Imposter Syndrome at work
Ever feel like a fraud at work? Stuck in a negative mindset? You’re not alone. Find out how imposter syndrome holds you back you at work and learn tips to better manage.
Imposter Syndrome: TIPS for Success in the Workplace
By Tayla Stucke
Work is a core component of our identity – we spend around a third of our life at work, building relationships and a sense of self. Imagine, then, feeling like an imposter at work and wondering when you’ll be found out you’re not as competent as others think you are. Remarkably, around 70% of people have experienced Imposter Syndrome at some point in time [1] - where they feel like a fraud and aren’t able to internalise their successes. It affects people from all professions, including university students, academics, students, lawyers, tech professionals, construction, and the like. Transitions in work roles, increased work complexity, and promotions can all trigger self-doubt and lead to imposter syndrome. Let’s see how imposter syndrome shows up in the workplace:
Tate is hard worker who puts in long hours on a minesite. Their performance and can-do attitude has caught the eye of senior management, and Tate has been promoted multiple times within the first year at work and is now supervising people they first started work with. This causes Tate anxiety – after all, why would they listen when Tate has the same years of experience as them? Feeling underserving of the supervisor position, Tate takes on extra reading about management in addition to long days working onsite.
Alice is starting her first year as a surgical registrar. Whilst relieved to finally make it onto a surgical program she has significant doubts – Did she deserve a spot or was she let in due to an error…did she just fluke the interview? Alice feels like an imposter, and this is amplified on a daily basis when she encounters information she doesn’t know. To cope, Alice spends her free time studying up so that she has an answer for any question that comes her way, and tries to avoid giving responses if she is able to. Needless to say, she experiences overwhelm and burnout as a result.
Fresh out of university and two months into his first ‘real’ job as a lawyer, Ethan jumps at the opportunity to join a panel discussion on burnout in lawyers in front of an auditorium of university students. It’s not long until panic sets in as Ethan feels inferior to the other more experienced panellists, leading him to researching exhaustively on the topic. Whilst Ethan does receives positive feedback at the panel discussion for sharing his experiences with burnout, he brushes it off, more relieved that he hadn’t been exposed to be a fraud, and considers himself lucky that he had such a ‘junior’ audience.
Tate, Alice, and Ethan are all competent individuals who have earned their positions through hard work. However, they feel undeserving of the positions they find themselves in and can’t seem to shake persistent self-doubt. That’s the thing about imposter syndrome…it takes away your accomplishments and competence, tricking you into thinking that external factors are the reason for your achievement – luck, your skill in deflection and deception, and the audience’s kindness or lack of awareness of the subject matter.
“I still have a little imposter syndrome...it doesn’t go away, that feeling that you shouldn’t take me that seriously. What do I know? I share that with you because we all have doubts in our abilities, about our power and what that power is.”
SIGNS OF IMPOSTER SYNDROME AT WORK
Think of imposter syndrome like a nagging voice in your head telling you that you're not good enough, even when all signs say otherwise. The term imposter syndrome is a variation of ‘imposter phenomenon’, a phrase coined by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes to describe the persistent doubt of one's success despite evidence suggesting otherwise, alongside an inability to internalise successes [1]. Below are some ways in which imposter syndrome shows up at work.
You feel like a fraud, that others think you are far more competent than you really are, and that you’ll be exposed.
Like our doctor Alice, there’s moments of looking over your shoulder and thinking that you’re only in your position because of some error, and that it will all be taken away from you in an instant. Holding this belief often leads to heightened pressure on yourself to maintain this perception of you. [2, 4]
You routinely compare yourself to your colleagues and come off worse.
Social comparison is a strong maintaining factor in imposter syndrome - you compare your perceived shortcomings to what you consider to be the talents of your colleagues. That is, you cherry pick your flaws and hold them up against others’ strengths – understandably, feelings of inadequacy can arise, and reinforce the belief that you’re not good enough to perform in your role. [5]
You struggle to internalise your achievements and successes
Thanks to imposter syndrome, your achievements are dismissed and explained away as resulting from external factors like luck or others’ support, rather than recognising the role that your skills and abilities played in the success. [2, 4]
You rely on behaviours to hide your perceived shortcomings
When you feel like a fraud, you behave in ways to avoid being found out:
You may overcompensate (perfectionism, we’re looking at you!) by working towards impossible standards to avoid potential failure and exposure much like Ethan the lawyer.
You may also procrastinate at first, then rush to finish the job and qualify your performance with the time pressure you were under (Learn more about the link between perfectionism and procrastination here).
Or, you try to avoid the task altogether to avoid the potential for failure.
While these behaviours may help you avoid scrutiny in the short term, unfortunately they maintain Impostor Syndrome by reinforcing your belief that your abilities aren’t good enough as they currently stand. [2, 3, 4]
WHEN DOES IMPOSTOR SYNDROME APPEAR?
Impostor syndrome can rear its head in a variety of workplace scenarios, with transitions and changes in roles and responsibilities often highlighting imposterism, as seen in the situations facing Tate our supervisor and Alice our doctor. Stepping into higher responsibilities often involves being confronted with unfamiliar tasks and scenarios at work, which can lead to uncertainty and feelings of imposterism. [2] Some more specific transition points may include:
Moving from studying or training into a work setting when you find yourself facing new challenges whilst working with highly experienced colleagues. Feelings of insecurity and self-doubt can intensify due to unhelpful social comparisons with those far more experienced than you. [6]
Promotions and advancement into more senior roles can also trigger impostor syndrome, leading you to doubt your competence and ability to meet the increased demands of your new position – this may be working on more technically complex projects, or taking on new tasks (for example, managing a budget for the first time). [2]
Stepping into the leadership space or being lauded for your expertise can also prompt feelings of imposter syndrome. Being seen as a leader in a particular space or field means people may expect you to have all of the answers and be skilled at guiding and mentoring others. The pressure to meet both your own and others' expectations can be overwhelming. [2]
A NOTE ON IMPOSTER SYNDROME + MENTAL HEALTH
Given a significant amount of time is spent at work, constantly living in the imposter headspace can have a real impact on your mental health.
Feeling out of your depth and scrambling to learn everything you can is likely to lead to overwhelm and burnout. In James’ case, spending all of his time learning about lawyer burnout has resulted in increased stress and leading to panic. Similarly, Tate is new to being a supervisor and upskilling on management techniques in addition to long work days onsite.
Spending all your time preoccupied at work and/or overcompensating to avoid being exposed can result in stress, reduced quality of life and work/life balance, and depressive symptoms, as in Alice’s case. Unfortunately, Alice is only at the very start of her long surgical training period.
The challenge is that these difficulties can affect energy levels, motivation, concentration, and memory – all of which are important for work performance. This, in turn, can lead to feelings of inadequacy and exacerbate imposter syndrome.
TIPS TO MANAGE IMPOSTER SYNDROME AT WORK
If you feel plagued by imposter syndrome at work, here are our top tips to help you contain your inner critic.
TIP 1: Flip the Script on Unhelpful Self-Talk
Unhelpful self-talk can be a relentless companion, especially when grappling with imposter syndrome. Recognising and challenging the thoughts that come from your own inner critic can be a great first step.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there. ”
The next time you feel anxious when faced with a competence-related task, turn your focus inwards to your thoughts. What do they sound like? Here are some examples to look out for:
"I just got lucky this time. I'm not really that skilled."
"Everyone else seems to have it all figured out. I'll never measure up."
"I only succeeded because someone was nice to me. I couldn't have done it on my own."
"I don't deserve to be here. Eventually, people will find out I have no idea what I’m doing."
Once you've identified your unhelpful thoughts, practice interrogating them, looking for what evidence there is to support your thoughts vs. what evidence there is against it, acknowledging BOTH positive and negative evidence exist.
For Tate the supervisor, this looks like balancing feeling out of depth in a new role and area they are not knowledgeable in (managing others) with recognising that they have been promoted on the merit of their performance.
TIP 2: Embrace Failure as a Friend and Not a Foe
A fear of failure in imposter syndrome can trigger stress and anxiety, as well as frantic efforts to avoid having failed. Fundamentally, it is the viewing of failure as a threat that contributes to negative feelings and actions. What this mindset ignores, however, is that failure is not always a negative outcome, but rather it is crucial to both personal and professional growth:
“Failure is information – we label it failure, but it’s more like, ‘This didn’t work, I’m a problem solver, and I’ll try something else.’”
