Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's webinar which is kindly sponsored by MWI Animal Health. My name is Jackie and I'm the head of memberships here at the webinar vets and I'm also a registered VN. So I have the pleasure of chairing tonight's webinar on flipping the script on impostor syndrome.

And having already had a little sneak peek at the slides, I know it's gonna be a really great evening. The usual webinar rules applies, if you have any questions, hover your mouse on the screen, click on the Q&A box and we will cover as many of those as we can at the end of the session. So, without further delay, allow me to introduce your speaker, Katie Ford.

Katie graduated with a distinction from the University of Liverpool in 2012. Since then she has continued to work in small animal first opinion practise, gaining her RCVS certificate in internal medicine in 2017. Realising the power of preventative mindset strategies through her career and journey, she trained as a coach and now teaches other professionals how to use these techniques to thrive in the veterinary world.

She regularly helps individuals and companies on topics such as gratitude, self-worth and dealing with imposter syndrome, which is what we're gonna be discussing tonight. So welcome to the webinar vet, Katie, and I will hand over to you. Thank you very much for the lovely introduction, Jackie, and thank you everybody for being here this evening as well and for giving me your time while we talk on what is a topic that is very, very close to my heart.

I'm very passionate about. And you might find that we talk about in maybe a slightly different way. From the way that you normally see this presented as well.

So we're looking at flipping the script on imposter syndrome, and looking at what we can actually do when that little imposter gremlin pipes up and tells us that maybe we don't deserve whatever we've we've done or we're about to do. So, let's get started. We've heard an introduction already, that Jackie very kindly gave you of me.

And I think very often that is all that we see. We see the, the showcase, we see the qualifications, we see the grades, but so infrequently do we see the stories behind that. And every talk that I give on imposter syndrome, I always just spend a couple of minutes setting the scene and explaining to you why I'm here talking to you about this topic, and why I'm so passionate about it, and the fact that what I'm going to talk to you about actually really does work.

So we've seen already, I graduated in 2012, I work in small animal practise, I gained an internal medicine certificate. I then went on to train both as a coach, I did some further study in cognitive behaviour therapy, and I've been a mentor to. Miss Speaker, I've recently written a book, and I hate the term social media influencer, but I've gained a sizable following on social media and I own my own business too.

But this isn't the stuff that we connect on. We connect on the level of stories, so I'm gonna really briefly tell you my imposter syndrome story and why this topic is something that is so, so close to my heart. Now, upon graduation, obviously I'd gone through vet school and had quite a few impostory type thoughts then.

I'm sure we're all the same. We go from maybe being high flyers through high school through college to getting into vet school and everybody's smart all of a sudden and you feel like perhaps you just fluked your way in. I had that, but very much imposter syndrome got much louder for me once I started working.

I went into a very busy first opinion practise and whilst the first few months I was quite forgiving to myself, you're a new graduate, you're not going to know everything, go and ask your boss. After a few months, I started almost feeling like I was saying to myself, you should stop asking things now, you should know this. You can't keep going and asking your boss, they're gonna wonder why they gave you this job, Katie, because you should know these things.

So I started looking for other sources of help and other sources of information, whether that was a textbook, whether that was the lab, whether that was speaking to a specialist. And even though I was getting good case outcomes, every time those outcomes came along, that little voice that I thought was me would come along and say, Well, you only got that case because you actually spoke to a specialist, so they solved that. So you're not actually really being a vet, you're just being a middleman.

And this was really frustrating because I just couldn't seem to own any of the good outcomes that I had. And I honestly felt like I was the only person that felt this way. I was looking around at everybody else looking like they'd got it sorted.

I'd see people on Facebook, oh, I've just done my first bitch today. I've done my first cruise ship surgery. And me thinking, my goodness, I've not done any of this stuff yet.

Or maybe I did do this, but it didn't go as as to plan as I thought it should have done. So as time went on and as you were getting better and better outcomes, I decided that I wanted to up sticks and move to a different clinic. Maybe it was just that I needed to go somewhere that I I'd got more compliant clients, or maybe somewhere that I could start doing a certificate or start studying more, because I felt like if I built up this protective armour of qualifications, eventually, I'd feel like a good vet.

So I moved to a new practise and whilst I had the first few months of not being the boss, people would come in and say oh well you're not so and so and I'd honestly think, oh well I'll have to do. I started to gather a real big following of clients, and I started to get better and better outcomes. I was studying for a certificate.

I was on the radio regularly. I was giving the client evening talks, and I honestly felt like on the outside, everybody thought that I'd got it sorted. And even 4 or 5 years graduated, everybody would say, Oh, you're such a brilliant vet.

And this little voice would pipe up and say, You're not. They don't realise though. They don't realise that actually you're a fraud and you don't know what you're doing.

And this was really exhausting because whilst it started as imposter syndrome, it actually ended up cascading into much worse things than that, to the point where I'd stay at work every hour that I could to try and make sure that nobody ended up seeing my cases, because if they did, they might realise that actually I didn't know what I was doing. And this was despite a lot of good external outcomes. I thought, what if my boss suddenly sees one of my cases and then she says, Oh, Katie, this is a disaster and I need to get rid of you.

I need to sack you. I'd come in on my days off and see clients just so that I knew what was going on with every case. And this very rapidly sent me in Sort of anxiety and depression type signs after years of sustaining this and not actually knowing that imposter syndrome was a thing and that other people felt this way too, because I was just looking at people with certificates and people with diplomas and thinking they've got it all sorted when I get there.

They've got it sorted. I was playing the happiness will come when game, almost constantly. It was always around the corner.

It was always going to get better when I'd done this. And I felt like getting a certificate was building up a protective armoury of qualifications. And when I got it, I didn't feel any different.

Now, long story short, this was the depth of how it was and I used to sit in the dispensary crying sometimes on call like really feeling like I've got a broken brain that would never allow me to be happy with anything that I did and not knowing how to move forward from this. But fast forward, having gone through a route of, first of all, CBT therapy myself and then actually realising that although that got me out of a hole, there was a lot more that was out there that could make things even better. And actually, if someone had told me right in the beginning that impostor syndrome existed and that it was quite normal sometimes and there were things that could help.

It and that it wasn't a personal fault. I really think that the trajectory would have been very different. And that's why I started going out and talking about this.

So, whilst with looking at this huge list of things that I've done and accomplished and achieved, I think the really important thing to remember at the back of it all is that I've been there, I've seen it, I've done it to way past. What I think I should ever have experienced it too. And that's why I'm really passionate about helping people realise that there are things that can really help with this.

And when I learned them, my life absolutely transformed. It's not just me, now I coach others and I work with companies and businesses as well to highlight these things. So the most important thing on that list really is that I'm a human, just like all of us.

And we all have our own set of experiences and beliefs. So we're gonna dive into impostor syndrome in this session. And we're gonna go into some of the things that really help and explain a little bit about the background of it, what we can do about it importantly, and a little snippet of how we can help others that perhaps expe an imposter syndrome if you're coming at it from a management background too.

