I'm Not Good Enough
There is evidence
“The real trouble begins when confirmation bias distorts your active pursuit of facts.”
― David McRaney
You think you are not smart enough, good-looking enough, put together enough, or any other “not enough”. You know what I mean when I say this.
And as you think and feel the above, you keep finding evidence that supports these thoughts everywhere.
Oxford Dictionary defines Confirmation Bias as “the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.”
So whatever you are focusing on, you keep finding more and more of and it ends up a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Example A-
You think you are not smart enough → You focus on everything you did wrong or any slight academic misstep. You believe that you should know everything and anything less than perfect is unacceptable → Constant self-criticism → Lack of joy and loss of career fulfillment.
What do you think could be done as an alternative to the above?
Example B-
You realize no physician knows everything and you try your best → you focus on areas you succeed in and where you need to improve → Growth → Feeling joy and attaining a degree of career fulfillment.
One of the most important steps that you can take to start challenging this cycle of confirmation bias is to look at the facts in any given situation.
Example C-
As an early career physician, you might think you are not smart or seasoned enough → Ask yourself “What are the facts here?”
→ By the time you are done with medical training you have accrued 12,000-16,000 clinical hours (not including the time you spent learning Kreb’s cycle)
→ “What other facts are here?”
→ You are professional and hardworking
→ Maybe you ARE ready to be exactly where you find yourself right now.
So you see, you will keep finding what you search for. You just have to consciously decide what you want to search for. Do you want to keep looking for evidence that you are not good enough or the other way? The choice simply rests with you.
Until Next Week,
Amna