If failure is viewed negatively and as something to avoid, being faced with the possibility of failure stress and anxiety can be daunting and result in avoidance and/or overcompensation.
If failure is seen as part of a problem-solving exercise (involving trial and error), challenges and setbacks are seen as crucial to growth and development. A fear of failure (and, by extension, being ‘found out’) eases.
For our doctor Alice, this may include acknowledging that:
She has a very steep learning curve ahead of her, and that she will make many mistakes - no registrar starts off as an expert and comparing herself to senior consultants with decades of experience is unhelpful.
What she perceives to be ‘failures’ is just a collection of knowledge that she doesn’t yet possess, but being around the consultants highlight specific areas for her to focus on in her training. Adopting such a growth mindset helps her to embrace failure better.
TIP 3: (Really) Celebrate the Wins!
Imposter syndrome can overshadow successes, leading to the discounting of achievements. However, taking time to reflect on the work that you did, the skills that you drew on, and the process of achieving your goal can help bolster your sense of self-efficacy and esteem.
“Success is a series of small wins.”
For James, this would involve recognising that he was invited to speak on the panel, appreciating the positive feedback he received from his presentation, acknowledging that his input was well received alongside his more senior co-panellists, and seeing the panel discussion as an opportunity to learn from others.
TIP 4: Seek Tailored Support
As you can see from the examples of Tate, Alice, and James, each person’s experience of imposter syndrome and the circumstances they face are all unique. So, whilst we have suggested general tips above, we recommend you seek tailored support for imposter syndrome with a psychologist experienced working in the intersection between work performance and wellbeing (like me! I also have a particular interest in helping those stepping into the leadership space). Work collaboratively to understand the specific triggers for your imposter syndrome, identify unhelpful mindset and self-talk, and find a path forward to ease the hold of imposter syndrome.
REFERENCES
[1] Clance, P. R., and Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15(3), 241–247. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0086006
[2] K.H., A. and Menon, P. (2022), Impostor syndrome: an integrative framework of its antecedents, consequences and moderating factors on sustainable leader behaviors, European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 46 No. 9, pp. 847-860. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2019-0138
[3] Grubb, W. L., & Grubb, L. K. (2021). Perfectionism and the Imposter Phenomenon. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 21(6). https://doi.org/10.33423/jop.v21i6.4831
[4] Maftei, A., Dumitriu, A., & Holman, A.-C. (2021). ”They will discover I’m a fraud!” The Imposter Syndrome Among Psychology Students. Studia Psychologica, 63(4), 337–351. https://doi.org/10.31577/sp.2021.04.831
[5] Gutierrez, D. (2022) The Impact of Impostor Phenomenon in the Workplace: A Multi-Generational Perspective. dissertation. https://www.proquest.com/openview/549a251f717dbda4948fc53ef61abaf3/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
[6] Stelling, B. E. V., Andersen, C. A., Suarez, D. A., Nordhues, H. C., Hafferty, F. W., Beckman, T. J., & Sawatsky, A. P. (2022). Fitting In While Standing Out: Professional Identity Formation, Imposter Syndrome, and Burnout in Early Career Faculty Physicians. Academic Medicine, Publish Ahead of Print. https://doi.org/10.1097/acm.0000000000005049
Perimenopause: What it is and how to cope with the physical and emotional impact
Perimenopause - or the period of transition into menopause - can be a time of great upheaval when it comes to the physical, mental, and social aspects of life.
Perimenopause: What it is and how to cope with the physical and emotional FALLOUT
By Joanne Collyer and Joyce Chong
Menopause is a significant time in a woman’s life, marking the end of ovulation and signalling the end of natural fertility. In the lead up to this time, hormones fluctuate, leading to a range of symptoms - physical (hot flushes, night sweats, weight gain), emotional (mood swings, irritability), and cognitive (brain fog, slower processing speed)[1]. As a result, relationships, work interactions, and performance can all suffer, leading to poorer quality of life, lower self-esteem, and depression. Discussions about menopause have largely been ignored in the media, and women often find themselves wading through a combination of uncomfortable symptoms, wondering what is happening to their mind and body. To demystify this, we take a closer look at the transition phase into menopause – perimenopause – and the changes that happen at this stage in life. This article covers:
What is Menopause (+ Perimenopause)
Perimenopause – the time(ing) of your life
Psychological distress and identity shifts in perimenopause
What predicts adjustment and coping during perimenopause
Tips to help navigate perimenopause
WHAT IS MENOPAUSE (+ PERIMENOPAUSE)
Menopause occurs following your final menstrual period and signals a time when your body is no longer ovulating, often occurring between the ages of ages of 45 to 55[2]. Menopause can also occur earlier due to medical reasons (medical condition such as primary ovarian insufficiency, cancer treatment, or surgery).
Perimenopause refers to the period of transition into menopause – it’s the last stage of your reproductive years during which ovaries slow down egg production, and hormones (oestrogen and progesterone) fluctuate. Perimenopause usually occurs in the few years prior to menopause, and generally occurs in your forties. Fluctuating levels of estrogen during perimenopause can result in a range of symptoms, including[3]:
Physical: Hot flushes, night sweats, dry skin, reduced libido, body aches, insomnia, and lower energy are all very common in perimenopause. irregular menstrual cycles and heavy bleeding. Additionally, declining levels of oestrogen leave you more vulnerable to osteoporosis[4] and heart disease[5]. Body shape may also change as oestrogen levels decline.
Cognitive: Brain fog, reduced psychomotor speed, memory difficulties are common symptoms[6]. This can lead to difficulties in word finding and information processing, which can impact performance and communication.
Emotional: Mood changes are very apparent in perimenopause, with anxiety, sadness, depression, and anger observed. These can lead to negative interactions with others, which in turn can exacerbate stress and anxiety[7][8].
Psychological: Perimenopause is also a time of significant psychological adjustment not only to the physical changes but also adjustment to life roles and a shift in identity. We’ll cover these in greater detail later in this article.
perimenopause – the time(ing) of your life
Compounding the challenges of perimenopause is its timing – usually in midlife, and often coinciding with increased responsibilities including:
Caring responsibilities – parenting children whilst also caring for parents (the sandwich generation), and also fur babies.
Work responsibilities - Those at this stage in life often find themselves in a senior role at work and in charge of a team. This can also lead to heightened responsibility for the wellbeing of your team.
Mental load - juggling the coordination of various healthcare appointments, multiple work tasks, multiple social calendars, balancing finances, and maintaining positive relationships.
Between increased responsibilities during midlife, and the physical and psychological effects of perimenopause (reduced sleep, concentration problems, mood swings), something has to give. Unfortunately, that may be a poorer quality of life, increased stress, impacted relationships, and increased vulnerability to burnout. The impact of these challenges is very real - research has highlighted, for example, that in workplaces the severity of the physical symptoms of perimenopause affect job performance, and the severity of the psychological symptoms affect job retention.[9]
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AND IDENTITY SHIFTS in perimenopause
The psychological changes experienced during this time often centre on identity and ageing, but can also include feeling a loss of control overall and a perceived shift in personality. Take for example:
Someone who has not started or completed their family: Perimenopause can cause distress as it represents loss of hope, particularly if they have entered into early menopause.
Someone for whom youth and fertility are tied to their identity: Perimenopause and the inevitability of ageing may be hard to face, particularly in a society that values youth, and it can lead to feelings of invisibility and affect self-esteem and body image. It may also prompt reflection on where they are at in life (and whether there are dreams they haven’t yet fulfilled).
Someone used to being in control and capable of multitasking can find the perimenopausal symptoms of increased forgetfulness and lower energy can lead them to feel disorganised and incapable.
Someone who takes pride in being a calming influence may find experiencing irritability, mood swings, and even rage to be challenging to their sense of self and to their relationships.
Given the potential for identity to be impacted, it’s no wonder that grief, loss, anxiety, depression can emerge during perimenopause. Perimenopause can also exacerbate pre-existing anxiety and depression.
what predicts adjustment and coping in perimenopause
Several psychological factors have been linked to positive coping in perimenopause. These include:[10]
Optimism is linked with positive adjustment to perimenopausal symptoms.