So let's start with a definition. I'm sure by now that the majority of you that are on here are going to know what imposter syndrome is already, that is why you're here, but just in case you don't, the Oxford Dictionary definition is the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills. And you can see from my story, no matter the outcome of the cases, I really couldn't own it as mine.

All the definitions you'll see out there are The persistent thought that you're going to be unmasked as a fraud or that you don't deserve your qualifications or achievements. It was first noted in the 70s by Dr. Pauline Clan and Dr.

Suzanne Is in High Achieving Women, but since then has been shown. Get my video back on since then has been shown to affect men and women equally. So.

Moving forward from that, what does imposter syndrome actually look like? Because yes, we can look down the list of lots of signs and symptoms of imposter syndrome, and again, remembering that it's not a condition, it's an experience, but we're going to come to that shortly as well. These are some phrases that might pop into our heads, or we might see other people have as well.

But always bear in mind, if we're talking. Impostor syndrome with other people too, that quite often people are very good at hiding imposter syndrome, because externally, they look like everything sorted. Just in the way that I did.

Everyone's like, You could never have felt like that. We, we saw you from the outside, you're doing all these cool things. I'm like, Yes, that was part of the impostor syndrome.

I looked very confident externally. So what could it really look like? I was lucky to pass, the questions were just right on the day.

I received a lot of help to get me through that. I couldn't pass that exam again. Thank you, but not holding onto the compliments, there's always a reason why we don't deserve it.

Maybe it was part of a team or it wasn't me, I didn't have a part of it, thank you, but everyone else seems to know what they're doing, I'm not sure that I do. Anyone could have done that. This was a big one, certainly for me as a, as a younger vet was, oh, that case was really straightforward.

Anyone could have dealt with that. That wasn't me doing anything special and not owning those achievements. Why would anybody be interested in what I have to say, I'm only a.

Insert whatever, new graduates, first opinion vets, student nurse, whatever we want to put in there. I wouldn't be good enough to do that. I just winged it.

I'm not sure how I managed that. I always think that some email might arrive saying there's been a mistake with my results. I'm not sure how many of you have ever maybe come across this before.

I was in the right place at the right time. It was a fluke. And, oh, I'm not a real vet, or I'm not a real nurse because I'm maybe not working in clinical practise anymore.

I just don't deserve to be here. And sometimes it's just an inward burning worry of somebody's gonna find me out eventually, that I actually don't know what I'm doing. And if you're listening to this and going, oh my goodness, that's me, ah, just I want you to know, like, welcome to the club.

I felt like this, as many of your peers, the vets and nurses that you work with, celebrities, lecturers, all the professions, specialists, students, everyone in between, there's a whole myriad of studies and scientific papers out there looking at different cohorts, different groups of people within the world that have all experienced this, regardless of gender, regardless of level of qualification. And the most quoted figure that's out there is that 70% of the population felt like a bit of a fraud at times. Now we can't all be frauds.

Even the ones that are getting that little thought going, except me, I must be the fraud. No, we can't all be frauds. And it's OK.

It doesn't mean, like you say, that any of us are, are frauds having this feeling. So just take it in and just realise because this was a big thing for me right in the beginning, nobody was telling me that they'd felt like this too. I honestly felt like I was the only one, and the more successful that I got externally, the worse that I felt almost because I thought I really should feel like I've got things sorted now.

So when we, we're going to go on to a little bit more about how we classify imposter syndrome in a few minutes' time. But I just want to highlight to you, Valerie Young did some work where she actually came up with 5 different types of imposter syndrome. And I always hold back a little bit on sharing these because quite quickly as human beings, we're quite keen to try and stick labels on ourselves of, yes, that's me, and that explains it all.

But there's a quote. That says, give someone a character and they live up or live down to it. And sometimes labels we've got to be careful with because it almost becomes self-fulfilling.

So I use these examples of different types of imposter syndrome, purely just to show you that people experience it in different ways. And sometimes people will be more than one of these, and each one has a slightly different take on things in terms of what we do to try and help with it. So.

Just remember, as you're listening to these, don't use it as a, Oh my goodness, that's me. Use it as an eye opener to see different people experience imposter syndrome in very slightly different ways. And that's why it's so encompassing across different, professions too.

So when Valerie Young found these, she found them as a result of working with a lot of people over a long number of years with impostor syndrome and realised we could classify them into these 5 different types. So the first one is the perfectionist, the person that focuses on the how. They might have the focus on that one point that gets dropped out of 100.

They'd like 100%, 100% of the time. Then we've got the super person, maybe the workaholic, perhaps they're the person that wants to look like they can do absolutely everything, and whether that's that they're juggling multiple roles, or whether that's that they can take on multiple sectors of work and do those, and they push themselves harder and harder to actually measure up with everybody else. Look, I'm just as good as everyone else, even though I've just done all this work to get there, and they feel like they should be able to deal with anything that's thrown at them.

The soloist is the person that focuses on who completed the task. They must do it alone. It mustn't be without any help.

They must be able to juggle everything, which might be familiar for some people, like, oh no, I'll manage, I'll do it, I'll do it. And if they're not, if they're asking someone else to help them, somebody's gonna realise that actually they're a fraud. The natural genius, this is where someone sets the bar quite high for themselves, but they also want things to be easy.

Maybe they're the people that as a child have been told, oh, you were always naturally gifted, you were always the smart one. And then there ends up being a lot of pressure that everything that you do. You should come quickly and easily and you should just turn up and just breeze through and it should be brilliant.

And they're the people that judge themselves on speed and on ease. You know, I did it, but I didn't do it as quick as I should have done, or I did it, but it actually took a lot of work and everyone thinks I'm brilliant. And then we've got the expert, which is kind of the, the knowledge version of the perfectionist.

They feel like they should know everything about everything. They're constantly seeking further qualifications, and they might shy away from roles where they don't take every single box of the criteria because then somebody might figure out that actually they don't know what they're doing. So you can see how these just show how different people experience imposter syndrome in different ways.

You can span across them. I certainly identify with a lot of different aspects of those. But rather than just the types, how do we actually define it?

Because I see a lot of people out there in the vet world trying to own imposter syndrome as being a condition that people have. And I think it's more healthy for us to look at it almost as being something that comes and goes and passes. Some things keep us in there longer.

Some things mean that it hangs around for a little while, further than we'd expect it to do, but it's actually defined as a reaction to a set of stimuli. So we've got a certain set of circumstances or a certain stimulation and imposter syndrome comes along. So it's a little bit like saying I've got a headache because I'm dehydrated.

You know that if you start doing things that are gonna help, it's gonna disappear, but it might come back, it might happen again in a few years' time if the same, initial trigger comes back up. And for a lot of the time, actually, our triggers for impostor syndrome, our achievements and our growth as well. The irony is that impostor syndrome is often the realm of the high achiever.

