Hey Success NP, last episode in January of 2026.
This month has flown and we have officially launched our complete
NP Playbook course for the Success NP Academy.
We are so thankful for the warm acceptance of the lunch and how
many people are checking it out. We cannot wait to start the
community for those that have signed up and start helping you
along your career journeys as NPS.
On a personal note, our family just got back from SeaWorld.
Let me tell you, it is one of my favorite theme parks.
If you haven't been, trust me, the kids and adults will love
it. The dolphin show is by far my
favorite. I just feel like the energy is
high. The trainers get in the water
with the dolphins and they're swimming around.
They just seem like a pet. I don't know, I just I totally
love the vibes in the dolphin show and I also am pretty sure I
walked about 15 to 20,000 steps that day.
If I sound tired recording this podcast episode, it's because I
spent a lot of the weekend hearing mom, we have to go see
Shamu or we've got to go see the Penguins.
We went back and forth all throughout the park.
So I am whooped. But we just had a really great
time. And whenever you're seeing that
experience through the eyes of a child, it's just so precious and
ignite childlike enjoyment of something that I did as a kid
with my parents. I highly encourage you to check
it out if you haven't or if you've been thinking about it.
And you can always message me if you want to know details or
anything else. We're going to dive in today's
episode. But before we get started, let's
hear a word from our sponsors. Hey and Peas, let's talk about a
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At the Success NP podcast, we talk a lot about professional
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If you're ready to take control of your home run health, visit
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with Lacera today because when you feel aligned, everything you
do improves. Today we are going to be talking
about something every nurse practitioner struggles with at
some point, confidence. And more specifically, how to
build confidence without waiting years for experience to
magically fix everything. I've talked about confidence
before on another podcast episode where we talked about
confidence versus cockiness. So check that episode out if
you're interested on my take on that.
A lot of NPS are told that confidence comes with time, and
that is partly true, but it's a little incomplete and honestly,
it's really not that helpful when you're in the thick of it
right now at the beginning of your career to have that age-old
line spit at you. Let's hold on the spitting and
let's talk about what really moves the needle.
We're going to talk about why confidence doesn't automatically
come with experience and how you can start building it now, even
if you're a new grad, a student, or early in your NP career.
A lot of NPS struggle with confidence for one reason I
think in particular. Let's break down why this is
normal. If you're an NP who feels
unsure, hesitant, or like everyone else knows more than
you, you're not alone. This is very common.
Many NPS experience imposter syndrome, the fear of making a
mistake, anxiety about missing something and the difficulty
speaking up and a constant sense of self doubt.
And honestly, this doesn't ever really go away completely.
You're never really cured. But I do think that you can
manage the symptoms of imposter syndrome that MP's experience
because I struggle with these things, and I've said this on a
previous podcast as well, that the voices just get quieter as
you choose not to listen to the self doubt.
But it's a process to get there and at success NP, we want to
help save you the time we spent figuring out what made us more
confident. Drum roll please for my official
reason why I think this is common and normal.
The big reason for this is that NP school teaches us knowledge
and not confidence. NP school teaches you the
pathophysiology. Remember that class?
I know I tried to block it out too.
Pharmacology, the guidelines. I still rely on these every day
in practice since they're always changing and you'll never, at
least for me, truly master them because I constantly feel like
when I go back in, something has been updated and diagnostics,
reading, imaging, test labs, all the stuff that we do as NPS.
But you're really taught in school how to trust your
clinical reasoning, how to communicate uncertainty
professionally, how to make decisions without having all the
answers, or how to grow confidence before you feel
ready. So you enter practice and you
assume that confidence is something you're missing, when
in reality, it's think you haven't been taught how to build
yet. This is a novel idea, right?
What if you need to be taught to be confident when you're
learning how to walk? Which, if you're a mom, you
remember. I'm a little closer to it since
I have young ones, but when a little one falls down when
they're learning to walk, does a mom, if she's a good one, tell
you I just quit? You'll never figure it out.
No, of course not. She encourages you to keep
trying. She might put your favorite toy
out in front of you so that you want to move towards it.
She might hold her hands out to you and beg you to come towards
her because she knows you can do it.
She believes in you and that gives you confidence.
