Feeling inadequate in relationships and professional life
Often feeling compelled to prove you are good enough
Engaging in people-pleasing and difficulty setting boundaries at work or home
Doubting whether you belong in your career role or personal situations
Worrying about how you are perceived in various situations
Being overly critical of yourself
Engaging in perfectionism to prove you are capable or worthy
Having unrealistic expectations of yourself
Putting a lot of effort into maintaining a certain image in personal or professional life
Feeling insecure in friendships or romantic relationships
Ruminating over what you say or do because you fear it made you look bad
Assuming your personal and/or professional accomplishments are due to external factors (mere luck/chance, connections, timing, lowering of standards)
Assuming your personal and/or professional accomplishments are not due to internal factors (your likability, unique value, intelligence, hard work, talent, skills)
Struggling with envy, jealousy or competitiveness in professional or personal life
Assuming others are more effective, capable or likable than you
Second-guessing your performance, opinions & decisions
Comparing yourself to others unfavorably
Sacrificing time for yourself & your loved ones to get more done
Feeling deflated, insecure and/or burned out as a result of all of this
Anxiety and self-doubt are the worst.
On the outside, everything in your life might appear to be just fine. You have it all together. You are motivated, intelligent, successful, accomplished and organized. You probably have achieved a great deal in academics, your career, family life, friendships or life experiences. Because of all of this, people might not even realize you have anxiety. Or if they do notice something, they might chalk it up to you being a perfectionist, an over thinker, a go-getter, an overachiever, a planner, or detail-oriented.
But you know that these descriptors don’t capture the full picture of what is going on inside of you.
Behind the scenes is an underlying anxiety and self-doubt that you are desperately trying to overcome with all of this “doing.” All of the striving, accomplishing, planning, perfecting, people-pleasing and workaholism is how you try to prove your worth to yourself and others. And you are exhausted. You are tired of feeling bogged down by all the unreasonable expectations you place on yourself.
Somewhere along the way, you became convinced that you are not good enough.
And this has become the lens with which you see yourself and the world around you. And, even though there is plenty of evidence to prove you are good enough, you have a hard time accepting it. It seems that no matter how much you accomplish in your personal and professional life, you still don’t believe you measure up. Terms like “high-functioning anxiety” and “imposter syndrome” might have resonated with you at some point in your journey.
All of the anxiety, self-doubt and imposter syndrome has left you feeling like you are in somewhat of a stuck place.
You feel stuck between the life you are currently living and the life you know is possible. At one point or another, you might have pictured another version of yourself. It is still you, but it is the version of you that you know you are capable of becoming. The you who believes you are lovable, worthy and competent, with no need to prove yourself. The you who is confident about the value you add. The you who is finally free from all of the worry, self-criticism and insecurity that has kept you from feeling good about yourself and living your best life. You are ready to take the next step but are unsure of where to start.
Perhaps you have tried talking to loved ones or even a therapist about this.
But just talking about it hasn't made a big difference. You still wind up in the same old place of feeling anxious or unworthy. There is a reason that just talking about things hasn't helped much. You don't need another listener. You need new skills.
What you need is to retrain or rewire your brain.
See, at some point you began to believe you weren't good enough due to certain life experiences. You internalized one or more of these incorrect beliefs about yourself:
I don't measure up to others
I am incompetent
I am ineffective
I am vulnerable
I am weak
I am unlikable
I am unworthy
These beliefs only got stronger over time because you paid selective attention to any potential 'evidence' of you not being good enough. The psychological term for it is called confirmation bias. You essentially searched for data to confirm what you already believed to be true.
This can all be changed.
Your beliefs are not static or permanent. Based on the principles of neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity, you can retrain your brain to process information differently. You can change your beliefs about yourself by actively altering the pieces of information you pay attention to and how you interpret those pieces of information.
Imagine if you really believed that you are capable, likable and worthy. Your life might look quite different. You might:
Stop feeling the incessant need to achieve in order to prove your worthiness
Feel more confident in your likability, value, worth, talents and skills
Be able to hold yourself to reasonably high standards instead of perfectionistic standards
Feel more comfortable saying ‘no’ and setting boundaries in your professional and personal life
Be able to internalize your accomplishments & recognize that you are the reason you are where you are in life
Feel safe, content and at peace, knowing you belong and deserve to be where you are in life
Be more assertive and able to express your thoughts more freely because you know they are valuable, helpful and/or insightful
Be less compelled to compare yourself to others or be competitive, envious or jealous because you are confident in your own worthiness
Stress less about maintaining the “perfect” image at home or work because you know your value even when you are inevitably imperfect and make a mistake
Worry less about what others are thinking of you because you know their assessment does not determine your value
Have the energy and freedom to do more of what you love because you are more confident and take better care of yourself
Hi, I'm Dr. Brittney Chesworth
I am a therapist, researcher, educator and coach. I’ve spent the past 15 years helping high-achieving women with anxiety and imposter syndrome transform into more confident, secure professionals who believe they are worthy and capable in their careers. High-functioning anxiety and imposter syndrome are my favorite things to work with because I struggled with these issues for so long. For many years, I felt compelled to earn my self-worth through achievement and accomplishment. But no matter how much I achieved, I still never felt good enough. I know how real this struggle can be. You are not alone.