So the people that are doing well are the ones that quite often feel this way, which, again, ironic. But just remember, it's not a clinical condition. One thing that it was worth bearing in mind though is that imposter syndrome can progress from imposter syndrome to depression to anxiety, and at that point that's when then we need to look at speaking with medical professionals and looking at speaking to people that will address that and then take you back to just it being imposter syndrome on its own.

So, Through life, it's almost like we might have waves of this coming and going. There might be people that are listening right now that have never experienced imposter syndrome, and that's absolutely fine. It might be that as you go further through life, there might be something that comes up, a new job role, or there might be an achievement, where actually you start to experience some of these things.

You might have had it and think I had this when I was a new graduate, but it's gonna come in waves. And it's not us saying, Oh my goodness, I've got imposter syndrome, this is a diagnosis, this makes me much worse than anybody else. It's saying, it's almost like some, some bad weather that we're going through.

OK, this is impost synd. That I've just hit now. Here are some things that make it a bit easier, but I know there's another side to it.

Maybe it might pop back up again, but it's not a diagnosis. And it might come at the times of achievements, might come at the times of, new jobs, graduations, certificates or diplomas, awards and promotions. It can be at any stage in our career.

It's not just that we get this when we're a new graduate, or when we're a student. Nurse, it can happen to anyone. And the more that you keep your ears open in this profession, the more people are starting to talk about this now, which is good.

But let's just remember, it's not a fault, it's an experience. And there are things that we can do just to use it as that trigger to say, you know what? I'm feeling a little bit of an impostor at the moment.

I recognise that feeling. Maybe this is because I'm pushing my comfort zones, I'm growing. Let's Remember those things that Katie said in that webinar and what we can actually do to try and ease this as we go through it too.

Because I see so many people saying, let's, let's crush and get rid of imposter syndrome, and then we just end up setting ourselves up for disappointment, because at the next thing, that there's some growth, the feeling might pop back. So it's more important for us to look at that feeling differently, rather than trying to get rid of it completely. So, what now?

We've talked about what it is, we've talked about the different types, we've talked about when it was first documented by Clan Saint Is in the 70s. First thing is for us to normalise it. We've already done that in the fact that we've said how many different people experience it, how many different walks of life, how many different ages, how many different genders, there's so many different people that have this.

We're gonna look at it differently, we've already started touching on that by saying, actually, maybe these imposter thoughts jumping in aren't true, and maybe they're coming along cos we're pushing some comfort zones. But let's understand it a little bit better, shall we? So we're gonna touch on a little bit about our belief systems now.

This is gonna be a real crash course in belief systems, which you may well know quite a bit about already, but if you imagine, aside from a small genetic influence, we're born essentially as blank slates. And we start to form beliefs as we have things repeated to us again and again, or maybe something happens that has an emotional impact to us. And quite often some of those things that we have repeated to us have been repeated to our parents and have been repeated to our grandparents.

And a lot of the early work in psychology says that we've got quite a fixed view on how we see the world, even right up until the point of like 12 or 13, and then that's almost quite fixed. We do now know that it can change, but we get so much input that we learn about things like going into school and about grades and failure and competing and comparing and fitting in, which we're gonna come on to in a minute. And the reality is that at any one time, our conscious brain is only actually aware of a very small amount.

Bear in mind how much information our brain is taking in at any one time, millions of pieces of information. So we have to start to philtre it in a certain way. So we end up getting a set of belief systems because we have them repeated to us, we watch other people, we mimic what they're doing, we see what happens in school, we watch the television, we see friends, we see family, and we start to learn things about success and about failure and about ourselves and about our environment.

And like we said here, belief systems are formed through experiences, deductions, inferences, and by accepting what other people say is true. Even though there might be very little evidence to it. So Clan and Imes, when they first denoted imposter syndrome in the 1970s, they said that some of the biggest factors for people having imposter syndrome were some beliefs that formed when they were young.

And they quite often centred firstly around either being one of the natural genius type people, so they were always very good at everything. The parents always told them, you're just so brilliant, you walked really fast, you walked quicker than anybody else, you were always reading quicker than anybody else did do. You were always top of the class.

And we with this belief that we're a natural genius and we should do everything quickly and easily. The other situation that they looked at was people that have got high achieving friends or siblings that we were constantly trying to keep up with. And even when we kept up with them, we felt like there was a reason that we didn't actually deserve to be as good as they were.

And the third thing that they saw too was societal stereotypes that were given about what we think people should look like in a certain position, what we think a leader should look like, what we think a vet should look like, what we think a nurse should look like. And these all end up sittingting us with a set of beliefs that we think are true, even though a lot of them started with very little basis. This makes sense.

So if we imagine it in this way, we've got this blank slate, and as we go through life, we start to pick up these new beliefs. So we start to believe that we have to compare and that we have to compete, cos that's what we're taught essentially in school. We're taught that maybe our grades are our value because that might be that again and again, every time that you do well at school, someone says well done, or if you didn't do well at school, then you feel bad about yourself.

We start to think that success must be so low for us to be a success, we must have had to do it on our own. We think that failing is bad and is negative. We might be given labels like, oh, you're the shy one, or you're the natural genius, and that's something that's repeated to us again.

So it becomes part of our belief system, things that we actually think are true. We start to learn that maybe success, other than just solo, is that something has to be done easily and has to be done quickly. We might learn and be exposed to those stereotypes that we talked about.

We might start to look at other people and start saying, well, they've got it sorted, they've got it sorted, they've got it sorted. And we start to get the belief that everybody has it sorted. We might feel like we're not deserving, we might feel like we're just overall not good enough.

And Whether that's not quick enough, not smart enough, not happy enough, not pretty enough, whatever enough that the, the world is constantly telling us to add into these beliefs. So you can see, this is just a small representation of things that we believe to be true. Some of them serve us, and some of them don't.

Now, I think these belief systems or all these Post-it notes being put together as almost being that negative voice that's in our head, that critic that comes along. And remember we didn't choose a lot of these, it was written without our knowing. So our belief systems and our identity, which is who we think we are, form a sophisticated way in which we see the world.

And so much of this, like we say, was formed without our knowledge about how we classify whether something has gone well or not gone well, how we classify whether we're a success or not. And remember, we don't have to believe every thought. So he uses for one thing, use it to say, you know what, actually, some of those things that I believe to be true about why I'd be a success or why I'd be a failure.

Maybe we need to pull those up and reassess in a way that suits us in a better way. So an example is, you're at school and the The Original way that we were taught to look at success and failure was whether I passed or not. And as time went on, we started to realign our views of success that I must get over this percentage.

I must be whoever friend wise. I must have done it easily. I must have done it, getting all of the questions right, and suddenly the bar gets higher and higher and higher.

So we used to think that. In terms of all these beliefs coming together forms our identity and who we think we are and what we think about the world as well, and quite often we've been handed that without having any knowledge of it from the background or having any input to it in the first place. But we can change this, we can change our belief systems.

