it shows that you care about it. This indicates that the role has meaning for you and this shows that you want to do well. What employer would complain about this? Therefore, having this feeling can be useful for keeping you on your toes and for not allowing you to rest on your laurels. All good, if it is well-balanced.

Self-limiting beliefs

Self-limiting beliefs can hinder you from being the best version of yourself. For example, if you don’t believe that you are up to taking on the next step up in your training pathway, or a new promotion, then this can mean that instead of being excited about the role, you are full of anxiety about the responsibility that you have. This can be a cause of impostor syndrome.

Examples of self-limiting beliefs:

• • I’m rubbish at doing this particular procedure.

• • I believe that only a particular ‘type’ of person can get to the next training level, or be promoted in my organisation. Here you will be comparing yourself to others. For example, you may think that you need to be more confident or assertive. Or that you need to be more academic.

• • Worry that other people have done more than you and that what they have done is of better quality. For example that you need to have completed more audits, research and teaching than you have. 

• • Feeling you have failed because you didn’t quite complete everything that’s on your to-do list. 

Beliefs are not truths, even though they feel like they are. They are not rigid and you can change them. To other people, beliefs are only opinions. Detecting the belief is the first stage. You can then examine it. This is used in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Watch out for:

1. 1. Feelings that you can’t feel. For instance: ‘I feel that they don’t like me’, or ‘I feel that I’m not going to succeed’
   2. Negations – e.g. I can’t have a good relationship with that person.
   3. Comparisons – e.g. I’m not good enough, or they are better than me.
   4. Modal operators of necessity i.e. should, ought, must, have to, need to, got to.
   5. Unhelpful thoughts.

Here are some strategies in order to change these beliefs:

(Note some of these strategies might be more applicable than others, depending on your situation)

• • Try to find a counter-example. Think of someone who has successfully done what you are trying to do, with the same challenges. Here I’m not advocating you compare yourself with this person, but that you recognise that this challenge has been overcome before. For example if you think that you cannot go into a competitive specialty or career path because it has historically been a male-dominated one and as a woman you don’t think you would be welcome. Try to find out by asking around or investigating on the internet other women who have succeeded in this career path. 

• • Think of the situation from another perspective. Consider what someone else would think about what you have achieved. This is to be used when you feel that you haven’t quite made your ambitious goal.

• • Try to reframe the situation. Are there any positives to come out of it?

• • Check reality, is the situation really true?

• • Objectively assess whether your worries reflect baseless insecurities or genuine shortcomings that are amenable to additional training. You can do this by getting some feedback from a few of your peers and/or senior colleagues. If you find that you have genuine shortcomings, then increase your capabilities, i.e. get some training in the area that is your weakness.

• • Pretend/ act ‘as if’. This is the same as the ‘fake it till you make it’ attitude. A good question to ask yourself if you feel you have taken on a role that you don’t feel ready for, is, ‘if you knew you could do this, what would you do?’

• • Try to cultivate a mindset for success. As Victor Frankl (a holocaust survivor and psychiatrist) says, we always, in whatever situation we are in, can choose our response to any given circumstances. Coaching can help you to do this. 

• • Focus on having a mission, vision and purpose. If this is strong, then you will be working towards achieving something that is bigger than yourself. It can help to think about who else will benefit from you achieving your goals. For example, someone might have a strong purpose to become a clinical educator and to change how a specialty or career pathway is regarded by trainees and medical students. This vision can help you push through any self-limiting beliefs.

I want to reiterate that it can be helpful to remember, if you feel overwhelmed and that you are not on top of your job and are making it up as you go along, you are not the only one. There will be many that are in your position and who are hiding this fact. You may find it helpful to discuss this situation with some trusted peers, as you will often find that a ‘problem shared is a problem halved.’ If you are finding yourself in a really tough spot it may also be a good idea to seek some counselling support. 

Further support and training

If you are working in supportive environment, you can see what training is available to help with your role.

When you actually want to take on a role with less responsibility

If you have worked through what’s really important to you and it is part of your plan to step back and slow down, then deciding not to take on a role that you don’t feel ready for, may be the best decision. If you take it on and it means you are time-poor and over-stressed, choosing not to continue with it could actually be a valid conclusion. At this point, I would definitely advise some career coaching, which I am happy to offer. 

When this is the case, there’ll be a need to take stock and recognise what you need after relinquishing the training place, or taking the step down. In these situations, often a shift to a different career is the answer. One where you can use the transferable skills you’ve gained as a doctor. As a coach, I have helped hundreds of doctors take stock of a career change. 

Such a career change might mean a shift outside the NHS or the organisation for which you’re working. It is often hard to stay working for the same organisation once you have decided to go for a role with less responsibility, as the focus of most is on progression.

I hope this article has given you some food for thought, as well as some strategies that you can take forward. If any of it has resonated with you, and you wish to get some further support with impostor syndrome or any of the issues mentioned in this article, I offer 1:1 coaching sessions. You can see more about my methods and my prices on my coaching page.