Anxiety over work performance AIBU?

[isthisjuststandard]

I’m relatively junior and newish to the team. I have imposter syndrome and don’t feel good enough as I entered at quite a high grade straight out of education rather than working my way up. I have worked some relentless jobs in the past where they monitor your every single minute clock in clock out. My role now is quite relaxed and we all just have trust that the work will get done between the team, which I guess is fairly standard practice for many corporate positions.

My issue is that I feel bad for little things. If I work over my hours one week or cover for someone else, I feel guilty for taking time back the following week if I know there’s work to be doing. I feel bad if my lunch break is longer WFH, often I pop to the shops to get groceries (10 minutes away by car) but then get stuck in traffic meaning I have had over an hour away from my screen. Often I don’t understand so I end up asking colleagues questions and for my line manager to fully explain tasks. I am worried they will think I have no initiative but really I just don’t want to mess up and want to make a good impression.

Did or does anyone else experience feeling this way and is it normal for a newbie (I say newbie but it’s fast approaching 12 months) or should I do something about it? Thanks

Sounds like a nice environment and the stress is coming from within. You’re being too hard on yourself. Just roll with it and keep asking questions and doing your job.

Communicate with your manager regularly and ask for feedback to put your mind at ease.

Don’t fret about longer lunch breaks as long as you’re doing what you need to get done. However, most of us who do that sort of thing quite a bit also put in extra hours when needed and feel that that’s why we can. Just try to factor that into your ‘tally’ of time to take back.

And yes, imposter syndrome is normal but in my experience, usually at a senior level. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘do something about it’…if it were that easy, none of us would experience it!

It’ll all fall into place with time and experience. 🙂