We thought for years that once we had a set of what we believed, it was hardwired, and as time went on, our brain got less and less plastic, and that that was it. This is just our way that we see the world. But actually through neuroplasticity now, which is realising that repeating new potential beliefs, we know that we can actually rewire those and change them to get us ones that suit us better.

So quite often, if you think of an example here. Say we pass an exam. And it's put immediately through this set of belief systems here.

Like we'd originally think, yeah, pass the exam, that's good. But we put it through the system here and we say, right, success is speed and ease. Well, I passed but it wasn't easy, and I had to put in much more work than anybody else.

Then we look at a different one of these labels and we say we have to compare with everybody else while everybody else did, did better or everybody else spent less time revising. And we suddenly then reject that success. Opposite of that, look, if we fail an exam, we look through, right, failing is bad, I've got to feel bad because I've failed the exam.

Maybe we say, OK, I did it, but I had help. We look through this and go, Well, success must be so low, and everybody else has got it sorted out and nobody else had help, therefore, I'm actually a fraud. So just realise that a lot of these beliefs and that negative voice like that comes in and says, Oh, you didn't actually earn it.

We didn't choose any of that, and we're gonna pull it up and realise that we don't have to believe it either. So we're gonna chat really briefly on once we've got this philtre in place with all these belief systems, our brain quite often wants to be right. And one section of our brain that's really interesting for us to look at is actually what we call the reticular activating system.

So whatever we have put a lot of conscious thought to, our brain will pick out of the environment, similar to what we said about our beliefs forming in the first place. Remember that if for example, The the key example in self development that we use is actually about if you're looking for a new car, and you've spent ages looking at red polos, and then you go onto the roads and you're like, there's red polos everywhere. They honestly, we can just see them like every other street that we're on, there's one parked up.

It's not that there's more of them that are on the roads, it's that your brain is pulling that out as useful information to back up what you've been thinking about. So sometimes, and you'll realise why this is important soon, when we've started looking for reasons that we feel like a fraud, oh my goodness, I feel like a fraud, our brain will then start pulling out, here's all the evidence, here's why you should feel like a fraud. And we end up rather than looking at, like, on this diagram here for the, the slide that we've got up, the two successes that you had, our brain will always point out the struggle and say, look, here's, here's some backup, here's some evidence why that's true.

So when we step back and we start looking at the fact that actually, you know what, let's put our focus onto something else. We can start to see some real changes, which is what we're gonna go through very shortly as well. So just remember, the way in which we see the world sometimes has been contributed to in a way that we didn't choose, and those beliefs were formed.

So we'd feel like a fraud if we didn't do something in the way that we believed that it had to be done, that might have had no basis. And let's see another one of these beliefs in action here, which is a really interesting one to have a think about. So this cycle that we see here is called the imposter cycle, and it's from Pauline Klan again from the original paper that documented imposter syndrome.

And she says that actually imposter syndrome is really driven by a fear of failure. Now you can see here this is a cycle, so we can start at any point. But the way that this works is we start with a new task.

So for example, somebody says you've got to do an essay or you've got a project to work on. And we look at previously, oh my goodness, right, maybe a little bit of impostor syndrome jumps in, all the reasons why you can't do it based on all those beliefs that you didn't choose. That fear of failure pipes up.

And that drives us one of two ways. So we might have that belief that's come in saying you can't fail this because failing is bad. That makes one of two things happen.

The first one is either we procrastinate and we avoid the task and we say, oh, well, I'm so worried about failing it. I'm just going to pretend that it doesn't exist for a while and then come back to it in the last last couple of weeks. The other route that people take, and it's not that you do one or the other, you might do both at some point, is that people overprepare.

They do too much. They say, you know what, I've got 6 weeks. I really don't want to be found out as a fraud, so I am just going to work like, like, yeah, hectic work constantly.

Right at the end, when we finished, we get a little bit of relief. I've done it, thank goodness for that. And then our brain will look back at that with that set of beliefs, that set of Post-it notes that we never chose, and it will evaluate it, and it will say, well, you did that last minute, you got lucky.

Or you worked a lot harder than everybody else, so you probably don't deserve it. So then we start feeling like a fraud, so the next time we get a new task. We start getting a bit worried about ourselves.

Well, we did it last time, but I still didn't feel good enough. That fear of failure that we never chose kicks in. So you can see how all these beliefs that we never chose the stereotypes that we're exposed to can quite often change the philtre in which we're seeing a situation which is making us feel like we are frauds.

So that negative voice comes along and says, you don't deserve it, you don't deserve it, and we listen to it and we believe it. But the reminder that I'm here for you all now tonight to say is, remember that not all the thoughts that we have are true. We just end up putting them through that philtre of all those beliefs that we never chose and thinking, oh my goodness, here's all the evidence.

Whereas actually, if we step back and say, I didn't choose all these thoughts, let's see if there's a different way that I can look at it. Is there a different way I can interpret this feeling of feeling like an imposter and realise that I don't have to listen to that negative voice when it pops in. I don't have to believe it, and we can look at impostor syndrome differently.

So if we're looking at limiting beliefs to try and challenge and tweak as vet staff, here are some classics, like if we have the top 10 beliefs that that inner critic, like that little fraud voice, the gremlin jumps in and says the same thing to all of us, and this is why we out it now to realise that it can't be true. Well, so you need to compare with everybody else. Start seeing what they're doing, they're doing it better, make sure you're doing it that way.

The fact that we have to know everything, we really don't have to know everything, that's one of the things that we've been been taught like with regard to the the expert or the perfectionist, to be a success, we have to know everything. Let's pull that belief back and say, you know what, we don't have to know everything. That we have to have a life planned out, that everything that we do, we have to do solo, that our grades are our only value or our case outcomes, that we have to fit in, that failing makes us a failure.

That success is something that we have to do quickly, easily and solo, and that achievements should be discounted. So you see a lot that people don't accept the compliments. You can see the thought process.

Well done for doing this, and then internally, that imposter voice jumps up for us. Here are all the reasons why you don't deserve it. You didn't do it on your own, you got some help for it.

It wasn't as easy as you thought it would be, and then immediately, we don't want to internalise that compliment because we don't feel like we deserved it. Here's all the reasons why I don't deserve it. Instead we can pull those thoughts up and say, right, OK, I hear you, but let's look at the facts.

I did actually do it. I know why I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable, but here are the reasons why I do deserve it and let's start accepting those compliments. So one thing that's really useful for us to do in these circumstances, and this was a real game changer for me because I'd gone through so many belief systems and thinking that my grades were my value and that my case outcomes were my value, and that I had to know everything and that it'll be OK one.

When we strip back all those Post-it notes, all those beliefs that we never chose that were given to us quite often when we were young and we had no philtre to, and we weren't able to say, actually, you know what, it's alright to get help with something and maybe I'll go further if we're together. Underneath all of those is still a completely unique, complete valuable person. And I'll tell you, years back, I would have absolutely pooh poohed this and been like, no, I can only be valuable if I'm doing this, this and this and all these grades and certificates and things.

