3 Open-Hearted Tips for Dealing with Imposter Syndrome
Weeks (months, actually) leading up to the PractiSage Open House last fall, I was frozen, overwhelmed, and spiraling into overthinking.
I kept asking myself, “Is this enough?” and “Who am I to host a therapist community?” It was what most business coaches or therapists would call imposter syndrome.
A part of me was baffled. I have been in the field for 20+ years; Wasn’t I over this shit?
PractiSage has been my dream for years. Before the Community was even a concrete idea, it grew inside me with each step of my career.
I know you face these types of struggles, too.
Every time you make a leap in your practice, you are no doubt bothered by thoughts of imposter syndrome, second-guessing, and wanting to just quit it all and become a river guide on the Rio Grande. 🚣🏽♀️
I want to offer you 3 openhearted tips that helped me work with my imposter syndrome and get PractiSage my open house and the entire Therapist Collective off the ground. I’m so glad I did!
💚 3 Openhearted Tips to Tackle Imposter Syndrome 💚
1) Speak to the part of you that’s scared
The next time you feel imposter syndrome – as you take the leap to raise your fees, get off insurance panels, or launch a completely new offer – please do not just “push through it”.
Instead, take a moment to speak to the part of you that’s scared. The part that worries this leap will ruin your business, disappoint others, or lead to personal failure.
When you soothe and speak to that part of you with kindness, you will understand the true fears underneath and the steps you need to take to respond accordingly.
When I looked deeper at my imposter syndrome, I realized I was actually quite scared of failure, of shutting down, or of disappointing members of the community. Naming the deeper fears at play helped bring forth my compassion and reach out to the people who would reassure me.
2) Lean into love
What finally helped me shift out of imposter syndrome and move forward with my Open House was leaning into the purity of my offer. To remember Practisage was about giving back to my Houston community.
PractiSage was – and has always been – rooted in a place of service. It arose from seeing a need in my clinical community, while simultaneously honoring my own strengths as a connector, a mentor, and a life-long learner.
How can you lean into the purity of your offer? Your genuine desire to do good and help others? THIS will soften your imposter syndrome.
I want to highlight one thing here so there’s no confusion: Your practice can be rooted in service AND still be profitable and financially sustainable. This is a founding value of PractiSage. We don’t believe you must choose profit over service, or vice versa.
3) Understand your imposter syndrome didn’t come from thin air 💨
Imposter syndrome, especially around making leaps in our business or marketing, isn’t all in your head. It’s important to remember the messages from our graduate school and clinical training that discourage us from taking leaps around visibility and profitability.
Not to mention the broader productivity and hustle culture, which tells us that everything has to be bigger, better, and more valuable. This only fuels imposter syndrome even more.
When you acknowledge the root of these concerns, you can begin to dismantle them. You can determine which values you’d like to take with you and which no longer work for you. From there, your imposter syndrome will shift into clarity and resolve for your next steps forward.
At the end of the day, it requires courage to show up authentically in your business.
It takes courage to take a risk in your life or business, knowing that it might spectacularly fail. Or to achieve success beyond your wildest dreams.
This is why Courage is one of our guiding values in PractiSage. We can’t do the life-changing work to start, grow, and build a thriving practice without it.
Aside from offering options for your therapy office space, we also offer a supportive community to help you grow your career and a virtual mailbox service for your private practice.