You keep trying and eventually you begin to walk and now look
at you. Learning to be a confident MP is
something that has to be cultivated.
Do you remember in nursing school when we learned about
self efficacy? Self efficacy is a concept
developed by psychologist Albert Bandura, the creator of the
social cognitive theory. Hey and Peas, let's talk about a
partner that supports both your practice and you, Gobi Meds.
If you offer weight management, Gobi Meds is a powerful
telehealth resource for compounded GLP ones and Wellness
options like NAD. Plus, they handle the heavy
lifting with smooth clinician LED onboarding and transparent
pricing. You can even earn revenue by
joining their medical affiliate program.
Just look for the link at the bottom of gobiemeds.com.
But let's be real, you spend all day taking care of others.
And if you're looking into prioritizing your own metabolic
health or energy, Gobiemeds is here for you too.
Whether you're patients or for yourself, go to gobiemeds.com
and use code SUCCESS and PS to get $50 off.
Take care of your practice and yourself with Gobie Meds.
Disclaimer Gobie Meds facilitates access to compounded
medications. Prescriptions required online
medical consultation. Results may vary.
At the Success NP podcast, we talk a lot about professional
growth, but personal health is just as important as career
advancement for women navigating hormonal changes.
Lacera's Harmonized Hormone program offers personalized
hormone replacement through an easy, fully telehealth process.
Their approach combines comprehensive lab testing,
one-on-one provider consultation, and customized
treatment plans designed around each woman's goals, lifestyles,
and biology. Many women experience
improvements in focus, energy, sleep and mood, and overall
quality of life, which makes a real difference both inside and
outside the clinic. If you're ready to take control
of your home run health, visit Laceracom HRT and schedule your
free consultation with Lacerra today.
Because when you feel aligned, everything you do improves.
Hey, NP student or NP graduate? Yes, you ever freeze when it's
time to present your patient case to your preceptor.
Suddenly you're rambling about the thing that happened and the
preceptor gives you a puzzled look.
Winging it is no longer an option.
Introducing the Case Presentation Guide, a free step
by step framework made by experienced NPS for NP students
and new grads. Learn what to say and what to
skip, how to keep it concise, and how to sound like you
actually know what you're doing. Nail your assessments with
clarity, move through the history and plan like a pro.
The best part of the case presentation module is that it's
free 99, so make sure to click the link in the show notes.
This is all a part of our course launching January of 2026 called
the Success NP Academy. It is your step by step guide to
launching your NP career with confidence.
We'll help you go from overwhelmed to organized with
lessons on charting, case presentation, job hunting, and
actually feeling ready for day one in practice.
Because let's be honest, they taught you how to diagnose
pneumonia, not how to negotiate a contract or figure out
malpractice insurance. You've got the degree.
We'll help you get the direction.
Now let's get back to the conversation.
Sorry if this is giving you guys trauma, but it was the theory
that we learned that an individual's belief in their
capacity to execute the behaviours necessary to achieve
a specific performance goal. It reflects confidence in
controlling one's motivation, behaviour, social environment,
and influencing the challenges chosen, the effort expended, and
the resiliency against setbacks. So let's break that down.
Confidence and controlling one's motivation, the behavior in
social environment, influencing the challenges chosen, the
effort expended, and the resiliency against setbacks.
So sounds like to me, confidence is a skill.
It is not only attained through experience.
Let's address the biggest myth head on.
Experience doesn't automatically create confidence.
Plenty of MPs have years of experience and I know you've
seen them if you've been in clinicals or even if you're
practicing and they're second guessing themselves.
They feel anxious before shifts, they avoid speaking up or they
fear being exposed is not good enough.
Why? Because confidence doesn't come
from time alone. It comes from how you engage
with your experience. Confidence is built when you
understand your thinking process, you reflect
intentionally, and you learn how to handle uncertainty, and you
develop systems that support you.
Without those things, experience can actually reinforce anxiety
instead of confidence. I also think it's important to
talk about resiliency here because confidence in the
ability to feel like you can succeed really is also based on
how you pick yourself up from mistakes and failures.
We've got to spend some time talking and thinking about what
does it look like for me when I do make a mistake to work
through that and become a stronger NP as I make a mistake.
