SCRIPT CHECK · 60 SECONDS
Five quick questions show how often it appears, how believable it feels, and what it makes you avoid. You’ll get one private next step.
This is not a diagnosis and there is no pass or fail. It measures the current frequency, credibility, and behavioral cost of “If I look unsure, the attending writes me off”, including the private rule underneath it: Certainty is the costume—if the mask slips in front of the attending or the team, I lose the room and become someone who can't be trusted with patients. Showing doubt is the same as showing I'm not ready.
QUIET
“If I look unsure, the attending writes me off” appears, but it rarely gets the final say. Keep this line available for higher-pressure moments: “I don't know this right now, and I'm going to find out—that's how I practice medicine today.”
PRESENT
“If I look unsure, the attending writes me off” wins some small decisions before you catch it. Your useful interruption is: “Calling early, before I'm certain, is what safety looks like at 2 a.m.”
ACTIVE
“If I look unsure, the attending writes me off” is shaping action often enough to deserve a deliberate counterexample. Start privately and concretely: Next time you don't know something during rounds or at the bedside, write down the exact moment you felt the thought activate. Note what you did instead of asking. Read it back once. Do not share it.
DOMINANT
Right now, “If I look unsure, the attending writes me off” is steering many of the moments you measured. That is a pattern reading, not a diagnosis or character verdict. Begin with one reversible receipt: Next time you don't know something during rounds or at the bedside, write down the exact moment you felt the thought activate. Note what you did instead of asking. Read it back once. Do not share it.