Episode 147 | AnnKNEEversary – Imposter Syndrome

What is up guys, and welcome back to another episode on the ACL Athlete Podcast. Today’s title is AnnKNEEversary – Imposter Syndrome. A lot of you are probably wondering, what is this? What is “AnnKNEEversary”? What is this cheesiness? This is basically a way for people to say their anniversary related to their knee or their ACL surgery. I had my second ACL surgery on Thanksgiving week, so I always remember it at the same time each year. If you have been following this for some time, you’ve probably listened to this for the past two years. But anyway, I’m going to keep this tradition going because I think it is a great way and the timing of Thanksgiving is upon us, for my family, and for obviously being in the States. This is a time to just reflect for a second. Things have been just a million miles a minute for me and the team working with ACLers and also pouring into this ACL athlete mentorship that we have with some stud clinicians and coaches who are wanting to improve their own game for ACL rehab.

It has literally been such a dream of mine to do this, literally, and has been so fun. Doing this is interesting because it always brings me back to the place where this all started. And it’s always been a passion of mine for ACLer rehab since my first one in high school, but never thought I would truly build a business around it. And that all changed in 2020. I decided to leave my ” dream job” and go out on my own before a global pandemic. So yeah, I literally did this. I left my job in February of 2020. I didn’t know anything about business, but I knew I wanted to build a company around ACL rehab, performance, and education.

This leads me to the topic of today, which is imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is this phenomenon where you just feel like you’re an imposter, essentially. You feel like you’re fooling people. It’s surrounded by this weird nervousness and fear; fear of being found out, fear of not being good enough, fear of you’re not the right person or no one wants to hear what you’re saying, fear of being a phony. You feel like an imposter. There’s just like this weird air around it if you will. I used to wonder why this feeling came about. 

But then I started to look at those who I respected and admired mentors of mine. All these leaders deal with it. People who are trying to stand for something or make a change, all deal with it. I started to realize this was more normal than I thought. I started to realize it only happens when you’re pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. It’s fair to say over the years, this feeling has always been present — some, less and sometimes more. And honestly, the more I’m in this, the more hit it can rear its head. And the difference now though, is before it used to make me nervous and fearful, and it could lead to a state of inaction or just reasons that are “justified”, but it’s just masked as excuses.

But now, I welcome it. It doesn’t mean that I still won’t have my days, but I know now if I don’t feel it at all, I’m not doing enough. I’m not pushing myself to make a difference, to not make a change necessarily, and to not necessarily focus on the mission. But that’s something I so strongly stand for and that is something that I look forward to every single day. I feel that imposter syndrome, especially right now with a lot of things going on and things that we’re doing to try and move the needle and to step into. And most importantly, that’s serving every one of you, ACLers, clinicians, and coaches. I was just trying to transform the landscape of this, to change the narrative around this, to redefine what ACL rehab truly does look like and what this process can mean for an ACLer, people who don’t fall through their cracks.

I was one of those, not only once but twice, to immigrant parents who did not know anything about what to do with health care or to help me in this process so we were lost a little bit. I want to make sure that anyone who is listening or going through this process that they have credible resources, that they can depend on, and that they don’t feel alone in the process. This is a big part of this.

Today, I am thankful for imposter syndrome. It’s truly helped me step into things that I could have easily just said no to and been fine where I was. But that’s not who I am. And man, would it be a disservice to not share what opportunities and experiences I have been given and blessed with?

I’ll leave you guys with this. Adam Grant is a behavioral psychologist and he puts out amazing information that is very relatable. He says “Imposter syndrome is not a clue that you’re unqualified. It’s a sign of hidden potential. When you think others are overestimating you, it’s more likely that you’re underestimating yourself. They can have an outside view and they see capacity for growth that’s not yet visible to you.” And then he goes on to say, “There may not be a day when we wake up and suddenly feel prepared. We become prepared by taking the leap anyways.” Amen to that. And continuing with this, he says, “Progress is rarely noticeable at a snapshot in time. What looks like a big breakthrough is usually the accumulation of small winds.” Atomic habits, anybody? Definitely something very similar to James Clear, which you guys know I’m a big fan of. But this is from Adam Grant, and he speaks a lot about the psychology behind things. I thought that this hit home in terms of this particular quote that he talked about, and it resonated with me. I do hope that it resonates with you. If you’re sitting here wondering, how is this anything ACL-related, in all honesty, it’s not. It’s just more of an appreciation post, a reflection of this whole journey here of being able to essentially be here at Thanksgiving to show gratitude, to be thankful.

Lastly, I do want to say here that I’m just thankful for this platform. I’m thankful for what it is provided to be able to connect with all of you. I didn’t realize how much this would grow and how much it would actually hit a lot of people, not only ACLers but clinicians and coaches who reach out, family members like it’s crazy. Just the people who do reach out and send messages and emails. I read every single one of those. So thank you so much for anyone who has done that. One hundred forty thousand downloads and counting which is just mind-blowing to me. This has just been such an awesome year, and such an awesome time to be able to get to this point. I’m very thankful for this. 

What’s the action item here? What’s something for you that is disguised as fear that can help you grow positively? Maybe it’s something related to the ACL journey, maybe it’s something professional, maybe it’s something personal, maybe you’re feeling that now. This is something that I encourage you to reflect on, something that is disguised as that fear, but something to step into. Because that imposter syndrome is real but just know it’s healthy, too.

This is the biggest thing that has changed for me instead of being scared of it, welcoming it. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that doesn’t rear its head like I said. But now I know that if I do feel it, then I’m probably stepping into something that is allowing me to grow and push myself. Be thankful for it. I’m thankful for it because I know I wouldn’t be able to live this dream job and do what I love every single day if it weren’t for stepping into that fear, making that jump back in February of 2020 if it wasn’t for these two ACL tears which I know at first it was just complete misery. But then now it’s the other side of this, it was an opportunity and now it’s an opportunity to be able to serve you guys and be able to step into this fear and this imposter syndrome. So I’m thankful for it. I hope you are too. 

And with that said, Happy Thanksgiving from the Patels, from the ACL Athletes. We’re so thankful for all of you and all of the support, seriously. Cheers, friends.