And we're so taught as nurses to never make mistakes, but where
people and people make mistakes. So you've got to be able to
quickly bounce back from your mistakes and do your best not to
do them again. Let's reframe everything that
we've talked about so far. Confidence is not knowing
everything. Confidence is trusting your
process. And as an MP, confidence looks
like knowing how to approach a problem, knowing when to ask for
help, and being able to say I don't know that just yet without
panicking, documenting clearly, and making thoughtful,
defensible decisions. Confident MPs aren't fearless,
they're just grounded. And that means that confidence
can be built before you have years of experience.
Let's get five ways to build confidence without years of
experience. And on today's episode, we're
just going to talk about two of them, and you'll have to tune
into next week to hear the other three.
The first one I want to share is about becoming a master of
clinical thinking, not memorization.
Because if you try to memorize everything, you're going to
destroy your confidence because we all have different capacities
in this area. And frankly, with how many tools
we have available to us, it's not necessary.
I think it's more important to know where your resources are.
I know some NPS that are just so bright that they memorize
everything and others that just flat out tell me, Sandra, I
check the guidelines repeatedly every day.
They have them bookmarked on their Internet browsers.
I want you to be focusing on patterns, frameworks, and
clinical reasoning, asking yourself throughout the day,
what is my differential? Why do I think this diagnosis is
correct? What's the worst case scenario?
I know nurses are so good at thinking of worse outcomes, but
in clinical practice you want to make sure you aren't missing the
big things. And the next question, what's my
next best step? I even write in my documentation
what I think the next step should be.
If the current testing or plan is negative or doesn't solve the
problem, this shows the next provider or even reminds
yourself if you see the patient again, what you were thinking
about ahead of the game. When you trust your thinking,
you stop panicking about what you don't know.
All right #2 and the last one for today.
Improve your chart and that might improve your confidence.
This is huge and rarely talked about.
Clear organized charting strengthens your clinical
reasoning, rotects you legally, and reinforces your confidence.
When your documentation reflects your thinking, you start to
believe your own competency. Charting isn't busy work, it's
confidence building. And a great hack in this area
that I use is templates. Templates help you think.
We recommend doing the tough work upfront of making great
templates to help your thinking process and spark an idea when
you're on the spot in the room with the patient.
I use this, like I said, daily and it helps me catch things
honestly. Depending on your speciality,
you will begin to notice trends, document them, and use a past
experience with a patient to help you catch the diagnosis
quicker the next time. All right, so those are our two
hacks for today and an introduction on confidence and
self efficacy and believing in yourself and that you can do it.
Stay tuned to next week where I dive into how to borrow
confidence, reframe your mistakes, and how to build
systems, not just skills. But in the meantime, if today's
episode resonated with you, I encourage you to check out the
complete NP Playbook, Clinical Confidence and Career Success
inside of this Success NP Academy on Teachable.
You can find the link in the show notes, take a look at the
modules, read through the outline and decide if it feels
like the right next step for you.
Our course is self-paced, practical, and designed to help
you support you wherever you are in your NP journey.
Again, confidence doesn't come from waiting.
It comes from building 1 patient, one chart, one
decision, 1 reflection at a time.
And thank you for listening to the Success NP Podcast.
And if you can share this episode with another NP who
might need to hear it, please do.
And until next time, trust your process, keep learning and
permit yourself to grow. And for the Success NP quote of
the day, it's from our good friend Albert Bandura.
In order to succeed, people need a sense of self efficacy to
struggle together with resilience to meet the
inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.
See you guys next month. Thanks for tuning into another
episode of success. And PS we hope today's
discussion has shed some light on the diverse career options or
taught you how to improve your clinical practice as a nurse
practitioner. Remember, whether you're
considering a specialization, pursuing advanced
certifications, or exploring non traditional roles, there's a
wealth of opportunities out there waiting for you.
Be sure to subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode and
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topics you'd like us to discuss. Until next time, take care, stay
curious, and keep advancing your careers as a nurse practitioner.
And just a friendly reminder, the information on this podcast
is for educational purposes only.
The information should not be used and substitute for
professional care by a medical provider.
The information on this podcast does not represent medical or
professional advice or services. Bye for now.