It wasn't until I tried cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that I started to notice a significant change in the way I saw myself. CBT is a skill-based, action-oriented type of intervention that reshapes unhelpful thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. CBT is one of the most evidence-based treatments available. Inspired by my personal growth and change, I decided to specialize in CBT and began using these methods with my clients. I've watched my clients experience remarkable transformation in their lives (in relatively short periods of time) through retraining their brain and changing how they see themselves.
My TikTok account (@drbrittneychesworth) has helped me to realize that videos that include both education and entertainment can be a powerful learning tool. This inspired me to develop a program that combines educational and entertaining video lessons with individual coaching sessions to reinforce learning.
Be a Boss Lady: Grow Confidence in Your Capabilities & Worth
In my signature program, Be a Boss Lady, I help high-functioning women with anxiety, self-doubt and imposter syndrome recognize and embrace the boss that is already in them. I coach women (ahem, boss ladies) on how to recognize the boss in themselves and change the way they think and behave using evidence-based CBT techniques. Educational and entertaining videos allow me to make learning more interesting and fun. This individualized online coaching program is a dydactic, intimate and collaborative experience that transcends what coaching or course learning could accomplish by themselves.
During our 12 weeks together, you will receive a total of 8 individual coaching sessions, 27 course video lessons, as well as weekly worksheets and email support to help you practice skills in-between sessions. And we will have a lot of fun doing all of this! Because, afterall, doesn’t laughter and connection make learning more enjoyable?
This program IS for you if...
This program is NOT for you if...
How we'll do it:
1. You’ll complete the brief application (to make sure this program is a good fit for your needs)
2. If determined to be a good fit, we’ll book a 30-minute complimentary Discovery Call (so we can connect and I can learn more about you and your needs)
3. You’ll enroll in the program
4. You will receive a welcome packet, including the course/coaching curriculum and your individualized schedule for the 12 week program
5. The learning and coaching will begin!
6. After program completion, you will have permanent access to all of the course learning materials as well as recordings of all our coaching sessions.
This is what the program looks like, week by week:
Week 1: Orientation on Anxiety & Imposter Syndrome
Read orientation packet on the key features of anxiety & imposter syndrome
Individual coaching session #1
Week 2: Identifying Cognitive Distortions
Module 1 (Lessons 1-3): How to identify cognitive distortions
Individual coaching session #2
Week 3: Evaluating & Challenging Cognitive Distortions
Module 1 (Lesson 4): How to challenge distorted thoughts
Complete homework for Module 1 and submit to me for review/questions/feedback
Week 4: Evaluating & Challenging Cognitive Distortions
Individual coaching session #3
Week 5: Identifying Core Beliefs, Rules & Coping Mechanisms
Module 2 (Lessons 1-3): Identifying your core beliefs, rules & coping mechanisms
Complete homework for Module 1 and submit to me for review/questions/feedback
Week 6: Identifying Core Beliefs, Rules & Coping Mechanisms
Individual coaching session #4
Week 7: Changing Negative Core Beliefs
Module 3 (Lessons 1-2)
Individual coaching session #5
Week 8: Changing Negative Core Beliefs
Module 3 (Lesson 3)
Individual coaching session #6
Week 9: Changing Dysfunctional Rules & Coping Mechanisms
Module 4 (Lesson 1): Replace your unhelpful rules & coping mechanisms with healthier, more adaptive rules & coping mechanisms
Complete homework for Module 4 (Lesson 1) and submit to me for review/questions/feedback
Week 10: Understand Impact of Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms with Cost-Benefit Analysis
Module 4 (Lesson 2): Examine the costs and benefits of the coping strategies you use to deal with anxiety and imposter syndrome
Individual coaching session #7
Week 11: Using Experiments & Exposure Tasks to Build Confidence with Behaviors
Module 4 (Lesson 3 & 4): Replace Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms with Healthy Coping Mechanisms & Improve Confidence with Experiments & Exposure Tasks
Complete homework for Module 4 (Lessons 3 & 4) and submit to me for review/questions/feedback
Week 12: Using Experiments & Exposure Tasks to Build Confidence in New Behaviors
Individual coaching session #8
The cost of the entire 12-week program, including individual coaching sessions and lifetime access to the course modules, recordings and resources is $3,500
A three-month payment plan is available at no additional cost.
