Developing Confidence in One’s Travel Therapy Career

For most people starting their careers in physical or occupational therapy, self-doubt is the enemy. Unfortunately, it comes with every profession. No matter how good you are at school, that first days at work are always the hardest. There will be days that make you question whether you are in the right career path. Doubting questions will invade your peace of mind like nobody’s business.

Will your boss or coworkers like you? What if you make a mistake? What if a patient asks you a question you don’t know the answer to? Why did you waste so much time in therapy school when you should’ve been studying to become something else?

The truth is, gaining confidence takes time. It takes time, at least at the start, to familiarize yourself with a job’s duties and responsibilities and become comfortable with them. In fact, even if you can claim some level of expertise, self-doubt never really completely leaves you. Travel therapy is no different.

With travel therapy, though, you’re going to feel the self-doubt more often than regular employees because you will be moving constantly from one job environment to another. Just when you have started to adjust to a setting, behold! Time for you to move on to the next assignment.

Don’t worry. It’s not as tough as you might think. Things do get better the more time you clock into your profession and your confidence will gradually grow. All that self-doubt will not vanish, but that’s okay. It’s a good thing to know that you can’t know everything. That means you will always be open to learn.

Along with the passion for learning, you need to develop good working relationships. Even though as a travel therapist you will only work with people for a temporary period, you still need to make sure that you play nice and are part of the team. The more people who like and trust you as a co-worker, the more and better results you can achieve. Furthermore, if you’re a good team player, the temporary relationships you build at your travel assignments can and will bloom into fulltime relationships that you can take advantage of in the future.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. That old axiom, “There are no stupid questions except the ones not asked” is true. Most professionals appreciate being asked questions. It makes them feel smart if they know the answer. If they don’t, then they’ll certainly be glad you brought up the subject. Plus, asking questions will help you reach the best decisions.

Over time you will gain confidence in your abilities and decision-making. Experience is always the best teacher. And eventually you will be able to defeat that great enemy, self-doubt.