Transcript: How to Deal with Imposter Syndrome as a New Grad NP

​Liz Rohr:

Well hey there. It's Liz Rohr from Real World NP, and you're watching NP Practice Made Simple, the weekly videos to help save you time, frustration, and help you learn faster so you can take the best care of your patients.

So if you ever feel like, "What did I get myself into? What am I doing here? They're going to find out that I'm actually terrible at this, and maybe I should go back to my job as a nurse," or, "back to my old job," if you didn't work as a nurse before, you did a master's entry program, you're not alone, number one. But number two, you're in the right place, because I'm going to be talking about imposter syndrome today, and the strategies I use to deal with it.

So I just want to start by saying that basically everybody, regardless of profession, experiences imposter syndrome. And if you say that you don't, I'm really surprised and I'd love to hear from you, because it's just super, super uncommon. But regardless of that, this pretty much happens to everybody. Maya Angelou wrote 11 books and on her 11th book still had the feeling of like, "Oh no, now they're going to find out that I'm actually a fraud, that I'm fooling everybody." Albert Einstein supposedly had it. Jennifer Lopez, Emma Watson, Sheryl Sandberg, the list goes on and on. So this is super common, and this is especially common, I think, for new nurse practitioners. And my tip number one is to just expect that it's going to happen, unfortunately.

So nursing research is not my favorite, but there is a pretty good researcher, and I apologize, I don't remember the name, but looking at that novice to expert model I'm sure you've heard of with nursing, applying it to the nurse practitioner model. And it actually is really accurate. And I remember writing a paper on it when I was in grad school, and if only I had listened to myself back then I would have maybe had a little less pain, but I don't think that I really appreciated what it meant until after the fact. But it is true that the first stages of going from novice to expert in terms of being a nurse practitioner, you go through this phase of frustration and this crisis of confidence where you're just like, "I'm not capable of doing this, and who am I to be somebody's PCP or somebody's healthcare provider?"

So expecting it is really the first thing, and just knowing that it's going to happen for about three to six months if not more, honestly, but the very least for three to six months, and then that will change over time as you... Because you go from school to real life, and you're applying the things that you've learned in a textbook, but you've never actually seen it and really, fully believed it. But when you get to about six months or more, you've seen things over and over again that are not just textbook learning, that they're experiential learning, and like, "Oh, this is actually true, and I actually do know what I'm talking about."

So the next thing that I find really helpful personally is that when you feel this sense of imposter syndrome, like you're fooling people and that you're actually terrible, it's very inwardly focused. And when you do that, it's hard not to feel consumed by that feeling. And so when you change the lens from focusing on yourself to your patients, to the staff that you work with, focusing on an act of service, like how can you be of service, and how are you already being of service, changing that focus can really be helpful in alleviating those feelings.

The next thing is to have a support system. And so this is great if you can find this in nurse practitioner colleagues that you have at your current job, or NP students that you went to school with, or friends and family also. Hopefully more the nurse practitioner and nurse practitioner students that you went to school with, because they get it. But just somebody that you can call or some people that you can call when you're feeling that way of like, "I'm just the worst. I'm really terrible." And calling them and just having them help reassure you that you're not actually terrible, and giving you reasons why, giving you evidence.

And tied into that is if you have your binder of resources, if you have an awesomeness binder of your own, kind of a collection of reasons why you're not actually terrible, so notes from patients, papers or feedback from professors, feedback from when you were a nurse, things like that. If you can kind of put evidence together of why you're not a fraud and why you're not fooling people, why you're actually good at what you're good at, that can be really reinforcing in terms of breaking away from those thoughts and feelings.

And it might sound a little bit cheesy, but my second to last tip is to congratulate yourself, because doing something that's challenging, stepping outside of your comfort zone, is going to cause you to have imposter syndrome. So if you have imposter syndrome, that means that you're taking the really courageous steps it takes to move towards your dreams, and that's no small feat. And so that's something that you should really just recognize, that you're pretty awesome, that you're doing that in the first place. Because you could stay in your comfort zone. You could stay comfortable. You could be doing things that are not moving you forward in the direction you want to go, but you are, so congratulations.

And my last thing that I want to say is... It's a quote from Marie Forleo, and I'm not sure if you're familiar with her, but she's wonderful. And she has this belief that I have adopted in my own life, and I encourage you to adopt it as well is. And the quote is that, "When you're not sharing your gifts with the world, you're stealing from those who need it most." Not just they're missing out or it would be great. No, no, no, you're stealing, because... And I don't mean that in a guilt... This is not supposed to be like a guilt-ridden way, right? But it's encouragement, because things that are our gifts are usually things that we're good at that we don't even realize are a gift, because it's just come so naturally to us. And it takes courage to share that with the world. Reframing it as like, "You know what? This is an awesome thing, and it's something that we need to do," it really just... I don't know. For me, it personally gives me a lot of confidence, in that I still feel nervous sometimes...

So, okay. I'm just going to be real right now. So, making this website is bringing up some real imposter syndrome for me. So I've been in practice for four years, but something about when you're doing something new... It's like, "Who am I to be doing this? What do I have to share?" I'm also a very private person. Shocking, I know, because I'm posting videos of myself on the internet speaking, but I'm actually a very private person. And so it's easier for me to work one-on-one with people at my job or not work with anybody in terms of mentoring and education. But I know that I'm stealing from people who need me and who need it the most. So that's why I make these videos. That's why I encourage you to continue to practice as an NP and really stick with it and be courageous, because it is really hard to do. And you are sharing your wonderful gifts that only you have, that the world, both individual patients but also the world, is going to benefit from.

So yeah, so those are all my tips. I hope you liked this video. If so, hit like and subscribe, and share with your NP friends, so together we can reach as many new grads as possible to help make their first year a little bit easier. And don't forget to sign up for the email list and get your copy of the Ultimate Resource Guide for the New NP. You'll get these videos straight to your inbox every week with little notes for me and bonus content that I just don't share anywhere else.

Leave me a comment below. Are there any of these tips that you can use in your daily practice to kind of help combat your imposter syndrome, if you're feeling any? And maybe if you're not, please leave me a comment, because I think you're an anomaly in the world, which is a beautiful thing. But yeah, thank you again so much for watching. Hang in there, and I'll see you soon.