Confidence at work

[Gossipgirl2]

I’m struggling with confidence at work and wondered if anyone had any advice please?

I started my current job around 8 months. This is my first job as my disability made finding a job quite challenging. Prior to working I studied and volunteered from home.

I love my job it’s WFH which is great for me. I’m part of a small team of 12 people all lovely people who I get on well with.

I think I’m quite good at my job so far I’ve only ever had positive feedback from my boss.

But the issue is I don’t ever feel confident in my job.
I worry about making mistakes, coming across the ‘wrong’ way and compare myself to others
Part of my job is being involved in conducting training sessions and delivering project proposals and updates.

1:1 I’m fine but as soon as there is a few people in a meeting I feel nervous and feel like I get breathless and can’t get the info across well. I watch other people in my team do the same thing really well speaking confidently and just feel frustrated with myself.
I’ve tried pushing myself but doing the things that make me nervous doesn’t seem more doesn’t seem to help.

I should say I’m a naturally quiet person too.

I’m not sure how much of this is normal in a first job? Even though I’m late 20’s!

Does anyone have advice on improving my confidence please?

This is really quite a common problem and my advice isn't very scientific, but has worked me me and several others I know.

"Fake it, til you make it"

Prepare well, put on a smile and act until.it becomes second nature. Lots of people have a game face at work.

You're experiencing imposter syndrome. It's very normal, and nearly everyone experiences it. There are loads of self help resources out there for it.

Google imposter syndrome. So many people who are doing just fine at work, suffer from this.

Ah thanks for the replies. I hadn’t thought of imposter syndrome. Is it something you can overcome? Wonder if it’s related to being quite an anxious person?

It gets better with age IME. Build yourself a supportive network in the workplace, get regular supervision from your line manager, see if you can get coaching and/or work related training, if you find something difficult get support from someone you trust. Attend and prepare well for your annual appraisal to get the most out if it.

I’m the same in larger meetings. I read advice on here a while ago about rescue remedy and now take a few drops before particularly big or scary meetings. Whether or not it’s just a placebo effect I’ve no idea but it does help me - in fact I hardly need it at all now as my confidence has grown with each successful meeting.

I'm the same. I'm 43 and started a new job 7 months ago after being with my old company for 20 years. It's a new team and some other people from my old company have joined. My imposter syndrome is actually out of control at the moment. I feel like I am the rubbish one and it is impacting on my performance I am sure. I don't compare at all to the others (male). They are far better. It's a senior role so feel wrong admitting it too.

Ooh I have some rescue remedy so I’ll try that next time. Thanks! Sorry to hear others are feeling the same, it can be really hard adapting to a new job.