Higher levels of emotional stability and emotion regulation are linked to lower levels of stress and depression symptoms during perimenopause.
Self-compassion predicts emotional balance as it promotes a non-judgemental approach to the self.
Higher self-esteem appears to be linked to better adaptation to stress, lower depression symptoms, and fewer menopausal complaints.
The presence of the above factors is related to lower psychological distress and higher life satisfaction, and more positive mental health in perimenopause.
Tips to COPE with perimenopause
With all of the changes that you face physically and psychologically during perimenopause, here are our top tips to help navigate this significant time.
1) Link in with your GP
With the multiple changes in your life (physical, emotional, behavioural, cognitive), it helps to connect with a GP well-informd about menopause to coordinate your team. This may include linking in with dietitians, exercise physiologists, and psychologists. Your GP can also provide guidance if you are considering menopause hormone therapy.
2) Look after your physical health
When it comes to looking after yourself during this time, take steps to improve your physical health to ease perimenopause symptoms and reduce future health risks associated with menopause.
a. Adopting a healthy diet to reduce hormonal fluctuations and maintain a healthy weight. A balanced meal consisting of whole foods, vegetables, and lean protein, with minimal sugary and processed foods, as well as foods high in saturated fats is recommended. Staying hydrated and limiting alcohol consumption is also beneficial, as is taking a bird’s eye view of your nutrition as you plan to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
b. Improving your sleep to help you to think clearly and regulate your emotions. Practising good sleep hygiene, reducing stress, and creating a relaxing bedtime routine all help.
c. Exercising to support stress, adjustment, and healthy ageing. Regular physical exercise supports healthy ageing and adjustment during perimenopause. Walking, swimming, weight training, and yoga are great choices and readily accessible. Exercise helps your physical health by preventing age-related conditions such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease, and boosts your energy levels. Exercise also benefits psychological health, helping with stress management, emotion regulation, and motivation levels.
3) Managing stress
Helpful coping skills can go a long way to reduce the impact of perimenopausal symptoms as increased stress can exacerbate sleep issues, brain fog, and hot flushes. Concurrently, reduce reliance on unhelpful coping skills such as relying on alcohol use and falling back on emotional eating. Replace them with more helpful coping skills including:
a. Problem-focused coping skills to help reduce stress where you can. This may draw upon time management, assertive communication, and goal-setting.
b. Emotion-focused coping skills can including building helpful self-talk through cognitive reappraisal, practising self-compassion, talking through emotions, mindfulness, meditation, and social support.
4) WORK WITH a psychologist with knowledge of issues associated with perimenopause
Link in with a psychologist well-versed in working with menopause and the challenges in this stage of life. A supportive psychologist can help you to clarify your concerns and help you find a way forward by:
a. Understanding the changes you’re experiencing, and to assist you with adjustment and acceptance of the transition into a new phase of your life.
b. Coping with juggling multiple responsibilities. Your psychologist can help you identify stressors and formulate a plan of attack, drawing on a range of problem-solving skills including time management, assertive communication, and shifting unhelpful mindsets. They can also help you with increasing self-compassion.
c. Coping with grief and loss of identity due to ending one phase of life and starting the next, and adjusting to this great change in your life. As part of this, work with your psychologist on improving self-esteem, redefining meaning in life if you are feeling lost, and building optimism for the future ahead of you.
d. Improving emotion regulation and mental health through helpful self-talk, reducing irritability, improving communication to support healthy relationships, as well as helping you with mindfulness and grounding techniques.
e. Improving communication and relationships with partners, children, and more generally with friends and colleagues. Partner relationships and parenting relationships come into sharp focus at this time, and a psychologist can support you to build better communication and relating skills.
f. Supporting healthy habits. Adopting healthy lifestyle habits - from exercising, to sleeping well, to reducing alcohol - is often easier said than done. Lifestyle procrastination is very real, and your psychologist can help you maintain your goals for exercise, sleep nutrition, and other forms of self-care.
Further reading:
Perimenopause | Jean Hailes: For general information on perimenopause and other women’s heath conditions, this is a great resource.
Menopause and mental health - Australasian Menopause Society: For further information on perimenopause and mental health.
Management of the Perimenopause - PMC (nih.gov): L. Delamater, MD & N. Santoro, MD, Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2018 Sep; 61(3): 419–432.: For information on underlying hormonal changes and medical insight regarding the different stages of peri-menopause.
REFERENCES
[1] Simpson, E. E. A., Doherty, J., & Timlin, D. (2023). Menopause as a window of opportunity: the benefits of designing more effective theory-driven behaviour change interventions to promote healthier lifestyle choices at midlife. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 1–10. doi:10.1017/S0029665123004810
[2] https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/health-a-z/menopause
[3] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/perimenopause/symptoms-causes/syc-20354666
[4] https://www.menopause.org.au/hp/information-sheets/osteoporosis
[5] https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/support/women-with-a-heart-condition/menopause-and-heart-disease#:~:text=If%20your%20oestrogen%20levels%20fall,risk%20of%20coronary%20heart%20disease.
[6] Than, S., Moran, C., Beare, R., Vincent, A., Lane, E., Collyer, T.A., Callisaya, & Srikanth, V. (2023). Cognitive trajectories during the menopausal transition. Frontiers in Dementia, 2. DOI=10.3389/frdem.2023.1098693
[7] de Kruif, M., Spijker, A.T., & Molendijk, M.L. (2016). Depression during the perimenopause: A meta-analysis, Journal of Affective Disorders, 206, 174-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.07.040.
[8] Alblooshi S, Taylor M, Gill N. (2003). Does menopause elevate the risk for developing depression and anxiety? Results from a systematic review. Australasian Psychiatry, 31,165-173. doi:10.1177/10398562231165439
[9] Steffan, B., & Potočnik, K. (2023). Thinking outside Pandora’s box: Revealing differential effects of coping with physical and psychological menopause symptoms at work. Human Relations, 76(8), 1191–1225. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267221089469
[10] Süss H, Willi J, Grub J, Ehlert U. (2021). Psychosocial factors promoting resilience during the menopausal transition. Arch Womens Mental Health. 24,:231-241. doi: 10.1007/s00737-020-01055-7.
5 reasons why modern life causes stress (and what to do about it)
(Updated July 2023) Experiencing stress and burnout? The stressors of modern day and lifestyle challenges may be making things worse. Here’s what to do about it.
5 reasons why modern life causes us stress (and what to do about it)
By Joyce Chong (updated July 2023)
Ever feel like your head is swimming with everything that you’re juggling? Let’s take a snapshot of a typical day in your life from the moment you wake to the time close your eyes at night. If you’re like many of the clients who we work with, it’s a never-ending juggle of work, study, family, technology, finances, friends, social life, meal prep, exercise, self-care, and…the ever-dreaded laundry. With the sheer scope of all that you’re juggling, is it any wonder that modern life causes us stress?
Indeed, stress is a natural response that prompts us to attend to threats in our environment:
“Stress can be defined as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation.”
How we respond to these difficult situations, however, has a large impact on our stress levels, wellbeing, and mental health. Without addressing the underlying causes of why modern life causes us stress, it’s hard to make more sustainable changes that lead you away from burning out. Here are some main reasons for stress in modern life, and what to do about them.
1. Mindset affects stress
Fundamentally, stress occurs when we perceive a situation as difficult and potentially insurmountable. Psychologists Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman, in their Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, outline stress as the body’s reaction to events perceived to be challenging, and highlighted the role of one’s perceived ability to respond to that threat. Thus, perception is key, and that’s where mindset comes in. Indeed, how we perceive an event can lead to a heightened stress response vs a more manageable reaction.
Let’s say you have to give a presentation for work. By seeing it as a disaster it can increase stress levels and lead to over-preparation and panic… a sure path to burnout. However, with more helpful self-talk you can dial stress levels down and the task will seem more manageable:
Certain personality styles, including perfectionists, those experiencing imposter syndrome, and those with people-pleasing tendencies, may find that mindset contributes to their experience of stress. Specifically, mindset can also lead you to take on too much (because you should aim for excellence), push yourself too hard (because you need to show that you are capable), and stop you from setting appropriate boundaries that would limit the stress that you experience (because you’re conflict-avoidant and definitely don’t want to rock the boat by saying no).