But I went through and I tried them, and as soon as I got them, they didn't make me feel more valuable. What did make me feel more valuable was when I realised that under all of those beliefs that we didn't choose, is a completely unique one off person. That doesn't have to do anything to be them, you know, they did studies where they were looking at the odds of us being born and without going too far down that rabbit hole, they worked out the odds of us individually being born as us were around 1 in 400 trillion, which, yes, it's random, but so is the lottery, we'd be pretty excited if we were to win that.

So let's remember our value under all those beliefs that we didn't choose. There is someone that's unique, valuable, deserving, and that's why part of the strapline of this was you're more than enough. Because we took this one off valuable person, put them through a system where they were taught they were only valuable if they got certain grades at vet school or certain grades in high school, and they were only valuable if they looked a certain way or if they spoke in a certain way or if they turned up in a certain way.

And actually when you strip that back and remember that that valuable person is underneath all of that and we don't have to believe everything that we think. We can start treating ourselves in a different way, and that's not saying we get rid of impostor syndrome. That's saying, let's just interpret this differently.

Maybe I'm pushing some of those beliefs that I didn't choose, and what can we do to make that more comfortable. So remember, you, you are more than enough, and that might be a bit much for people to accept sometimes, even if it doesn't feel true. It is true, despite the fact that we're constantly taught that these are the only reasons why you're valuable.

But those stipulations on it, those beliefs we didn't have any input to. So we have an old set of beliefs that aren't suiting us quite well when we're feeling like impostors, and we have an old identity that didn't suit us that well as well. So how do we start to choose to form new beliefs to help with imposter syndrome?

And forming new beliefs is based upon repetition and based upon little decisions and little choices, and it will feel a bit unnatural at first because the things that are easiest to believe are the things we've had repeated to us again and again. So at first when we are fleeting our attention back towards the reasons why we do deserve something all similar, it will feel a bit unnatural at first because that little imposter voice in our head would be like, no, but you actually don't deserve it. And you can see how that still doesn't serve us very well.

So knowing that this experience of having these thoughts popping can be normal, but we don't have to believe them when they do. So we're gonna delve into a few things that we can do to start to choose to form these new beliefs and repeat them and anchor to them and use them in a way that is beneficial towards moving forwards, especially as imposter syndrome jumps in, but in everyday life as well. So first one is I was looking at like our self talk and our self compassion.

So I always think of it as that negative voice that doesn't serve us well, that started off as like an inner critic to keep us safe and just ends up in overdrive. Don't do that, you're not capable of this. We're trying to keep you safe, but actually just like we say, goes OTT.

We're gonna look at how we can tune into the real us and what we're gonna keep repeating to ourselves and reminding ourselves of. So we think of where can we focus a new narrative? What are we gonna think about that is gonna be kind of story to us?

And how can we speak more kindly to ourselves? Cause quite often we're caring, we're compassionate people, we're caring for other people's pets all the time, but how kind are we being to ourselves? And I certainly was not ever being kind to myself.

I was beating myself with a massive stick every time about the smallest issues, being up all night about them, living things that never actually happened. The second thing is taking a little bit of time for us to rewrite those rules on failures and successes. And maybe taking some time as people that are watching this now, start, write them down and be like, what if I thought of a success that has maybe stopped me owning things that were actually a success?

I passed the exam, but my first thoughts were I didn't earn it because of this. How can we look at failure differently? How can we look at failure actually being an opportunity to learn?

And sometimes, yeah, straight after a failure, we need to sit there and have a little bit of time with it, let ourselves feel what we need to feel, and then regroup. But let's use it as something useful and pull up the fact that we've got this set of beliefs around failure that maybe doesn't suit us so well. Start choosing how we could see it differently and sometimes that's stepping out of ourselves into looking at ourselves from afar, at in the third person almost and saying right, how could I choose to see this differently and keep repeating it.

A good prompt is, what would I say to my best friend if it was them? Quite often we're very keen to be kinder to other people than we are ourselves. Identify and pay attention to your strengths.

When we're starting to get that feeling of imposter syndrome and those thoughts are fired in that you're a fraud and we start to believe it, we can very quickly get disconnected from our strengths and why we actually do deserve to be there. So spend some time if you're watching this, right? Down some of your strengths.

Ask other people what your strengths are. Do some strength finder exercises and realise that actually, you know what, here are all the reasons why I do deserve to be here doing this, when our, our brains and our minds do on the at the first shot, want to take us away to think about all the reasons why we don't deserve it. Remember that thoughts are facts, they're just biochemical processes, they float by in our brain and that belief system that we've got decides whether they're true or not.

So let's pull them up and decide which ones we think are useful and which aren't. And remember we don't have to believe that imposter voice when it does pipe up. Remember that nothing that we do externally is going to exceed our relationship with ourselves.

If we're not kind to ourselves, we could have every diploma, every certificate, everything that we ever want, and we're still going to end up beating ourselves up if we believe every thought that we have. So just have an awareness of them and think, would I choose to believe this or not? How could I challenge what I'm hearing now, how could I see it differently, how could I have this kind of narrative into this completely unique, valuable one-off person?

And just remember that Whenever we've got any event that we can't control, we've got control over the response and how we respond to it, and are we going to respond on autopilot to it feeling like a fraud? Are we going to choose a response that's actually valuable? And the final bit I've added on here is facts and opinions, because often when we've had an achievement or something has gone well, very quickly our belief systems and that negative voice, that script will jump in that you've been handed and say, here are all the reasons why you don't deserve it.

And it will embellish the facts with an opinion that we didn't choose. So let's step back, write down the facts about any situation and choose a kinder opinion, keep repeating it and coming back to it cos it's like a muscle, it gets stronger with time. The second part, not quite sure why that showed up in that, order, but.

That, So in terms of the second part of this would be us looking at that self-compassion and that self-talk. A really good model to adopt on this front would be looking at a growth mindset. Because when we're looking at ourselves as unique and valuable and full of potential, we want to try and nurture and water that potential and give it all the nutrients that it needs to actually grow.

Whereas when we look at a fixed mindset, this is the work of Carol Dweck, who is one of the professors at Stanford, Gina. Diversity, she said there's two types of mindset. A fixed mindset is where we feel like intelligence is fixed.

And often this is based on lots of beliefs, again, that we didn't choose. We believe that failure is shameful and should be avoided, that some people are just naturally brilliant at things and other people aren't. Sometimes we'll take feedback very personally.

We'll think, well, that didn't go well, therefore, I am not good at this, and that is a fault of mine. And we believe that in a critic, We believe every thought that we have. Whereas a growth mindset, which is a really good way to flip it to, is saying we've got potential that can be unlocked.

And in failure, there is growth, there is opportunity. Let's learn, let's reflect, let's be empowered, and let's, as cheesy as it sounds, be our own cheerleader, you know, that didn't go well. How can we look after you?

