The single most important skill that helped me build a purpose driven portfolio career was learning how to overcome my imposter syndrome.
It’s this skill that helped me land jobs with two of the biggest F500 companies in the world, get 5 promotions in under 10 years, self-petition my own EB1A greencard, build the largest women’s leadership program across the Government of Canada, and build a multi-six figure coaching business in under two years.
Here are three simple tricks you can use today to immediately 10X your confidence and kick imposter syndrome to the side:
Even as a young engineer, I used to dress up and put on my high heels when everyone around me dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I routinely got “you look like you are going for an interview” and my reply was always “I dress up for where I want to be”.
The concept of enclothed cognition describes how the clothes we wear affect our behavior, attitude, personality, mood, confidence, and even the way we interact with others.
Dressing up is the easiest way to boost your confidence, whether you want to crush an important meeting, create a compelling business case, have the promotion conversation or win you next interview.
It is easy to underplay our achievements if we don’t understand the impact of the work we do. From my early career, I got myself into the habit of converting everything I do into a business impact for my organization.
That’s where I created the Responsibilities to Impact Conversion process. With this process, you can convert every task you do into an impact on the top line or bottom line of your company.
Optimized the process to reduce defects in the system? You just added $X to the bottom line. Timely solved a customer issue? You just increased product resign rate and revenue by X%.
Created a dashboard for status updates? You just enabled the management to make better decisions on profit optimization.
From sharing their subject matter expertise to asking for status updates over emails to buying coffee at Starbucks, one of the biggest ways in which women minimize themselves is by using the word Sorry.
It’s time to completely delete the word from our vocabulary. The purpose of the word sorry is to ask for forgiveness, so when we use it, it immediately puts the other person in a position of power over us, hurting not only our self-confidence but also our self-esteem.
Got late for a meeting? Replace “Sorry” with “Thank you for waiting”.
Unsure of the answer? Replace “Sorry” with “Let me get back to you by end of the day.”
Made an error in the report? Replace “Sorry” with “Thank you for highlighting the issue. Let me fix it right away.”
It is time to stop letting imposter syndrome come in the way of our biggest, boldest career dreams. If you are ready to ditch imposter syndrome for good and build a purpose driven career and life, let's chat.
On the free discovery call, we will create a custom plan so you can break free from the cycle of imposter syndrome and build a purpose driven career you are proud of.