Our mindset flows on from how we see ourselves (our identity), and we make choices each day that align with our identity. This in itself can reinforce stress, for example:
Heni, a busy young professional, wants to scale the corporate ladder all whilst balancing finances and a healthy social life. She wants to take on all opportunities and do it extremely well. The inability to set boundaries with herself can then increase stress and contribute to her burning out.
Ando, the stay-at-home-parent, who treats it as his job and wants to excel in it (whipping up Instagram-worthy bento boxes, baking from scratch, display-home level tidiness) can deprioritise self-care and have few ways of reducing stress.
Emily, the juggle-it-all mid-lifer, who is in a management position looking after their team whilst at work, and then looking after parents, children, and fur babies outside of work…all whilst keep up their performance on their own work. The easy solution for Emily is to scrimp on self-care just so they can churn through the work; also by failing to set boundaries with others they find themselves stressed and overwhelmed.
DOES THIS ALL HIT TOO CLOSE TO HOME?
If the above examples all sound eerily familiar when you reflect on what causes you stress, take a closer look at Planet Burnout, our resource on shifting Identity, Mindset and Actions to help you lead a more sustainable, less overwhelmed life.
TIPS TO HELP YOUR MINDSET:
Develop realistic expectations - of how things should be, of what is required of you, of how well it must be done. Often stress arises when reality doesn’t match expectations - for example, that things should go as planned, that you should be able to manage a task, that you should be in control.
Step back from the ‘shoulds’ and other unhelpful thinking styles. Stress can result when reality doesn’t meet our expectation of how things ‘should’ be. Other unhelpful thinking styles that contribute to stress include mind-reading (e.g. thinking that someone is judging you harshly), catastrophising (e.g. thinking about the worst case scenario), and personalisation (e.g. thinking that someone’s frustration is targeted at you). If unhelpful thinking styles contribute to stress then take a closer look at this article on Thinking Styles that Sabotage your Mental Health.
Flip the script on unhelpful thoughts. Sometimes it helps to hold a mirror up to thoughts that increase your stress. Flip the thought that “I must/I should” to seeing it as a preference and ‘ideal state’ rather than something that has to be achieved irrespective of any constraints you face. Flip the thought that “They’re frowning because they’re angry at me.” to consider alternative reasons for someone’s demeanour, for example that they’ve had a bad morning.
Shifting mindset and flipping the script on unhelpful thoughts might seem easy in theory, but often these thoughts are quite automatic, in that we can’t see their impact - we just know that we feel stressed. Spend some time deliberately practising analysing your thoughts and it will become easier to spot them. If you’d like tailored help on shifting a negative mindset why not book in to work with one of our team?
2. Life events + Daily hassles add to your stress plate
If the global pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that life events contribute to stress. Other life events that increase stress are outlined in the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory, and include the death of a life partner, divorce, major personal injury, retirement, and pregnancy.
Daily hassles - ordinary challenges we face in daily - can also cause stress. These include having too much to do, cost of living, and conflict at work.
Both life events and daily hassles have been linked to increased stress.
TIPS FOR COPING WITH LIFE EVENTS AND DAILY HASSLES
Life events may be tricky to change, so it helps to take a look at what you can control, and to practice acceptance of what you cannot.
For daily hassles, consider what’s in your toolkit for coping (see Point 5). Perhaps having a system or process can help with misplacing/losing things, or speaking to a psychologist (like us!) can help with managing daily hassles such as troubling thoughts or getting along with fellow workers.
The most important thing is to do something, rather than bury your head in the sand. The problem won’t go away that way.
3. technology and constant connection
Technology can be a double-edge sword. It enables us to work more flexibly so that working from home has now become a reality. It enables us to connect with friends and family all around the world, to span different time zones and to have insight into the lives of our nearest and dearest by following them on their socials. It allows us to stay up-to-date with the latest in news, trends, and what’s going on in your neighbourhood. All without leaving home.
The downside? The constant connection can have a real toll on your wellbeing, causing significant stress as you are tethered to your phones and laptop as work emails pile up (see this article on The Tyranny of Constant Contact). Staying up-to-date with the latest news can lead to doom-scrolling, with negative effects on both physical and mental health. And…where do we even begin with social media and its impact on social comparison, FOMO, body image, and self-esteem? (Hint: It’s not looking too rosy).
TIPS TO HELP WITH TECHNOLOGY + CONSTANT CONNECTION
We get it, technology is part of everyday life. However, let’s look at setting healthy and appropriate boundaries with technology. This will of course vary depending on what you do for work (students and those in IT might find it harder to step away from devices). Try the following:
Conduct an audit on what you spend your time on with your devices. It may be that you end up on socials far longer than you anticipate each day, or fall into the trap of doom scrolling once you hop on ‘to relax’ after work which then bleeds into dinner prep. From this, set realistic and sustainable limits on device use, for example not scrolling through the news after work but instead getting dinner prep out of the way first.
Commit to being device-free for a period of time each week. Instead, go offline and connect with friends in real life.
Turn off alerts so that you’re not at the mercy of constant pinging from emails, messages, and updates on who’s doing what on socials.
Tame your social media use by setting limits (e.g. Hopping off 2 hours before bedtime), using apps that cut off your access, or hiding/deleting apps off your phone.
4. Poor lifestyle factors
Whilst stress may be inevitable, there are ways in which lifestyle contributes to the problem. Given that we are all time-poor, it’s easy to see how looking after our health can fall by the wayside as we:
Rely on caffeine and sugar to pick us up, and alcohol to wind down.
Scrimp on exercise because the To Do list wins that battle.
Make poor nutrition choices because you ‘deserve’ a treat given how hard you work.
Stay up past your bedtime because it’s the only moment of peace that you have.
Neglect enjoyable or rejuvenating self-care activities such as connecting with friends or going for a massage because there are other things that need to be done.
The reality is that these basic building blocks are extremely important when it comes to reducing stress as:
Exercise reduces stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.
Sleep helps the body to repair and consolidates memory and learning, as well as helps with emotion regulation.
Connecting with others is helpful for reducing stress and increasing meaning in life.
So with that in mind, let’s turn our thoughts to how we can follow through with what we all know that we ‘should’ do…
Lifestyle TIPS TO REDUCE STRESS
Forget relying on being ‘in the mood’ or waiting for the ‘right time’. Instead, commit to just doing it.
Find your motivation - whether that’s being accountable to others, or thinking about how you will feel after looking after yourself, work out what works for you.
Go slow… practice mindfulness, get into nature, or start journalling - activities that require you to slow down mind and body will help with stress.
Commit to being consistent so that the habit eventually forms.
5. POOR COPING SKILLS REINFORCE STRESS
Stressful events are inevitable, but when we do nothing in response then we’re setting ourselves up for even poorer wellbeing and mental health. Avoiding dealing with the source of stress means the problem won’t be solved nor will it make things easier (in fact, it may even increase stress if you’re just postponing the inevitable).
Avoiding experiencing your emotions - say, by using alcohol to dull emotions, or shopping to avoid sadness - means you’ll rely on these coping skills time and time again. So what coping skills do we recommend?
TIPS FOR IMPROVING COPING SKILLS
Problem-focused coping: Skills that address the root cause
When you can address the source of the stress you also learn ways to prevent it from happening down the track. Coping skills that are included in here include:
Boundary-setting to avoid taking on too much.
Seeking support and guidance, for example from your manager (to help with job-specific stressors), your lecturer (for study-specific stressors) or psychologist (to help with mindset and lifestyle stressors).
Time management to help you prioritise and work on important items.
Establishing systems and processes as well as routines (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) to reduce daily hassles, including meal prepping, setting up a morning routine, and using a planner to stay on top of things.
Emotion-focused coping: Skills to help you deal with all the feels…
At times it may not be possible to address the source of the stress, in which case emotion-focused coping skills help you to regulate strong emotions. Such coping skills include:
Exercise to help reduce stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline
Meditation and mindfulness help to decrease distress and calm the mind.
Self-soothing skills such as distress tolerance.
Journalling to help you process your thoughts and feelings (try this positive psychology journal).
Reframing/flipping the script - shifting an unhelpful mindset to ease distress.
WHAT SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT STRESS MANAGEMENT?
Given that stress is ever-present in modern life, before you start building your resilience toolkit, let’s look at some realities of managing stress:
Stress management is an ongoing process, not a set-and-forget approach. You will have to work on managing stress regularly.