You're not a fraud, you're just feeling a little bit uncomfortable because you're pushing through some of those comfort zones that were given to you that you never chose. So really briefly, in terms of us actually reframing and coming up with a new narrative, I've attached a PDF which will go onto the webinar vet website alongside this with some real simple imposter reframes for us to think about. So for example here we've got, if I make a mistake, everyone will know that I don't know what I'm doing and And then instead we can choose and say when that thought pops up, you know what, everyone makes mistakes, they don't make me a mistake.

What can I learn from this? I feel like an impostor, what if I really am one? Well, real impostors don't get impostor syndrome.

It comes at times of growth and growing. So this will be available as a PDF so you'll be able to look through these in a little bit more detail. The second part sounds really a little bit woo woo, but it's really not.

In terms of when we feel like impostors, sometimes we're trying to go out and do things to prove to other people and we're going and doing things that maybe don't align with us, and that's not always the case, but we can very quickly get drawn into. The comparison trap. And to compare really is to despair.

Like the Roosevelt quote of comparison is a thief of joy, couldn't be far wrong. We end up spending all our attention looking at what everybody else is doing and thinking, well, they've got it sorted, and I feel like a bit of a fraud. So let's just zone back into who we actually are.

So try to stop comparing negatively. Yes, absolutely, compare for inspiration, say, that's possible, and that's quite a healthy way of comparing. Look at them, look at what they've done.

That's brilliant, that's a possibility. A little bit like when there was a 4 minute mile with Roger Bannister, and once he'd crashed through. That 4 minute mile barrier, everybody else did it because they realised it was possible.

But when you feel yourself comparing, just take a step back and go, OK, you know what? Everyone's unique. There's no point me comparing negatively, I'm just, it's a waste of my energy.

Think about what you actually want and get attuned with your values and your why, because sometimes we end up so in a flurry to try and prove ourselves when we're feeling like a little bit of a fraud that we forget why we're doing things and why it's important to us. Remember that your value is a level of a level of being, not doing. I certainly tried to constantly prove myself and prove that I was valuable with external things and a lot of people do, and it really is an internal job of us stepping back and saying, you know what, OK, these fraud type thoughts are here for a different reason, but I, I am valuable.

Save and celebrate your wins and write them down. This is a really good top tip to look at. When we talked about that reticular activating system, what we're putting our conscious attention to is what our brain philtres and shows out to us in the environment and picks out and says, look, these are important.

If we start consciously putting our attention to wins and things that have gone well during the day and the reasons why you're not a fraud, then that means our brain will pick out more of those as well. And also when we've rewritten those rules on success and failure, and we've said, you know what, actually asking for help he's OK. You can honestly sort of sit there and go, do I actually confidently feel I could do this?

Am I doubting myself reasonably? Or actually, do I need to go out and just ask someone for some assistance with that? And that is equally fine to do that.

And it doesn't make you a fraud if you have to go and help some, ask someone for help. The other thing that's useful about saving our wins is they did some work again at the same university as the growth and fixed mindset, and they realised that when people are going through a journey or a process, actually we get a small amount of dopamine that's released when we celebrate a win, as it were, and something that went well. They looked to the people that had got.

A fixed mindset and they realised that those people weren't having any dopamine release all the way through their journey, right until like the end point. And at that end point they got a little bit of a dopamine release, but it wasn't as much as they anticipated it would be. So they didn't get as much of an internal reward for whatever they thought that they were working towards, because they were probably playing the game of it'll be OK when it'll be OK when I get this.

And that actually then on a biochemical level set off a disappointment cycle in the brain of people of then thinking, my goodness, it wasn't as good as I thought it should be. Maybe I need to do more. Now the people that actually had a growth mindset and celebrated the little wins along the way, got tiny little releases of dopamine all the way through.

And then at the end, when they reached that goal, they still got a dopamine release. And they actually wanted to carry on because they'd enjoyed that journey. It wasn't an it'll be OK when game.

So when I say to save and celebrate your wins, look for even the small things in the day that went well, especially when you're feeling like a little bit of a fraud. Jot them down, note them down, use a journal, whatever works for you. But just note them and make sure that then we start retuning our brain.

These don't have to be Oscar wins, these don't have to be I did my first spinal surgery today. It can be, I got the catheter in the really tricky patient or I had a really good conversation with the person that I thought was going to be difficult, or I remembered this condition that normally I would have had to go and look up, just those small wins and put ourselves in that mindset of, actually I do deserve to be here. Look at your strengths, again, we've said about aligning with strengths.

Remember that you are unique, you can't compare unique. I spent a long time trying to compare with everybody else and it's an exhausting process. I say here in terms of self-care as if you were on PE just being kind to yourself, you know, look after you.

When we feel like frauds, we feel like that's the last thing that we want to do is to look after us cos we don't feel deserving. But this again helps make those new pathways of, you know what, I am valuable. I am valuable, I am worthy of like looking after, let's be kind to ourselves, because as much as some people can reframe imposter syndrome and say, oh, it's growth and it feels amazing, sometimes it does still feel pretty rubbish when that feeling comes in, cos you feel a bit anxious and a bit worried.

Remember that saying no is OK, you don't have to say yes to every offer that you've given, doesn't mean that you're a fraud if you suddenly start saying no to things. And enjoy the process and support others in the same way. One of the biggest things out of me learning this content on imposter syndrome is realising that we never know what somebody else's set of belief systems looks like.

They could look like from the outside, the swan gliding across the lake, like they've got everything sorted and like they're absolutely. For themselves, like everything's brilliant. They know just what's going on.

They don't feel like a fraud, but under all of that, they may well do. So let's just keep encouraging each other and building each other up. There's a brilliant analogy by Gary Vaynerchuk that says how to build the tallest building in the city, and there's two ways to do it.

The first one is either you tear down all the other buildings around you, or the second. One is that you focus on your building and you encourage those as well, so that as you get taller and other people do, they just start getting better and you're all pushing each other. And that's a really nice way to look at it.

Focus on your path, your journey, stop comparing with others, because that's when we start to feel like a fraud too, when we start to look at theirs and say, Oh my goodness, I don't feel like that. We only get half the picture. So be kind and embrace, embrace being you.

The third thing I'd say is to walk your talk as well. And what do I mean by that? Quite often we'll go on autopilot and we'll show up feeling like a little bit of a fraud and maybe shrinking ourselves down and, and not saying all the things that we'd really, truly like to see when that imposter voice jumps in and says, Don't say that, they'll think you're stupid, or you're not, you're not good enough to stand up and, and make a speech here, or you shouldn't ask this question, they'll think that you're stupid.

Just think, you know what, who am I gonna show up as and who am I showing up for? And going in there and actually taking a little bit of confidence and thinking about it, sometimes you'll feel almost like it's faking it. Oh, I'm going in there, I wouldn't normally do it like this.

It's not faking it. It's just being there and waiting for the rest of us to catch up. Think about what you choose, think about who are you, what is your I am.

