The Health Coach Sales Lab

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as a Health Coach

• Jamie Jones • Episode 7

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Imposter syndrome affects nearly every health coach at some point, causing a disconnect between what we know and what we trust ourselves to deliver. This feeling of not being enough can derail our business growth, but it actually signals that we care deeply about our work and clients.

  • Imposter syndrome doesn't mean you're unqualified—it means you're human
  • The wellness industry rewards those who appear to have it all figured out, creating unrealistic expectations
  • Even successful coaches experience self-doubt, but they've built systems to work with it
  • Confidence doesn't replace self-doubt—they coexist
  • Ground yourself in evidence of your impact when doubt creeps in
  • Share from the middle of your journey, not from a perfect endpoint
  • Create a "proof bank" of positive feedback to review when feeling inadequate
  • Don't wait for doubt to disappear—take imperfect action daily
  • Your clients aren't looking for someone who's mastered everything
  • Practicing behavior over feelings builds the consistency that attracts and retains clients

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Speaker 1:

Hello everyone, welcome back to the show. It is Jamie here and I am so glad to be in your ears today. Today we're going to be talking about something that is a big topic. It is overcoming imposter syndrome as a health coach. So you know, I've been with you health coaches for 13, 14 years now and this is a really big, really big stumbling block, I would say, for people building their business. So I hope that you hear everything I'm saying today and that it is helpful for you to move forward, and I really think this is super important. So I'm really glad you're here, so I'm not even going to tiptoe into it.

Speaker 1:

Let's just walk straight through the front door and talk about this imposter syndrome, because I really think that every single health coach has felt it. Maybe they don't feel it all the time, but it's something that comes up for each of us. So I think that that could feel like this quiet sense of just not being enough, and that's a really hard sentence to even say. Right, it's so personal and when your business you know, when you are a health coach and your business is you, it is a personal thing. It is about who you are as a person and your struggles as a person, because your business is you, so it's so unique this business we're in, and how it can really stir up some things right. So these things might feel like or sound like you know, who am I to be charging for this work, or there's so many other people doing this better than me, or I'm not experienced enough to take clients through that, or I'll get another certification and then I'll be ready. I know that's a big one, and all of those things point back to imposter syndrome. And the wellness industry, you know, as well-intentioned as it is, tends to reward those who look like they have it all together, they've figured it all out. They are this, you know, perfect version of a human now who's super healthy, super hydrated, super slept. You know all of these things.

Speaker 1:

So, even if your imposter syndrome is quietly running the show, you might still look confident to everyone else. You know you might be still marketing your business, you might still be showing up. You might even still be signing clients. You know everything's rolling in the way that it should, but internally you're just carrying around this weight of constantly needing to prove that you deserve to be here, and that's a really heavy weight to carry. So I want you to put that down today. And I don't want you to put it down, you know, with surface level affirmations or I'm not going to be talking productivity hacks or anything like that you know. Know, with surface level affirmations, or I'm not going to be talking productivity hacks or anything like that. You know none of the surface level stuff, but we're going to put that weight down with something deeper and it's hopefully going to stay down or you will at least gain a little toolkit of some helpful things to do when that imposter syndrome does creep up, because I know it will. So we don't want to pretend like it's going to go away forever, but we do need to know how to deal with it. And I want you to also know that imposter syndrome does not mean that you're unqualified. It means that you're human, and that is wonderful, like I'm so glad that you're human right.

Speaker 1:

So One of the biggest misconceptions about imposter syndrome is that it signals a lack of skill of some sort, and it doesn't. It signals a disconnect between what you know and also what you are allowing yourself to trust. And most coaches who struggle with imposter syndrome are the ones who care deeply. They over-prepare, they want to work with real integrity. They really take their role in people's lives seriously, and that awareness is a strength.

Speaker 1:

But when it's left unchecked it can morph into this sort of self-surveillance and you start watching yourself from the outside, wondering if you're doing it quote-unquote right, and that's the tricky part. You might be doing actually really well, but because you don't feel the confidence you think you're supposed to feel, you just assume something is off and that isn't the case. You know, the coaching industry is really loud and that doesn't mean you're falling behind it. Just let's just acknowledge the elephant in the algorithm, because comparison just isn't a bad habit. It's built into the infrastructure of the social media thing that we're all in right, Because we open Instagram and we see someone launching their fifth program, someone else just posted a client win and someone else is doing a podcast tour, and you're sitting there wondering if you even remember how to talk about what you do without second guessing every single sentence, because you're stuck in this cycle.

Speaker 1:

And that contrast doesn't mean that you're behind. It just means that you are seeing their strategy without their nervous system, right, like you don't know how their internal world is doing it. That could be different. You know we all of our nervous systems and how we handle stress and how we are self-talk, and all of these things are different, and so what I mean by that is you're seeing their strategy, what they're doing online, all the things that they're accomplishing, but we're seeing it through your lens, not theirs, and so that's really important.

Speaker 1:

And here's you know what's really important in all of this, and a lot of the most visible people in this space have moments of self-doubt as well, of that imposter syndrome, and the difference is that they have built systems around their doubt and they have learned how to move with it and not wait for it to disappear, because it's not going to completely disappear and you can do all those things as well, and that's the good part. And so imposter syndrome isn't something that you erase. It's just something that you learn to hold without it overtaking you and without it running the show, and that's a really key shift and that that alone will shift things for you, because most people approach imposter syndrome like it's a problem to fix or a flaw to eliminate. You know, if I just get more experience, if I just earn more money, if I just finish that next certification, like all these things. But confidence does not replace self-doubt, it, it coexists with it. So these things are going to be moving together, and you can be so deeply good at what you do and still have moments where you question yourself. Everybody does.