What works to reduce your stress will change depending on your circumstances and stressors. Sometimes you will lean more on problem-focused coping, and at other times, emotion-focused coping.
You don’t have to manage stress alone. There is a vast amount of information out there, and it helps to lean on evidence-based sources, or seek out a professional.
Ready to start working on reducing stress? Book in for a tailored session with one of our team here, or explore our book Planet Burnout here.
References
Biggs, A., Brough, P., & Drummond, S. (2017). Lazarus and Folkman’s psychological stress and coping theory. In C.L. Cooper & J.C. Quick (eds.), The handbook of stress and health: A guide to research and practice (pp. 351-364). Wiley Blackwell: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118993811.ch21
Philp, M., Egan, S.J., & Kane, R. (2012). Perfectionism, over commitment to work, and burnout in employees seeking workplace counselling. Australian Journal of Psychology, 64, 68-74. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-9536.2011.00028.x
Burns, D. D. (1980). Feeling good: The new mood therapy. New York: New American Library.
Edelman, S. (2003). Change your thinking. ABC Books.
Williamson, A. M, Fayer, A. (2000). Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occupational Environmental Medicine, 57, 649 – 655. https://doi: 10.1136/oem.57.10.649
Ten Have M., De Graff, R., & Monshouwer K. (2011). Physical exercise in adults and mental health status findings from the Netherlands mental health survey and incidence study (NEMESIS). Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 71, 342-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2011.04.001
Endler, N.S., & Parker, J.D.A. (1990). Multidimensional assessment of coping: A critical evaluation. Personality Processes and Individual Differences, 58, 844-854. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.5.844
Public speaking anxiety at work: Tips to manage a common challenge
Public speaking anxiety holding you back at work? Step up to the next level with these tips to help you manage your anxiety.
STEPPING UP AT WORK: TIPS FOR OVERCOMING PUBLIC SPEAKING ANXIETY TO HELP YOUR CAREER
By Giulia Villa
What holds you back at work? Over your working life, there will inevitably be barriers and missed opportunities. At times, these barriers will be external – the work environment may not be suitable, or the workload unrealistic. At times, however, these barriers are internal – your mindset, skills, and habits get in the way of stepping up to the next level at work. Some examples of these include difficulties with being assertive at work and setting boundaries, managing procrastination, managing a team, or managing burnout. Another common internal barrier we often see – that touches so many areas of working life – is that of public speaking. In fact, public speaking is seen as an important skill in the workplace. However, a fear of public speaking – or glossophobia – is widespread, with estimates ranging from upwards of 20% to a whopping 75% of populations. How far-reaching is the impact of public speaking anxiety at work? Let’s look at some examples:
Ella, a high-achieving teacher, has been asked by the Department of Education to train a cohort of early-career teachers. In spite of her passion for educating the next generation of teachers, Ella is considering turning down the role because it involves public speaking – training large groups of teachers, giving regular progress updates to senior staff, and speaking at Department of Education conferences. At present, Ella copes with public speaking anxiety by preparing for hours to reduce the likelihood of making mistakes and ease her anxiety. She knows given the sheer number of sessions she will be delivering, it will not be possible to overprepare for each session whilst maintaining her usual teaching duties without experiencing burnout. Ella could turn down the position and keep her workload and anxiety more manageable, however she knows she will feel trapped remaining at her current level, without opportunity to progress.
Oliver was recently promoted to management level due to his excellent technical skills as an engineer. However, while he excelled at research, problem solving, and producing written deliverables, the director of his team has recently expressed concern at Oliver’s performance in his new role. Notably, Oliver has cancelled several meetings, preferring instead to communicate via email to avoid being put on the spot and to have time to plan what to say. Rather than delegate project work to the team and Oliver being the ‘face’ of the project, Oliver carries out the technical work himself and assigns more junior staff to present project updates and lead team calls. After a conversation with his director, understands he will struggle to progress in this workplace without tackling his avoidance of public speaking.
The situations faced by Ella and Oliver are just a few examples of how typically high-performing individuals may be held back by their fear or avoidance of public speaking in their workplace. Let’s break down public speaking anxiety a little further. In the DSM-5-TR (2022) public speaking anxiety is a specific subset of social anxiety. Key features of this type of anxiety include:
A fear of acting in a way or showing anxiety symptoms (e.g., blushing, trembling hands, excessive sweating) that will be embarrassing or lead others to negatively judge the speaker or the content of the presentation.
An avoidance of public speaking situations, or enduring these situations with fear and anxiety. Avoidance might crop up as frequent sick days, low involvement in work meetings, joining calls at the latest possible moment, or agreeing with everyone to avoid conflict.
The fear provoked by public speaking situations and the possibility of being judged negatively by others is intense and significantly impacts one’s functioning in their work and/or social life.
HOW PUBLIC SPEAKING anxiety HOLDS YOU BACK AT WORK
As we’ve seen in Ella and Oliver’s examples, there are many situations at work in which public speaking may have a negative impact and hold you back from succeeding in your career. Let’s take a closer look at some of these scenarios.
NETWORKING: A MINEFIELD FOR SOCIAL ANXIETY
Networking is often a highly dreaded activity for those with public speaking anxiety – in effect it’s being ‘on show’, making small talk in a work context, often in small groups. However, networking has become an essential component of success in our hyper-connected society – did you know over half of jobs are never publicly advertised? In 2016, LinkedIn reported that 70% of professionals starting a new role already had an existing connection at their company. The takeaway? You’ve got to meet groups of people and make connections so as to be at the forefront of people’s minds when upcoming jobs arise. Unfortunately, nerves about being on show in public can make the ever-important act of networking a nightmare and may lead you to connect online, to avoid unfamiliar people, or even to undersell yourself during in-person networking events. In any case, anxiety stops you from making the most of an important networking opportunity.
WORK MEETINGS
Speaking up in front of others – whether it’s the weekly check in around the meeting table, or your turn to give an update on a project – can feel extremely daunting to someone who dislikes public speaking. You may focus on all eyes being on you, and have spent the night before thinking about how exactly to present what you need to but minimise your time ‘on display’.
Post-pandemic flexible work arrangements may mean that many meetings now take place over video calls. For some, these online meetings may be even more anxiety-inducing than face-to-face meetings. You may feel more aware of being watched and of being negatively judged by others, and thus experience more pressure to perform well. Social anxiety can also lead to a greater focus on scrutinising one’s own onscreen image, thus amplifying self-consciousness. Additionally, brief moments of silence that feel natural in person may become accentuated and feel awkward in a video call.
DELIVERING PRESENTATIONS AND SALES PITCHES
If the idea of delivering a presentation to a client or even your own colleagues is enough to make your heartrate quicken, you may have developed ways to deal with this seemingly inevitable anxiety. For example, you may spend hours overpreparing like Ella. Or you may be so focused on getting the presentation over and done with, you don’t have much energy to put into designing the presentation itself. Then, of course, there is question time – a period where you don’t know what questions will be thrown at you.
A good presentation in a work setting boils down to how you design your presentation and the speaking techniques that you employ to deliver your message. Unfortunately, it can be incredibly challenging for someone with anxiety to simultaneously manage uncomfortable physical symptoms, quiet down unhelpful self-talk, remember the content, and remember how to deliver it, and have the presence of mind to adapt the presentation to the audience.
Public speaking anxiety might also affect your presentation by impacting:
Speech rate
Tone of voice
Posture and body language
Use of filler words
Use of visual materials
Engagement with the audience
Public speaking anxiety may hold you back from being able to recognise what style is most appropriate for your audience and situation, and also on helping you to handle unknown questions (as part of question time). This is where we can help – keep reading to find out how our team of counsellors and psychologists can help you manage anxiety and become a more confident public speaker in your workplace. We’ve helped students manage anxiety for their university presentations, helped doctors to present confidently in their clinical exams, helped teachers to present to peers and parents, and helped professionals develop networking and sales pitch skills. We enjoy helping people grow their skill set and their confidence.
tips for managing PUBLIC SPEAKING ANXIETY
Try the following tips for managing social anxiety at work:
TIP 1: LEARN TRIGGERS AND HABITS THAT MAINTAIN PUBLIC SPEAKING ANXIETY
What exactly is it about public speaking that causes you anxiety? Perhaps it’s the idea of drawing attention to yourself, or perhaps you’re worried about visibly freezing or sweating. Having a clear grasp on what causes and maintains your anxiety goes long way in developing a targeted action plan to reduce your fears.