Remember that you're not all those thoughts that you never chose. And align your beliefs with your actions. If you're starting to say my new belief is that I'm not a fraud and that I'm confident, start acting that out and start thinking about the body language that you'd use, the boundaries that you choose to look after you, and also use things like visualisation to your advantage.

When we're going into something and we felt like a little bit. Fraud about it. We've established that actually, you know what, I do know enough to do this, and I just want to build on that confidence.

There's a huge amount of evidence for visualisation, which is spending some time sitting and visualising something going well. We do the opposite all the time without realising. We play out the scenario of something going wrong again and again and again.

And it's almost like we've lived it, because our brain actually doesn't know the difference between something that we've imagined and something that has actually happened. So we can use that to our advantage and flip that script and say, what if it actually goes well? How would I walk into this?

What posture and body language would I have? We know that our muscles and our brain are very Well connected, so even just smiling when we don't feel like it can trick our bodies too. So thinking on all these things as we're feeling like a little bit of an imposter and not letting it take over and going, you know what, what have I got control over?

My actions, my attitude, and gathering those bits of evidence for those new beliefs. And then as we're coming towards the last couple, seeing imposter feelings differently is a really powerful one. And I think this is what was one of the main game changers to me is what if actually this feeling has come because I'm stretching comfort zones.

It's not actually because you're a fraud. It's not because you're gonna get found out. Maybe it's because you do need a little bit more support, maybe you do need to go and ask someone for help.

Maybe people are adding in and making you doubt yourself, and we need to get a new circle, people around us. Maybe it's not because we're actually fraudulent, it's because we're pushing some of those beliefs about what success and failure is, and we're pushing what we think we're capable of. So what if we're growing?

What if we need to flip our focus to saying, OK, rather than thinking I'm really nervous because I'm going to get found out as a fraud, what if I'm actually I'm nervous or I'm excited because actually I'm moving forward and I need to just flip what I look at, who I'm going to ask for help. Remember that it's an experience and not a diagnosis. Feeling like an imposter doesn't mean that you are one.

And it's often just because you're being stretched, and that's a normal experience for a lot of people. The more that we talk about it, the better. Know that feeling this way sometimes is is normal and asking for help doesn't take away from your success.

That's one of those beliefs that we should all discard of. You've got to do it on your own, you've got to do it quickly, you've got to do it easily. Let's just pull back on that one and say, you know what, even with help and assistance, that's how we move forward.

And remember that real impostors don't get imposter syndrome. And this is just a brief way to look at it. If I was to get everything on one sheet of paper here to show you how powerful just flipping our focus could be, it would look like this.

So if you imagine we've got a new task or an achievement comes in, and our default would be that we get this imposter syndrome feeling, and the first thoughts that pop in are, I'm not good enough, I didn't earn it, everyone else is doing better. What if I fail? Someone's gonna find me out.

And we start to feel a bit uneasy and worried and worried and unsure. Now, let's then ask ourselves the question from this, how could I choose to see this feeling differently? How could I relabel this feeling?

And what new beliefs could I focus on? Which takes us down to here, so previously we might have thought, I'm fraudulent, I'm not deserving, I've got to prove myself, I've got to try harder. And our old focus would have been that we should compare, and the reasons why we don't deserve what we're about to do, all of our weaknesses, all of our faults, our fear of failure, and our self value being put on the outcome, and that we must be perfect if we're doing it.

And then that would result in us feeling quite exhausted and unsatisfied and continued fraud thoughts and worries, and feeling like we're, we need to overwork or that we procrastinate. But what if we flipped that script? To knowing that we're already enough under all of those those doubts and all those beliefs that we never chose, and that under all of that conditioning that the world got its hands on us for, we can start realigning those new beliefs that we choose and being kinder to ourselves.

And we'll put a new spin on it and say, what if I'm pushing some comfort zones? Let's be kind to ourselves and realise that this isn't feeling like actually a fraud. So we'd start asking who can help me?

We'd remind ourselves that everybody fails sometimes, that there's growth in failure. We'd remind ourselves that feeling this way is sometimes normal. It's OK not to know everything.

We're valuable regardless of the outcome, regardless of the achievements. Think about why we're doing it, what our strengths are, how we can choose a kind of narrative, and We could choose to do in terms of actions and solutions as well. And that would then mean that we're gonna start making progress.

We're gonna be less worried and we're gonna enjoy the journey more. But that does take practise. And it's just identifying that feeling to start with and daring to actually label it as something else, and daring to take those little actions to look after you and to Ask for help where you need it and look at your strengths and look at your wins and just change the view of what we're actually focusing on.

And with time, believe me, this is 5 years on that I've used this content and feeling like you are enough and valuable under all those beliefs isn't giving up or settling or anything like that. It actually helps you move forward a heck of a lot more. And then very briefly because I realised that we're pushing time here but one of the main things that I'd encourage you to do is to talk and to know that you're not alone and this is normal sometimes and it doesn't mean that you're a fraud, it's just, it's a feeling.

And whether that's that you speak to family, friends, peers, colleagues, or whether you speak to coaches, if you're wanting to move forward and you've got some beliefs that you need a little bit of help moving through, whether you've got mentors that have walked that path already and can kind of walk it with you and say, oh, I felt like a bit of a fraud too here, but this is why I kept going, and this is what helped all therapists if we want help through a certain position or situation or to talk through some of those beliefs in more detail. And I always remember too that it can progress if we leave it running the show like I did for me in complete naivety thinking that I don't outwork it. If I just work hard enough, then this feeling will eventually go away, which it didn't.

Remembering that Vet Life and the Samaritans are available to us as well. And this was a real quick one, so I think it's probably worth just taking a picture of this on the screen when it's up, but if you are feeling like a little bit of an imposter at times, it is well worthwhile just taking a pen and paper and running through these steps really quickly. And it's just a reset exercise for you to flip your focus, and it's really effective.

The first one is to visit the worst case scenario really quickly and know it'll be OK. When we've got that fear of failure, that negative voice in our head will make that seem like a whole picture, feature film, movie and will play out to us again and again and again. Just visit that for a second and go, who'd ask for help?

What would I actually do? Make it OK, and then every time that thought pops in, you can say, no, we've been there, we realise what would happen if this didn't go to plan, and we can sort it. Second thing, list 3 reasons why you're choosing to do it.

Quite often we forget why we're actually choosing to do anything. Then 5 reasons why you do deserve it, because yep, again, our attention can get flipped onto why we don't. 3 to 5 strengths that you're going to need for what you're about to do and where you've used them previously.

Three actions that you can take to be kinder to yourself. Like we say, if you're feeling like a bit of an imposter, it can feel quite uncomfortable, and that's when we need looking after ourselves the most. Write down the time that you did something that you doubted yourself for initially.

Remind yourself that those thoughts aren't always right. Thoughts are like buses, we don't have to jump on everyone that goes past. Think about who and how you're going to show up, think about body language, think about what attitude you're gonna approach this with.

