Sachin Patel addresses functional medicine practitioners and coaches, identifying imposter syndrome as the primary barrier holding them back. He argues most practitioners already know enough to help the majority of people and recommends adopting resourcefulness over attempting to know everything: learn how to find answers, tell clients you’ll seek needed information, and refer to specialists when appropriate. The talk closes with encouragement to act and expand impact.
Chapters
So I'm on a call last week with my mentor, and he's asking me, sachin, what's the number one thing holding your clients and prospective clients back? And so this was my answer to him. From my experience, from the countless phone calls that I've had, from the hundreds of practitioners that I've coached, I've realized the number one thing holding all of us back is imposter syndrome. It's this feeling that we're not enough. It's this feeling that we don't know enough. It's this feeling that if I could just learn this one more thing, then I could help that person. Well, the reality is, you know far more than you need to know to help 99% of the population, in fact, most of us, you know, really don't take for account how much it is we actually know compared to the average person. I mean, if you were to go to the mall, I promise you that if you met 1,000 people, that you could improve 100% of their lives. You know so much. You have so much value to offer. And so what I want to do is I want to give you a little framework that's helped me over the years overcome that little voice inside me that says, if I only knew more, I just don't know enough. Okay? And if you can overcome this voice, then amazing things start happening for you. So first and foremost, I want you to forget about this idea that you need to know everything. You don't need to be the resource for your clients. You need to be resourceful. You need to know where to look. If you don't know the answers, you need to learn how to say, you know what, let me look into this for you and get back to you. And if you're willing and committed to do that and actually looking and searching for the answers, you're minutes away from finding out the solution for your clients. You're minutes away from finding out the answer to their question. We live in a world where information is available to us right at our fingertips. So be resourceful. Instead of having to know everything and committing to knowing everything, commit to knowing how to find things. Another thing that you want to do is you want to let your clients know up front that you don't know everything, but you are committed and willing to find the answers that are relevant to them. And if you don't know the answers, you're going to do whatever it takes to find those answers for them or. Or refer them to the person who can best answer that question. It's not our job to know everything. But I promise you, you know far more than you think you do, and you can make a massive impact right now. So overcome that imposter syndrome, have that conversation with your clients, that you'll do whatever it takes to find the tools and the resources and the answers that they need. And be resourceful. Know where to look for help, know who to ask for help, and that allows you to expand your the impact that you can have. So best of luck to you. Now, let's get out there and help more people together.