TIP 2: DISMANTLE UNHELPFUL SELF-TALK THAT FUELS YOUR FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
Negative self-talk is a common thread underpinning public speaking anxiety. The ‘stories’ you tell yourself can increase your anxiety. For example, Ella might notice a senior staff member check their phone during one of her presentations. Self-talk along the lines of “I’m not doing enough to hold their attention, they can tell I’m inexperienced and underprepared” is likely to make Ella more nervous, possibly increasing her likelihood of making mistakes.
On the flipside, self-talk can also be a helpful tool to reduce anxiety and help you to feel more comfortable during your presentation. A more helpful thought for Ella in the above situation could therefore be, “They may be checking their phone as they could be expecting a call”. In this case, Ella would feel less nervous and better able to continue with her presentation as planned.
TIP 3: FINE-TUNE YOUR PRESENTATION STYLE
We all have a different idea of what it means to be a good public speaker. Presenter ‘personas’ can vary widely across people, furthermore different types of speeches require different styles and components – presenting a sales pitch marketing muesli requires a different approach to delivering a lecture on research developments in biotech. By clarifying your goal – for example, who is your target audience (Formal? Informal?), what are you trying to achieve (Sell a product? Disseminate information?) – you have a clearer idea of how to shape your message and design an effective presentation. By having confidence in your materials and your messaging, you will also feel more comfortable in delivering!
TIP 4: GET EXPERIMENTING
Running ‘experiments’ on yourself is a great way to challenge pesky thoughts and fears that are standing in the way of your career success. Thoughts aren’t exactly the most reliable source of information when it comes to public speaking – fears that ‘everyone will laugh at me’ or ‘if I stumble over my words I’ll get fired’ can disproportionately dial up your anxiety to the point of interfering with your presentation.
In order to move past your fears try setting up small behavioural experiments to test how true these predictions are. The next time you are asked to speak in front of others, perhaps intentionally slip in a small mistake. Carefully notice the reaction of your audience – does it fit with your predictions? This testing can help you to determine whether the evidence fits with what you’ve been telling yourself.
If you’re interested in a tailored approach to dismantling your public speaking anxiety at work, check out our Speaking Volumes course. Over six weeks (allowing for time to practice your new skills in between sessions), you will work individually with one of our clinicians through an evidence-based, practical approach, to reduce public speaking anxiety and provide you with the skills and tools you need to succeed in the workplace.
Speaking Volumes, our 6-week course to help with public speaking anxiety covering how to improve your presentations skills as well as anxiety management skills (cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy). This course is based on CBT and social skills training.
REFERENCES
Aderka, I.M., Hofmann, S.G., Nickerson, A., Hermesh, H., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., & Marom, S. (2012). Functional impairment in social anxiety disorder. Jounral of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 393-400. Doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2012.01.003
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text revision). American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Blöte, A. W., Kint, M. J. W., Miers, A. C., & Westenberg, P. M. (2009). The relation between public speaking anxiety and social anxiety: A review. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23(3), 305–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.11.007
Ebrahimi, O. V., Pallesen, S., Kenter, R. M. F., & Nordgreen, T. (2019). Psychological Interventions for the Fear of Public Speaking: A Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 488. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00488
Martin-Lynch, P., Correia, H., & Cunningham, C. (2016). Public speaking anxiety: The S.A.D. implications for students, transition, achievement, success and retention. In: Students Transitions Achievement Retention & Success (STARS) Conference 2016, 29 June - 2 July 2016, Perth, Western Australia. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/39766/1/SAD.pdf
Vriends, N., Meral, Y., Bargas-Avila, J.A., Stadler, C., & Bogels, S.M. (2017). How do I look? Self-focused attention during a video chat of women with social anxiety (disorder). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 92, 77-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2017.02.008.
Social anxiety at work: How social anxiety affects your performance
What is it like showing up at work when you live with social anxiety? In this article we dive into tips to help you better manage social anxiety in the workplace.
How social anxiety AFFECTS work
By Giulia Villa and Joyce Chong
Living with social anxiety can be challenging, particularly in the workplace. Even if your job seemingly does not involve much social interaction (for example, working with computers, in data entry, as an author, or as an artist) when you dig a bit deeper it’s surprising how many social interactions are involved in performing your role. These situations include speaking to colleagues and managers, speaking up in meetings, giving a presentation, even being ‘put on the spot’ and asked for your opinion. Other roles may involve a greater social component including networking, client contact, and pitching projects. Indeed, social anxiety can be quite debilitating in the workplace. Let’s take a look at a few examples:
Will is an engineer who wishes to become a manager and lead interesting projects within the organisation. However, a major obstacle is Will’s social anxiety and his worries that others think that he is incompetent. His social anxiety stops him from sharing ideas in a meeting, giving project updates, and networking at industry events to build industry connections. Will’s fears lead to excessive preparation in relation to reading up and fact-checking, on rehearsing what he is going to say, and on anticipating how others may react. Needless to say, this increased workload - and mental load - has brought Will close to burnout a number of times, and he sees that if he were less concerned about what others think that he could be more productive and less overwhelmed.
Ali believes that social anxiety has led to a ‘failure to launch’ in their career as an accountant. Having lived with social anxiety for decades, they’ve found many ways to minimise their social anxiety through avoidance. Ali avoids the lunchroom to reduce the likelihood of making small talk, agrees with others’ opinions just to avoid conflict, and is unable to set boundaries regarding their workload. Ali does not apply for jobs that require interviews, instead working for family friends who sought them out because that way they know they’re good enough to be wanted in the workplace. In fact, Ali rationalises their way out of applying for promotions because this would involve an interview as well as potential rejection. Even if Ali were to be successful, it would then mean meeting new people (and facing the possibility of additional rejection). an element of public speaking, they avoid the lunchroom in case small talk arises, and agrees with others’ opinions at work just to avoid conflict. Ali is also unable to set boundaries at work and as a result feels taken advantage of, as well as feeling overwhelmed.
Ali and Will are not alone. Let’s dive deeper into situations at work that can be challenging for those experiencing social anxiety (see below):
What is social anxiety?
According to the DSM-5-TR (2022), some core features of social anxiety include:
* Significant anxiety regarding social situations wherein one may be scrutinised by others, with a fear of acting or behaving in a way that will lead to being negatively evaluated.
* The fear or distress is persistent, out of proportion to the situation, and interferes with functioning (e.g. occupational, social).
* These social situations are avoided, or endured with intense anxiety. Avoidance of social situations may be quite common in the form of sick days, ‘alternate appointments’ occurring at the same time as feared situations (e.g. work meetings), or even in subtler ways such as choosing to transact via emails rather than face to face, or attending a meeting but ‘hiding behind’ a more outgoing colleague.
* Social anxiety may also be specific to performance situations (e.g. musicians, athletes, public speaking).
stressful workplace situations for social anxiety
Various workplace situations that present difficulties for those with social anxiety. Indeed, it is unsurprising that social anxiety is linked to increased absenteeism (for example, calling in sick on training- or team-building days) and declining promotions or opportunities because they involve a greater degree of social interaction. Such situations include:
Small talk and networking: A minefield for social anxiety
In situations of small talk and networking, whilst there may be common ground (e.g. the workplace) or a common goal (networking and promoting your organisation), the initial exchange of social pleasantries may include talking about a wide range of topics - the weather, holidays, current affairs, entertainment, travel… the possibilities are endless. Navigating the transition from making small-talk to focusing on work-related discussions can also be a source of stress.
work meetings
Work meetings are also often a source of anxiety. In addition to making small talk with colleagues prior to the start of the meeting, once the meeting commences you may be called upon to provide an update on your projects or asked your thoughts on a work issue. Cue all eyes on you and being the focus of attention, and being ‘put on the spot’. These situations can seem highly intimidating, and often those with social anxiety may miss meetings altogether, or opt to dial in remotely (with their camera off so they can sit silently in the background).