Visualise the best case scenario, yet dare to go there, dare to think about how that feels and your attitude. Ask who could I ask for help. And then the 10th 1 is, whichever affirmations you want to use that's gonna just remind you of what we've talked about here.

So for me, I write down like, I'm not an imposter. I'm more than enough. I still get impostor syndrome jump in.

I still get the feeling of it. I just see it differently. Before this talk today, it will say, oh my goodness, you're, you're A fraud, etc.

You're not good enough to go and present. Well, I've done it many times before, and I've presented a lot of events now, so it gets a bit quieter. But believe me, it still pipes up for a lot of things, and I flip my focus.

Who can I ask for help with this? How can I set myself up for success? What are my strengths?

Why am I doing it? And then finally, I will we'll leave you very soon because we'll be done on just one more slide. But if you are helping other people, cos this is part of a management series as well, and the first thing is addressing it with ourselves because we're more than likely all been through it.

But helping other people, the first thing is to talk about it and normalise it, share your own impostor stories, make it part of the conversation. Oh, I've, it's not dismissing how they feel. It's just saying, I completely hear you.

Yeah, I felt like that before. Or say it's, it's normal to feel like a little bit of, an imposter sometimes when you're going through growth. That's, that's normal.

Don't, it doesn't mean you are one. Praise the process as much as the outcome. Remember when we go back to those beliefs of being labelled as just the brilliant one, that puts a lot of pressure on people to always be the brilliant one, so say I can see you've worked really hard on that, well done.

Praise the process as much as the outcome. Encourage them to ask for help and to collaborate and ensure that they take the credit. Quite often if you're a mentor or a coach to someone they'll say, oh thank you so much, you really helped me do that.

Flip that back to them and say, no, you had a part in this as well, you're part of the team, we're all part of this. Affirm people as people as well as professionals. Focus on the facts and challenge any negative downplay if they say I just feel like a terrible vet, you can say to them, well, there's never been a single person that's come here and said you've been a terrible vet.

And just remind them and affirm their strengths and their skills and encourage them to seek help if needed, whether that's a coach, whether that's a therapist, whether that's a mentor, whether that's just that they need to go and have a chat through with it more and more regularly. So finally, our last 3 questions for you before we wrap up, because I realise I've talked for a long time now. I want you to think about what strengths, wins and skills have you discounted that you're now ready to take ownership of.

Things that that negative voice in your head has said, Oh, you don't deserve that, or you didn't do that well enough. Let's look at the bare bones facts. What is it that actually you want to tell yourself a kind of story on and say, you know what, you earned that degree.

You earned that qualification. You made that outcome happen, even if people helped you. What if impostor syndrome was an experience and not a fault, what if it's something that we all experienced at some point with some level of growth, and that's OK, it's not a fault.

And what actions could you take following this session? Is it that you want to start listing your wins? Is it that you're gonna use that 10 step process that we've got there?

Is it that you're going to look at some of those reframes? Is it that you're going to get in touch with a coach? I'm not saying me, there are loads of them out there.

Is it that maybe you realise, you know what, this has gone past just imposter syndrome. I'm starting to feel quite anxious and worried on a regular basis, and I need to Reach out and speak to a professional about this. But just think, what is the action that I can take following this session.

So thank you very much for having me and for listening to me for the last hour, because that was a little longer, but it's certainly a topic that I'm very passionate about. I hope that was helpful to people. And obviously, I'm happy to take any questions that we do have at the moment as well, if anyone's got anything that they want to ask.

Wow, Katie, that was fantastic. I mean, you've covered so much there. I'm just going to give people a little bit of time just if there's any questions coming through.

But I know certainly for me, what an eye opener. I think I've kind of always personally thought, yeah, OK, I'm having a bit of a struggle at the moment. I've got a bit of that impostor syndrome kicking up and I used it as a tagline but never actually realised.

You know, I can, I can reset it. I can turn it around and make it something more positive and you know, those tools that you've given are absolutely fantastic. I'd always be saying to you know practise managers get get that reset printed out and stick it on the notice board at work, you know, so anybody that maybe is experiencing this and hasn't actually realised impostor syndrome is out there and so.

Predominant I think within the veterinary industry, you know, could really benefit just from these tips to help them get through. Oh, thank you, and you're absolutely right. I mean sometimes there are going to be times where we have a few days and we feel like an impostor, but we know what it is and we know it's not a fault, and yeah, we can flip it and we can flip our focus.

Some days that's difficult. And we're just like, I'm just gonna sit with it. I know it doesn't feel comfortable, but I'm gonna be kind to me.

I'm gonna know what it was. And the next day I'm gonna go out and take some action, see if I can ask for help with it, see how I can do that reset. So, yeah, it's one of the, the main things I'm passionate about is people are like, let's just get rid of imposter syndrome altogether.

And I say, let's see it differently and realise what we can actually do. That's, it's almost embracing it, isn't it, you know, and like you say, seeing it as as growth instead of something that's holding you back, actually acknowledging that it's, you're putting yourself out there in these challenging circumstances and good things will come. That's that's, that's it.

I almost think of it as I talk a lot about almost having like the imposter gremlin or that little negative voice that we never chose being there. And it's almost like you just rattle it's cage by stepping out of comfort zone sometimes. You're like, oh, I've stepped a bit far, yep, it's kicking off now.

I was kind of expecting it, and once you're aware of when imposter syndrome comes in, you can almost anticipate it, you know, I'm right, I'm going for a promotion. Yeah, I know it's gonna pipe up, but this is the time when I need to be kind to me. I need to see who I can ask for help.

And having that list of questions that reset as well brings us into the more logical part of our brain, rather than being run away with like that emotional part of, oh, it's true and I'm a fraud, you go, actually, Here are the reasons why I do deserve it. This is who can help me. This is why I'm doing it because it's easy to get out of that.

You feel like you have to prove yourself. And also, like just reaffirming that this isn't because I'm a fraud, this is just a syndrome that people have labelled as as fraud, and I hate the term syndrome as well, I know that's what we call it, but it's just, it's an experience and there are things we can do to help. Yeah, brilliant.

I'm just double checking. I don't think there's any questions coming through, but I think it's simply you've you've answered so much in, in your content as it is. I think everybody's just got so much to go away and think about.

So, everybody that's joined us tonight, you know. Let me just say thanks for giving us your time, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I definitely have. Please do spend a couple of minutes to do the survey that pops up at the end just so that we know what you want to hear about next.

The power is in your hands, as they say. Thanks to Steph, the controller here who's made sure everything ran smoothly tonight. Thanks again to MWI Animal Health for sponsoring the practise management series.

And most importantly, thank you, Katie, for making us all appreciate our own value a little bit more, I think, and, yeah, hopefully. Have a, a happier future going through and and resetting and flipping this syndrome, not calling it a syndrome, flipping it on its head and turning things around. So thank you so much.

It's been absolutely brilliant, and on that note, I will wish you all a very good night and hopefully we'll see you again soon on another webinar. Thank you everybody, thank you for having me.