Meet our instructors: Dr. Madeleine Amie

Dr. Madeleine Amie was one of our first Focus Tribe online supporters and we're grateful to have her on board. Now, it's time to learn more about her!

Check out her incredible course on how to overcome Imposter Syndrome that has already helped so many people become more confident and outspoken in their businesses, as well as her masterclass on Imposter Syndrome and her most recent course on mindset game changers for entrepreneurs.

How was The Fierce Fawn born?

After coming across the Fawn survival response (the fourth survival response out of flight, fight, and freeze), I really identified with what it meant. I had always struggled with people pleasing, poor boundaries and interacting with people who had narcissistic behaviours. The fawn response to me, was a great umbrella term that could sum up all the things I had been having difficulty with. I wanted to share what I had learnt for myself and my experience as a psychologist to support others who may find this information helpful.

Where does Imposter Syndrome come from? Why do we see it in so many entrepreneurs, no matter how talented they are?

It doesn’t matter how many skills, experience or knowledge you have, anyone can have imposter syndrome. I think the reason why so many entrepreneurs have imposter syndrome is because it’s really hard to back yourself and put yourself out there, even if we are passionate about what we're doing.

Unlike other jobs where you may study, then apply for a job in your specific field, then start working, when you are an entrepreneur you are deciding all the steps you need to take to achieve your goal. There are no set guidelines on how to achieve what you are doing so there is more room for your mind to question itself and explore what could go wrong. Imposter syndrome is a faulty coping mechanism to keep you safe.

What are your main tips to quickly calm down anxiety when facing daily tasks while building your business?

- Try and focus on the here and now. When you are starting to feel overwhelmed and anxious, try not to think too far ahead into the future.

- Work out what small achievable steps you can do today (be reasonable with yourself, don’t try to overdo it).

- Write out your daily tasks so they aren’t swimming around in your head

- And if today ends up being a write off that’s ok, you can always try again tomorrow.

In your course Mindset Game Changers for Entrepreneurs you mention that it’s important to not only work hard but also to rest hard. Why is that? And how do you ‘allow’ yourself to relax when there's always so much more to do and you feel like you’re not doing enough?

When you're building your own business it is really easy to let work creep into all areas of your life. Especially if you are trying to get something off the ground you can feel like you need to be working on it all the time. You can also end up thinking about your business all the time when you are not supposed to be working.

When you allow yourself to relax, take a break, not think about your business, you can re-energise and have enough energy to get back into it the next time you sit down to work on something. Relaxing and having time away from your business is equally as important as working on it.

I know that you're planning a few updates for your business in the not-too-distant future. Would you mind sharing some of these plans as to what’s coming to The Fierce Fawn soon?

Next year I want to expand my content to include managing narcissistic relationship dynamics. This may be with parents, family members, friends, bosses, work colleagues and partners. Not being fully equipped to deal with these situations can be pretty crippling for people who have an overdeveloped fawn response. I would like to delve a little deeper into the underlying reasons behind these situations in relationships and offer some helpful practical tools and strategies to side step relationship issues with people who have narcissistic tendencies.

Categories: FTO Instructors