Why Do I Second Guess Constantly?

What Can a Top Surgeon Teach Us About Self Doubt?

I recently coached a group online and one of the participants was a highly experienced surgeon. During the zoom  session, he shared that despite his experience and success, he still sometimes second guessed himself! That opened up an interesting conversation.

I explained two ideas I use in my work: your Blueprint and the Identity Gap. Put simply, your Blueprint is the collection of beliefs and experiences that have shaped how you see yourself. There is also another set of info within your Blueprint that does affect your behaviour.

Your Blueprint projects the picture of yourself doesn't keep up with what you've actually achieved. I call that the Identity Gap.

For this surgeon, the evidence was obvious. Years of training, experience, responsibility and success. But internally, part of him was still questioning whether he was as good as the evidence suggested. Once he saw that, he became curious. What if the problem wasn't his ability? What if it was the way he had learned to see himself? And more importantly... Could he change it?

That's where our conversation got really interesting. Because you can change your job, your title, your income and your level of success.

But if the way you see yourself doesn't change with it, self doubt can follow you all the way to the top.

I'll share more about the Blueprint and the Identity Gap soon.

Reach out in the meantime if you would like a private 30 min. Gap Analysis , where we look at your Blueprint, and what may be needed to change it, to help you stop overthinking and second guessing yourself.