Speaker 1:

So what matters the most in that moment is what you do after that thought shows up. Do you freeze, do you shrink? Do you go back into study mode for that next certification? Do you shrink? Do you go back into study mode for that next certification? Or do you breathe? Do you name it? Do you realize like, okay, this is it coming back right now and keep going anyway? And that's not like pretending it's not faking it. That's an act of leadership and that's what is needed for this kind of business to move forward and for you to feel the confidence that you need to move forward and to grow this business even further.

Speaker 1:

So that's what it is. It's an act of leadership and you're going to be leading while you're being human, and so you're going to have these feelings come up and you're going to breathe, you're going to name it and you're going to keep going, and you're going to also be supporting other people while you're sorting through your own stuff, because you're human, and so we're going to be holding space for someone's transformation, even while you're still navigating your own, because we're never done right. We're always improving in some way or we are always. Either if we've figured it all out, then we still have to maintain that right. So we are never going to be done. So we can't wait for that, for us to have the room to hold space for someone else to do that. So that's not being an imposter, that is honest work and that is being human. And none of those things are going to change. So we don't have to wait for that.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about what to do when imposter syndrome starts to creep in. So let's be practical about this, because this isn't just about your mindset, it's about your behavior, because we cannot run our business based on our feelings. So if we wake up feeling that imposter syndrome one day, we cannot let that feeling run our business that day, because our feelings change every single day and that is no way to build stability for yourself or the people that you're coaching. So again, we cannot let our feelings run the show. It is about our behavior. We have to do things, even if we feel something else. And so some grounded ways to respond when that voice shows up, are number one ground in what's true, not what's loud. So when that not enough story gets loud, ask yourself what is the evidence of this? Have clients gotten results from me? Have people thanked me for my perspective? Have you helped someone, even one person, experience more clarity or relief? And use those things as your anchor to pull you back. And those loud thoughts don't mean that they're accurate. So we need that anchor to pull us back into what is true and push away those loud thoughts because they're not true.

Speaker 1:

Number two is practice sharing from the middle, not the mountaintop, and that is really important. So you don't have to speak like someone who's figured it all out because, as humans, we know that's not true, so that comes off as not, you know, genuine, it's not human, and so it's hard to connect with someone who doesn't feel human. And so think about that. Think about we don't want to share like we've got it all figured out because that that's not relatable. And, uh, someone who's wanting to hire a coach. One of the biggest things is that they feel like they're connecting with that person and that's why they hire the person because they connect with them, they feel like they understand them, and and someone who comes off as perfect or figured it all out doesn't understand someone who's struggling, right, so we don't ever want to share from there. Um, and it's your audience often connects more when you speak from the process, not just the the outcome, right, so that's really important. We don't lose authority. When we share that real stuff. We actually gain trust.

Speaker 1:

Number three is keep a proof bank. I do this myself even and, like I said, I've been in this business for 13 or 14 years. I still have to do this, so this is just a really simple practice. Every time someone sends you like a thank you note or a kind comment or shares that you helped in some way, save all of those things as screenshots, emails, whatever it is, and create a folder and revisit that when your inner critic gets really loud and because that's other people speaking those words into you it's not your own mind having to pull yourself back and anchor yourself back. It's other people. It's proof that you are helpful and it's reminding yourself of the impact you've already had so that you can keep going and continue having more impact.

Speaker 1:

Number four is don't wait for the doubt to go away. You got to move with it, so this is one that people avoid, and so you'll wait months or years even, for, like, the right moment. But the moment when you feel ready is not going to come. The moment when your message is perfectly clear is not going to come. You are a real coach right now and you don't have to wait for that, but the right moment it doesn't come, like I said. So we create that right moment by taking imperfect, grounded action every single day. One foot in front of the other will lead you to where you need to go, and the only way to do that is to show up every day, and when the imposter syndrome kicks in, we do the things that we're talking about right now to push it back away and continue moving forward. So this is where the confidence builds. So some final thoughts. You are not an imposter. You are in process. We all are.

Speaker 1:

So the people, honestly, if you think about it, the people who never questioned themselves, who don't think that they're imposters I am not sure that I would want to learn from them anyway, right, because self-awareness is important. It's not a liability, it's part of what makes you a good coach. So there will definitely be seasons where doubt shows up louder than other times, and you know it's ebb and flow. It changes all the time. It also would it matters what else is going on in your life. You know, like I said, our business is us and we are human and we go through seasons and things happen to us and that affects our business.

Speaker 1:

So the most important thing is that we need to walk through these steps to ground ourselves in the truth and also behavior over feelings. Those are the two most important things. So I hope that you hear that with love and that it is empowering and helpful for you, and hopefully you heard a few things that sparked a new thought like oh okay, that makes way more sense because your work is so important and I want you to keep moving forward with it, because your clients are looking for you and they are not looking for someone who's mastered it all. They're looking for someone who knows how to keep going even when doubt comes to the table, and you need to practice that, because you also are going to have to teach your clients to do the same. They're going to second guess themselves and they need a coach who is strong enough to realize that feelings do not determine our actions, and we have to model that for them.

Speaker 1:

So we really have to work on it, and that's what builds trust, that's what builds people sticking around, because you are solid, you are consistent, you are an anchor for them and an anchor for yourself as well, and all of that is what makes you a coach worth following and a coach worth hiring, and you have all of that. So I hope this was helpful for you today. I would love to see you in the Facebook group to talk more about it Any insights, anything that clicked or anything else you need help with. The link is in the show notes or you could go to jamiesgroupcom and that will take you straight to our Facebook group and you can join us there. So I will see you in the group and I will see you next week.