Public speaking, giving presentations, and being observed
In our work with individuals with social anxiety, public speaking is easily one of the most dreaded scenarios. In fact, public speaking is a very common fear - and not just for those experiencing social anxiety. Avoidance of giving talks and presentations is very common in individuals experiencing social anxiety. To learn more about public speaking anxiety in the workplace, read our article and find out how you can helps your fears.
Another workplace concern is that of being observed, particularly by supervisors and managers but also more junior colleagues (or even students on placement), where you are required to demonstrate competency in a skill. This can impact a wide range of professions including those in healthcare, hospitality, education, and performance.
Talking to managers and authority figures
Talking to managers and authority figures can be extremely daunting for those experiencing social anxiety. Each interaction with someone who is in a position to assess your work is seen as potential for scrutiny, and common unhelpful thinking styles that dial up anxiety in these interactions include mind-reading (assuming that your manager thinks poorly of you) and catastrophising (worrying that saying something incorrect will lead to criticism and punishment down the track). Performance reviews are likely to further exacerbate anxiety.
Job interviews
Job interviews may be avoided by those with social anxiety for several reasons. This is a scenario where the goal is to convince someone (and often, a panel of interviewers) that you are ‘good enough’ for the position. Sources of stress in job interviews typically include being asked unexpected questions, crafting a response that answers their question, monitoring non-verbal responses (for example, tone of voice, use of fillers, what to do with your hands), and speaking about your strengths and experiences.
tips for managing social anxiety at work
Try the following tips for managing social anxiety at work:
Tip 1: Flip the script on your socially-anxious thoughts
A fear of social situations can trigger a host of unhelpful thoughts and assumptions:
“I can’t give the presentation, it’ll be disastrous.”
“They think I’m incompetent.”
“I’ll make a fool of myself.”
“They’ll see my anxiety leaking out and I’ll look weak.”
These thoughts are often exaggerated or even untrue, and it’s when you flip the script on these thoughts that you reduce your anxiety. Helpful questions to ask yourself include whether your thoughts are realistic and proportionate), and whether you are able to cope with a negative situation should it arise.
Tip 2: Avoid your avoidance of social situations
Whilst avoidance leads you to feel better in the moment, in the longer term it reinforces your fear of the situation. Instead, face your fears gradually through setting small exposure tasks. Start with making a conversation about someone’s weekend, or by briefly drawing attention to yourself by clearing your throat.
Tip 3: Build a set of social skills for work
Often social anxiety can be exacerbated when you don’t have a set of skills to cope with social situations. Skills such as making small talk, networking, attending job interviews, being assertive and setting boundaries, and public speaking, are some examples of skills to develop so that you can build up your confidence to navigate your workplace.
Hopefully the above tips will help you to better manage social anxiety in the workplace. If you’d like a more tailored approach you can book in with one of our team by contacting us (click on button below). Alternatively, you can look into our Social Set or Speaking Volumes courses:
Social Set, our 8-week course to help you better manage social anxiety. Social Set focuses on building four sets of skills for social anxiety - skills to improve your mindset, skills to help your body’s anxious response, social skills across a range of situations, and skills to help you set the scene for success in real life through exposure therapy. It is based on CBT and Social Skills Training.
Speaking Volumes, our 6-week course to help with public speaking anxiety covering how to improve your presentations skills as well as anxiety management skills (cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy). This course is based on CBT and social skills training.
REFERENCES
Aderka, I.M., Hofmann, S.G., Nickerson, A., Hermesh, H., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., & Marom, S. (2012). Functional impairment in social anxiety disorder. Jounral of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 393-400. Doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2012.01.003
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text revision). American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Hidalgo, R.B., Barnett, S.D., & Davidson, J.R.T. (2001). Social anxiety disorder in review: Two decades of progress. International Journa. of Neuropsychopharmacology, 4, 279-298.
Hofmann, S.G. (2007). Cognitive factors that maintain social anxiety disorder: a comprehensive model and its treatment implications. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 38, 193-209.
Hofmann, S. G., & Otto, M. W. (2017). Cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder: Evidence-based and disorder-specific treatment techniques. Routledge.
Mendlowicz, M. V., & Stein, M. B. (2000). Quality of life in individuals with anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 669-682.
Moitra, E., Beard, C., Weisberg, R.B., & Keller, M.B. (2011). Occupational impairment and social anxiety disorder in a sample of primary care patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 130, doi:10.1016/j.jad.2010.09.024
Stein, M. B., & Kean, Y. M. (2000). Disability and quality of life in social phobia: epidemiologic findings. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1606-1613.
Zhang, I.Y., Powell, D.M., & Bonaccio, S. (2022). The role of fear of negative evaluation in interview anxiety and social-evaluative workplace anxiety. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 30, 302-310. doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12365
Student athletes - Tips for balancing sport with your studies
The life of a student athlete is truly a busy one, so how can you balance sport with studies without burning out?
Student athletes: Tips for balancing sport with your studies
The life of a student athlete ebbs and flows. Study demands vary across the semester depending on assignments, study commitments, and exams. Sporting demands also vary across the semester and year; in addition to regular training throughout the year the intensity of training peaks for major sporting competitions. Balancing school and sport naturally triggers a need for trade-offs, and finding an optimal balance between study and sport is a process of trial and error – there is no one-size fits all approach. It takes time to work out what your responsibilities and expectations are at sport and school (and paid work too if you do that). Understanding how much you can realistically commit to ensures that your wellbeing is not negatively affected.
LEARNING TO JUGGLE THE LOAD (YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL THANK YOU!)
There are so many positives to learning to manage your load as a student athlete, and these are skills that will benefit you not only now, but well into the future. Benefits include:
Increasing your resilience by boosting your ability to bounce back from stressful experiences.
Building your toolkit of coping strategies for maintaining performance whilst not compromising wellbeing.
Developing your identity – more than just as an ‘athlete’ or ‘student’. It is possible to achieve across different areas!
Putting things in perspective - how do schoolwork and sport fit into your bigger picture?
Managing perfectionism to avoiding burnout and poor mental health.
Managing yourself and your time by learning to prioritise and follow through.
With so many benefits from learning to juggle the student and sporting loads, let’s turn now to our top tips on how to achieve this.
TIP 1: WORK OUT YOUR PRIORITIES
What matters most to you? Is it achieving an A in chemistry? Making the top team for gymnastics? Striving to get into a particular university on scholarship? Meeting with friends over the weekend? Rather than scrambling to do too many things, and feeling unable to give enough time or attention to any of them:
Start first by thinking about what your priorities are (from most to least important) - this helps you to stay focused when you start to feel overloaded.
Next, set goals that link to each of your priorities.
Then, break down these goals so that you can measure progress during the term (consider SMART goal setting).
Whether it’s for sport or studies, understanding your priorities can help you to remain laser-focused.
TIP 2: PRACTICE ACCEPTANCE
As we’ve noted earlier, balancing school and sport naturally triggers a need for trade-offs. It is a reality of life that there’s a limited number of hours in a day - by accepting this (rather than struggling to do it all and to do it all perfectly) you can keep stress levels at a manageable level:
Balancing studies with sport can be tricky, particularly when peak season for competition coincides with assignment deadlines and exams. You may feel really under the pump, but know that this time won’t last forever – there will be moments where you can step back and relax (such as holidays). Instead, learn to surf the wave of overwhelm, and tune in to how you can help your body’s response.
Accepting the juggle also means looking at your standards for performance - are they realistic given your commitments, or is unhealthy perfectionism leading you down the path to burnout?
Practising acceptance helps you disengage from feelings of unfairness (compared to other students who may be able to devote more time to their studies) and focus instead on moving forward.
TIP 3: ASSEMBLE YOUR SUPPORT TEAM
It’s a well-ingrained mindset in athletes that achieving peak performance involves the support of a team - from a coach to help you with your technique, a conditioning coach to help with fitness, a dietitian to help with nutrition, a psychologist to help with mindset, as well as your personal support team.
As a student athlete you’re doing more - and so you’ll need additional support to help with the load that you carry. Yet so many students believe that success is determined by how smart one is, rather than skill, practice, and the availability of support. Your inner voice may tell you that you should manage it all yourself, but asking for support is not a reflection of your capabilities. Who can you go to when things start to pile up? Start conversations with your family, coach, support team, psychologist, teacher and tutor about how you can work through your priorities and lower your stress. They can steer you in the right direction so that you stay on track without burning out.
