Coworkers and bosses will change over time and you'll rarely have complete control of team dynamics. Your career and how you choose to work, however, should consistently remain your top priority. Choose to stay on track with your goals. If you're struggling to make it work, take time to figure out the best way to move forward, either in this role or in a new one.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
No one feels confident constantly. Whether you're the intern, the CEO, or somewhere in between, your confidence can sometimes take a hit when you need it the most. Work is called work for a reason. It's hard. It's tough if you feel others are advancing while you're wracked with self-doubt.
If you're suffering from a crisis of career confidence, identifying approaches to reframe your thought patterns will go a long way. If you find yourself undermining your experience, questioning your accomplishments, or feeling uncomfortable with recognition, you may be experiencing imposter syndrome. The term was coined by psychologists Dr. Suzanne Imes and Dr. Pauline Rose Clance in the 1970s. Imes and Clance identified a phenomenon occurring among high achievers who are unable to internalize and accept their success. Those affected often attribute their accomplishments to luck rather than to ability and fear that others will eventually unmask them as a fraud.8
Imposter syndrome is prevalent, and almost everyone experiences it at some point. Being aware of this doesn't necessarily make the feelings go away. My advice as a coach, and as someone who also deals with imposter syndrome on a regular basis, is to acknowledge the feeling but do your best not to let it hold you back. Don't let doubt control your actions. Talk it out with someone you trust. Release the pressure valve and alleviate the pursuit of perfection. This doesn't mean you should stop striving to do your best. Instead, you need to focus your mind on setting yourself up for success. A great way to kick-start this is to remember what you do well and what you've achieved in the past. When you're feeling low, it can be easy to forget all the great things you've done in the past.
Recognize and fully embrace your expertise and your accomplishments over the course of your career so far. We need to do this whether we're feeling inadequate or riding high. Your feelings about work can and will fluctuate, but your accomplishments are concrete. Don't forget them. Negative thoughts can snowball if you're feeling down, so if you feel your confidence is plummeting take time out and remind yourself of what you're great at and where you've been successful in the past.
Coping with Burnout
Even if you haven't put a label on it, chances are you will experience burnout more than once in your career. How it manifests—and how it feels—can affect each of us in different ways. Warning signs can include an increasingly negative attitude or apathy toward your work, constant exhaustion, anxiety, insomnia, and feelings of ineffectiveness.
Asking for help and admitting you're struggling can seem scary, but don't be afraid to do it. If you don't take steps to take care of your health and well-being, your ability to deliver great work will fly out of the window. Take a break and talk to someone you trust. Recognizing and sharing how you're feeling is a vital first step. Work with your supervisor to get on your priorities. If you've been working around the clock, revise your schedule and give yourself time to adapt to a different way of working.
Ensuring you're getting enough sleep will pay dividends, as it's the gateway to increased productivity, happiness, and smarter decision making. Slow down and make space for things that make you feel good during your workday. Reconfiguring old habits takes time, but stick with it. When you start to feel better, don't revert to old habits; make sure you're putting your well-being front and center, as well as your deadlines.
When I was growing up, my mother told me that I'd have to work twice as hard as everyone else to get ahead. I listened to her advice, and where possible, I tried my hardest to follow it. However, after several years I started to realize working hard and waiting for your boss to notice isn't enough. That will only get you so far. And working twice as hard over the course of a career just isn't healthy, or sustainable. It's important to recognize when enough is enough. Your health and well-being should be your top priority.
Knowing your worth, even when it's not reflected at you, is pivotal. Understand that it's okay to fail or make mistakes, even when you feel you don't have space to do so, and that this is part of building a career. You will stumble. You will mess something up. You will hear “no,” or deal with not being noticed at all. But keep going regardless.
Align your actions with your ambition. Make sure whatever you're doing at work is getting you closer to where you want to be. If you know you can do better, commit to aiming higher. When dealing with challenges in the workplace, lean hard on a support system—this may include friends, people you trust in your network, a mentor, or a coach. Don't go it alone.
But remember, no one else will be truly invested in your career from start to finish, which is why you must continually invest in yours. The following chapters will guide you on how to do just that.
Q&A
Here are some questions I've been asked about career values, goals, and challenges at work.
1 I have a goal, but I'm struggling to make progress; what do I do?If your heart is still set on achieving your goal, breaking it down into smaller pieces is the best place to start. It feels too immense, you'll start to panic.If you're like me, there are times when there's an important task you know you must do, but you'll find almost anything else to do instead. Remind yourself why the task is important, use visual cues if you can that cement in your mind why you're doing this in the first place. Then, the most effective and efficient thing to do is to develop a “procrastination antidote” that gets you on track.Your system could be sharing your progress with a friend, or keeping a calendar on your wall, or tracking next steps in an app. Try whatever it takes. For me personally, removing any distractions so I can focus on what I need to do works every time. This involves ignoring e-mail, turning off my phone, and just diving in. If it helps, create a personal incentive as a reward for finally getting the task done and off your to-do-list.After you rip off the bandage and just start, you'll usually find your task wasn't as scary as you feared it would be. Often our minds inflate the task to be bigger, scarier, or more laborious than it really is. So, find the antidote that will get you started, because the sooner you start, the sooner you'll be on your way.
2 I like my job, but my boss is a micromanager, and I'm worried he's holding me back. What should I do?The fact you're enjoying your role and want to advance is fantastic. With that foundation in place, you can still progress, even with a micromanager as a boss. The first thing you need to determine is how your boss feels about your performance. Have you had a performance review? What was the feedback? If your boss is happy with your work, his tendency to micromanage may be a character trait versus a reflection on you.Micromanagers have specific characteristics, and it's likely you're one of many people who are affected by their challenging work style. Try not to let it get you down. Instead, focus on the positive elements of your job that you find rewarding, skills you are learning, or the networks and experience you are building.While it's painful to endure, remember you won't be stuck with your micromanaging boss forever. Anticipate your boss's needs but continue to do your best work and maintain a positive attitude. If there's something specific you need to support your professional development, talk to your boss about it and listen carefully to the response. Creating a dialogue about your future goals, and how you can do your best work, is a positive thing to do.
3 I hate my job, but I'm afraid if I start a new job, it will be just as bad. What do I do?If you don't like something at work, you have options. No one should stay in a situation that's not working