Millions of professionals are afflicted by career anxiety at any point in their careers. The nervous stomach before a presentation, the insomnia before an interview, the fear that you are not good enough, these are not uncommon feelings as you may think.
Career anxiety may take a variety of forms: the fear of failure, impostor syndrome, decision paralysis, or being overly stressed about losing the job. Although a certain amount of stress in relation to career is normal, persistent anxiety may prevent you to become the best version of yourself and become successful in your professional life.
This post will take you through real-life tips to help you deal with career anxiety and develop a long-term confidence. You will discover how to discover the underlying causes of your anxiety, how to cope with it and how to build a base of long term career satisfaction.
The Meaning of Career Anxiety
The causes of career anxiety are different, and it is important to identify them as the initial step toward addressing them.
General Causes of Career Anxiety
One of the greatest causes of career anxiety is job insecurity. Job security may be a constant source of concern due to economic uncertainty, layoffs of the company or changes in the industry. This anxiety gets worse especially when you are the main breadwinner or when you have major financial commitments.
The other significant source of stress is performance pressure. It could be quarterly target, presentation, handling teams, the fear of failing to meet the expectations is overwhelming. Such pressure tends to increase when you are in a new position or you have to deal with difficult customers.
Anxiety is caused by the comparison with others through social media and interactions in the workplace. Reading about the success of other people on LinkedIn or seeing one of the colleagues getting promoted may lead to the feeling of inadequacy and self-doubt.
It can be very stressful not to understand what to do with your career. The confusion is debilitating when you are unsure of the next step or when you believe that you are in a rut in your present job.
Physical and Mental Symptoms
Career anxiety has both physical and mental symptoms. Physical manifestations are headaches, muscle tension, sleeping problems, and gastrointestinal disorders. The mental symptoms include racing thoughts, inability to focus, irritability, and constant worry of work-related situations.
Such symptoms may form a vicious circle in which anxiety influences your performance, which, in turn, causes more anxiety. To stop this cycle, special efforts are needed and persistence.
The Process of Determining Your Personal Anxiety Patterns
To be able to handle career anxiety, you must be aware of your own patterns and triggers first.
Self-Assessment Techniques
To begin with, you should keep an anxiety journal during one week. Whenever you are anxious, record what caused the anxiety, the severity of the anxiety on a scale of 1-10. Write down information on what you were thinking, what you were feeling physically and what was going on.
Watch out to the repetitive themes. Are you the most nervous when you have to meet with your boss? When networking? At what time checking email? Such patterns will assist you in realizing your unique triggers.
Identification of the Thought Patterns
Career anxiety is usually associated with distorted thinking. Catastrophizing makes small failures turn into big tragedies. To give an example, a mistake during a presentation turns into I am going to be fired.
All or nothing thinking perceives things as either black or white. You are either a complete success or a failure with nothing in between. This way of thinking does not allow enjoying the progress and making any conclusions.
Mind reading presupposes that you are aware of the thoughts of other people concerning your performance. You may feel that your coworkers consider you incompetent, even when there is no proof to back this up.
Developing a Confidence by Learning Skills
It is by competence that confidence grows. The more competent you are in what you are doing, the more comfortable you will feel to meet challenges and opportunities.
Determine Core Skills
The first step is to make a list of the necessary skills in your present job and career objectives. Read job ads of the jobs you would like to have and make a list of the skills that are listed most often. This provides a clear image on what to concentrate on.
Make three lists: skills you possess, skills you are building and skills you need to learn. This model will assist you to prioritize your learning and monitor your progress.
Prepare a Learning Plan
Come up with a systematic method of skill development. Write down measurable objectives of each skill you wish to acquire. Rather than what is listed as improving communication skills, write down what is listed as taking a public speaking course and making two presentations this quarter.
Combine the learning techniques to stay interested. Read books, learn online, listen to podcasts and practice. This various strategy helps to improve learning and prevent boredom.
Practice and Application
Practice makes perfect and not just knowledge. Seek the low-risk opportunities to apply the new skills. When you are practicing presentation skills, begin with small team meetings before offering to give company wide presentations.
Ask feedback on a regular basis. Request your trusted colleagues or mentors to assess your development and give certain recommendations on how to improve. This outside view assists you in the discovery of the blind spot and in speeding up your progress.
Coping Strategies Development
Good coping mechanisms assist you in dealing with anxiety as it occurs and avoid its build-up.
Mindfulness and Reduction of Stress
Career anxiety can be minimized by using mindfulness techniques. Begin with five minutes of meditation every day on such apps as Headspace or Calm. Even brief sessions can cause you to be conscious of your thoughts and feelings.
