Building Career Confidence

Written by: Melissa A. Wheeler, Ph.D., and Jessica L. Mackelprang, Ph.D.

Photo by Yan Krukau/Pexels

We’ve all heard “fake it ‘til you make it.” Faking it can be a good starting strategy to help you tolerate the new-kid-on-the-block anxiety and crippling imposter syndrome that sometimes accompany the early career stage. After all, if you can just get on with the work without second- and third-guessing yourself, more work gets done and skills and confidence build over time. The reality is, though, that many people feel some form of imposter syndrome across the lifespan of their career.

A bit of faking it may give you time to find your feet, but there are actions you can take to chart a path toward career confidence that are real. So, instead of faking it, here are five tips to help set yourself up for authentic career confidence that will continue to grow as your career takes flight.

1. Weed out distractions and find your focus

Many careers require some form of writing, whether that be producing research articles, preparing a report, writing clinical notes, or something else. The path toward writing more, and more efficiently, is working painstakingly to develop a daily writing routine until writing isn’t so painful anymore. Ask yourself:

• When do I have the most energy?
• When do I tend to be the most productive?
• What do I need to do to tune out competing distractions?
• What motivates me to get things done?

Start small, recognizing that everything is less intimidating when you chip away at it. Set your goal at 15 minutes uninterrupted, truly uninterrupted. This means ringer on silent and email notifications off. Giving yourself the gift of time tends to be a gift that keeps giving. As you settle into this routine, there’s a good chance that you’ll reach a state a flow and won’t want to stop.

2. Figure out which balls are plastic and which are glass

Any career is a juggle of competing tasks and responsibilities, and early on, you might feel as if everything is at the top of your to-do list. There are only so many hours in the day, and there will inevitably be times that you cannot accomplish everything. So, if you’re going to drop the ball on something, be strategic. Choose to drop balls that will bounce, not shatter.

3. Prepare like Goldilocks

Too little preparation and you’ll have to wing it; too much preparation and you’ll have wasted precious time. Conserve your time and energy and strive to find what feels just right for you. To maximize your efficiency in preparing to complete a particular task or to-do, identify a colleague who will review early drafts of your written work, watch you practice an upcoming talk, and listen to your fears and worries—and do the same for them. Tolerating the discomfort of practicing in front of others, receiving kind words, and welcoming critical feedback reduces nerves, improves your material, and steels your confidence.

4. "Celebrate good times, come on!"

Celebrating aspects of our career is not, and should not be, contingent on a big win. Otherwise, most of us will rarely celebrate anything and our professional existence would be a dull slog. Have you consistently dedicated time to writing each day? Did you meet that deadline? Did you spend less time bogged down in your inbox this week and more time doing things that will actually grow your career? Bravo you! Celebrating isn’t just about tooting your own horn—it’s about reflecting on, acknowledging, and appreciating your wins, as well as your efforts and losses. In this way, celebration can enable greater clarity and confidence.

5. Dim the spotlight

And here’s the biggest takeaway: no one is scrutinizing you to the degree that you are scrutinizing yourself. No one. Known as the spotlight effect, we have a tendency to overestimate the extent that others notice or care about our successes or missteps. This self-focus was pithily explained by author David Foster Wallace, “There is no experience you have had that you were not at the absolute center of.” Comport yourself professionally, but don’t obsess over how you will be perceived. After all, you have a 100% track record of surviving professional challenges, even if they didn’t quite go as you hoped.

From faking it to making it

Careers are long and faking it will only get you so far toward making it. Very rarely is someone perpetually in the right place at the right time—at the heart of a thriving career there is almost always a professional who has figured out how to focus and what to prioritize, the balance between good and good enough, how to angle their attention outward more than inward, and [hopefully] how to celebrate. Taking actions to build authentic confidence early in your career will help you to put your hand up for new, career-building opportunities. With confidence, you will choose to place yourself in situations where your knowledge and capabilities can be noticed and position yourself to leverage opportunities that you might otherwise miss.