Coping with Insecurities at Work: Five Essential Strategies

What can you do when insecurities at work limit your self-confidence on the job and threaten your career progress?

Taking our insecurities to work

We give our insecurities a variety of labels. For instance, we may refer to inferiority, inadequacies, lacking self-confidence, and other descriptors for a problem that keeps us from experiencing success at work.

Here are five strategies I've found useful in helping employees overcome insecurities on the job.

#1. Ask questions

As you begin a job, you quickly realize that you don’t know everything. That can certainly lead to a lack of confidence. I’ve learned that no one has all the information needed regardless of their career stage.

Sure, you need to read and attend training events, but you also need to take advantage of the experience around you. Ask questions and learn from successful people on the job.

If you are a solopreneur, connect on social media platforms such as LinkedIn to join interest groups so you can meet and share information with others in the same field.

You can gather so much information to do your job well if you’re willing to ask for it.

#2. Everyone makes mistakes

If you expect to be perfect, you’ll always feel insecure on the job. That’s because you’ve set an unattainable standard. Everyone on the job makes mistakes, and you are not an exception to that rule.

I encourage you to learn from your mistakes and then move on. Besides, once you no longer need to be perfect, you’ll feel more confident about taking risks and pursuing new opportunities.

#3. Exceed expectations

With each new assignment, think of ways to deliver your work that will make a lasting impression and further establish your career brand. For example:

• How can you deliver more than expected?
• Can you deliver the assignment early?
• Can you keep the project under budget?

As you exceed expectations, you’ll not only feel better about yourself, you'll probably get more work from satisfied clients.

#4. Ask for Feedback

Don’t wait for your boss or a client to tell you that your work is “on target” or “misses the mark.” Ask for a reasonable amount of feedback along the way. Take care not to ask constantly (this becomes annoying), but at strategic points.

Doing so demonstrates that you care about your work and want to succeed in your job. Additionally, you’ll gain a more objective perspective of your performance, strengths, and the areas you need to focus on for improvement.

One thing is sure: There is nothing inferior about working to improve yourself!

#5. Celebrate Achievements

If you’ve received an excellent performance review or landed a new client, it’s time to celebrate—you deserve it!

Acknowledge those successes and reward yourself. Doing so will remind you how of how capable you are at your job. There’s no more meaningful boost to one's confidence than a job well done.

It’s time to take action

If you allow it to continue, feelings of insecurity at work will be a constant struggle. It will also prove to be a significant obstacle to your professional goals and reaching your full potential.

This problem does not have to be a permanent condition. You can overcome your insecurities at work.

I encourage you to consider the five strategies listed above. Using them will undoubtedly help you strengthen your confidence, increase your competence, reduce your stress, and hopefully give your career the boost you deserve.