Deep breathing exercises are to be done when you are stressed. The breathing technique 4-7-8 works: inhale 4, hold 7 and exhale 8. This stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system and decreases the anxiety.
Cognitive Restructuring
Refute negative ideas by looking at the facts. When you say, I am going to fail this project, you should ask yourself, what are the evidences? What is evidence against it? What would I say to a friend in this case?
Explore balanced views by taking into consideration several outcomes. Instead of considering worst-case scenarios, consider best-case and most probable scenarios also. This is a balanced thinking that limits panic and makes you get ready better.
Physical Wellness
Exercise helps a lot to decrease anxiety and give confidence. Make sure that you have at least 30 minutes of physical activity most days of the week. This does not necessarily involve going to a gym, a walk, dancing or yoga can be just as good.
Place importance on sleeping. When you feel exhausted, the anxiety levels increase and this results in bad sleep and further anxiety. Ensure that there is a routine bedtime schedule and limit the screen time before bed.
Creating a Support System
Good relationships are a source of emotional and practical help when things are tough.
Professional Networks
Join professional associations, network events and online communities of people in your industry. Such relations can provide jobs, industry expertise, and emotional support in the case when an individual is experiencing a difficult period.
Networking is not something that should be done when you need assistance. Never fail to foster relationships by sharing of helpful information, congratulating others on success and offering assistance where it is possible.
Mentorship and Guidance
Find mentors and seek individuals that have experienced the same problems in your field. They are able to give perspective, advice, and encouragement using their experiences. There are a lot of professionals who are ready to mentor others, so do not be afraid to approach them.
Take into consideration formal and informal mentorship. Formal programs are structured and informal relationships usually occur through common interest or mutual connection.
Personal Support
Have a life beyond the workplace that gives you emotional support and a new way of looking at things. Family and friends will help you and maintain you in equilibrium between the work life and personal life.
Consult professional assistance when the effect of anxiety on your daily functioning is severe. Career therapists are specialists who can provide specialist advice and help.
Realistic Goals and Expectations
Unrealistic expectations are the reason behind anxiety and disappointment. One needs to know how to set the appropriate goals and expectations to become successful in the long term and mentally healthy.
SMART Goal Framework
SMART framework should be used in order to establish clear and attainable objectives. Specific goals are used to determine what you precisely wish to achieve. The criteria to monitor the progress are measurable. Achievable goals challenge you and are not impossible. Relevant goals are those that go along with your values and career goals. Accountability is accompanied by time-bound goals.
Divide up big objectives into small achievable processes. This brings transparency and makes progress visible and overwhelm less. Celebrate any victories on the way to keep the motivation and develop the confidence.
Managing Perfectionism
Fear of failure and criticism is usually hidden behind perfectionism. Although high standards can be used to achieve excellence, perfectionism can make you paralyzed and develop anxiety. Find out how to differentiate healthy striving and perfectionism.
Establish adequate standards on some tasks. You do not have to give your best at everything. Perfectionism should be reserved to your most valuable work and other work should be acceptable to be done well but not perfectly.
Career Confidence Building on a Long-term Basis
Developing sustainable confidence takes time and planning on how to grow your career.
Planning of Career and Vision
Come up with a clear vision of where your career is going. This does not imply that everything should be clear but you should have some idea of where you are headed and why. This vision is a guide that makes you make decisions that are in line with your objectives.
Revise your career plan on a regular basis. The things you are interested in, values and situations can alter with time. You must have flexible plans and this will reduce fear of making something wrong.
Celebrating Achievements
Record your small and big accomplishments. Put in successful projects, positive comments, problems that you have solved and skills that you have acquired. Look through this record at least once a week, when you feel anxious or doubtful.
Promote your successes in a proper manner. Self-promotion is a challenge to many people but promoting your achievements is the best way to make others realize what they have to offer and this can open other doors.
Continuous Improvement
Have a growth mindset where problems are considered as a way of learning and becoming better. Such a view will lower the fear of failure and it will motivate you to explore new challenges.
Get feedback and respond to it regularly. Positive feedback will make you better and demonstrate to the rest of the world that you are determined to be excellent and a professional.
What to do Next: Steps to Take
You do not have to be at the mercy of career anxiety. You can make your career experience more fulfilling and less stressful by being aware of your triggers and creating coping strategies as well as developing real confidence by acquiring skills.
Begin with one or two strategies which are most appealing to you. What is important is consistency and not perfection. Minor, daily steps add to form a huge difference in your confidence and anxiety levels.
It is important to bear in mind that confidence is not a goal but a process. Do not rush to build new skills and views. Career anxiety can be changed with time and effort into a motivating and growing factor.