TIP 4: ASSEMBLE YOUR STUDENT-ATHLETE TOOLKIT
Performing as a student-athlete draws on a range of skills, so give some thought as to the skills in your student-athlete toolkit. Consider adding (1) skills that help you to increase your efficiency at sport and school, (2) skills help you to stay balanced and avoid burnout, and (3) skills to manage your busy life. Here are some of our favourite skills for a student-athlete toolkit:
(a) Time management
Time can easily slip away when you’re a student athlete juggling school, training, competitions, studying, a social life, and paid work. To stay on top of things, set aside time each week to plan the week ahead. Diarise times to complete homework tasks or pre-session activities (e.g., 15-minutes to stretch before swimming). You can learn more in our article on how to use your planner to organise student life. Other time management tips that we love include:
Match the task with your energy levels (e.g. packing your lunch when you feel drained right after a late afternoon training session rather than jumping into difficult maths homework).
Start early - chip away on assignments and tasks as you receive them rather than waiting for deadlines Things often crop up when least expected, so rather than waiting for the last moment place yourself under more stress, why not make an earlier start?
Shift your mindset - with your busy schedule it’s helpful to shift your mindset away from waiting for a large chunk of time before you can start a task, and move towards approaching studies and sport in bite-sized chunks. For example, rather than waiting for a two-hour block of time before you start studying, think about doing 15-minute pop quizzes whilst commuting from training to school.
(b) Active self-reflection for managing mood and mindset
Staying on track with studies and training can be tricky following setbacks and an increased workload. Unhelpful (clinical) perfectionism, critical self-talk, unrelenting and unrealistic standards, can easily creep in and result in stress, anxiety, depression, and procrastination. Reflect on:
What unhelpful patterns do you notice? Understanding why you get derailed (for example, when you choose to clean your room because you’re avoiding training or procrastinating on an assignment or heading to training) means you can start to find ways to improve.
What strategies work for you when you’re stressed or overwhelmed? There are many stress management techniques around, so reflect on which ones actually work for you. For some it may be connecting with friends, for others it may be checking in with their psychologist, and some may prefer to disconnect and get into nature.
Consider dedicating 10-minutes towards journaling and recapping at the end of each week. During stressful times it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, get caught up in strong emotions, or become hyper focused on what is happening right in front of you. After the event, take time to step back and reflect – what helped and what could you change if you were to experience this event again? For example, did taking a few deep breaths help you get through the moment? Alternatively, rather than getting swept up in the larger goal, perhaps focusing on one subgoal at a time enabled you to get through your work more effectively?
(c) Effective study skills
Whilst student athletes may recognise that developing the right technique is critical to succeeding in sport, there can often be a mental block when it comes to succeeding in studies. However, just as performing well as an athlete isn’t just about ability and potential – it involves refining technique through a process of trial and error.
Similarly, performing as a student involves refining study skills through a similar process. Indeed, some students believe that they are ‘not smart enough’ when in reality they may not be studying in a way that maximises retention of what they have learned. For example, students may think that time spent on studying is what matters, but what is really helps for performance come exams studies is testing yourself. Similarly, rather than just making notes from lectures and textbooks, understanding how to structure studies and focusing on priorities of the unit are essential particularly when your time is limited as a student athlete.
Techniques that we have found helpful in our work with students include:
Understanding how memory works and using a range of memory tricks to enhance performance.
Taking effective notes. Rather than writing down what is said verbatim, try to paraphrase just the essentials so you can check your understanding of what you’re reading/hearing.
Engaging in meta-learning to remain focused on the essentials of the unit (what you should be studying according to the unit outline) rather than diving into rabbit holes of non-essential facts (what is nice to know if you have spare time to focus on them).
If study skills and time management are where you regularly fall down, check out Nimble Noodle, our online self-paced course to help you to sharpen study skills, prepare for exams, and manage your time and mood better.
(D) Truly decompress during quiet moments
Quiet moments can be few and far between when you’re juggling training with studies. However, when they do come around, it’s all too easy to just hop on social media and zone out for an hour or two. If this sounds familiar, it might help to ask yourself if you truly decompress whilst on social media, or does it trigger FOMO and other insecurities? If being on social media isn’t helpful for your wellbeing, find other ways to decompress – it may be seeing friends in real life, getting out in nature, or even chilling and listening to music.
Make the most of these quiet moments, as taking the time to restore your energy helps set you up for a good week.
Hopefully the above tips help you juggle studies and sport better! If you’d like a more tailored approach you can book in with one of our team.
REFERENCES
1. Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150-179. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.48.1.150
2. Debois, N., Ledon, A., & Wylleman, P. (2015). A lifespan perspective on the dual career of elite male athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 21, 15-26. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.07.011
3. National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2014). Mind, body and sport: Understanding and supporting student-athlete mental wellness. Indianapolis, US.
4. Kimball, A., & Freysinger, V. J. (2003). Leisure, stress, and coping: The sport participation of collegiate student-athletes. Leisure Sciences, 25, 115-141. doi:10.1080/01490400306569
How to boost your winter wellbeing
How can you counter the winter blues? Check out our tips on how to boost your wellbeing during the colder months.
HOW TO BOOST YOUR WELLBEING IN WINTER
By Joyce Chong
Winter is a time when we often let our wellbeing habits slide. Those lifestyle factors that make for positive wellbeing in summer - exercise, socialising with friends, healthier diets, and a sunnier and more positive outlook – tend to take a back seat come winter. Faced with shorter days (less natural light) and colder temperatures, it’s easy to fall into unhelpful patterns and neglect your wellbeing. Mood can suffer, and the winter blues can sometimes tip into Seasonal Affective Disorder. So, today we’re look at 3 Problems for Wellbeing in Winter and what we can do to boost our wellbeing.
PROBLEM 1: Poorer health during flu season
SOLUTION: Being physically healthy is an important component to overall wellbeing. Think of winter as an endurance race – the goal is to stay well for a 3-month stretch. So, it’s time to double down on the building blocks of health by eating well, exercising, and getting enough sleep (for more general tips on how to stay healthy see this post). And, of course, with cold and flu germs being in plentiful supply during winter, it's good to practice good hygiene.
And should you happen to fall ill, be sure to get proper rest rather than propping yourself up only to run your body down again.
Problem 2: Being less active in winter
SOLUTION: Rethink how you work on your wellbeing. Because there's less light, more rain, and cooler weather, staying active in winter may require a bit more thought and preparation. Try the following:
Get over the psychological barrier in order to get physical. Often the biggest barrier is in your mind, so make it a non-negotiable that you will be more active.
Move your exercise indoors where possible (e.g. Perhaps join a gym for the winter months or use the stairs at work) so that the weather becomes a non-issue.
Choose wellbeing activities that are not just physical in nature. Focus on building positive emotions (do something nice for yourself), get into a state of flow (engagement) where you’re really engrossed in an indoor hobby or activity (for more on engagement check out our post on PERMA: The Ingredients for Resilience and Wellbeing), or nurturing positive relationships.
And, of course, the PERFECT way to boost your wellbeing in winter is with our 14-day Wellbeing Challenge! The wellbeing tips in our challenge don’t rely on a perfect sunny day or a spare hour or two… They’re simply 15-minute activities delivered to your inbox each day, and are mostly based indoors, so get cracking and sign up here (just below), or you can learn more about the challenge here.
(You can read Problem 3 for Wellbeing in Winter by scrolling down.)
PROBLEM 3: Feeling blah, feeling down, or feeling depressed
SOLUTION: Winter can be a real dampener on your mood, with a lack of light proposed to be linked to Seasonal Affective Disorder (see this article for more on SAD), so try the following options to boost your mood:
Try to get some (safe) exposure to the sun, or consider light therapy
Increase your exercise because of its positive effects on wellbeing (see this post on Why Exercise Matters for your Mental Health + Wellbeing)
Increase pleasant activities to give yourself a mood boost
Follow these tips and boost your wellbeing this winter, and feel free to reach out if you’d like to book in with one of our team for a tailored plan.
REFERENCES
Grimaldi, S., Englund, A., Partonen, T., Haukka, J., Pirkola, S., Reunanen, A., Aromaa, A., & Lönnqvist, J. (2009). Experienced poor lighting contributes to the seasonal fluctuations in weight and appetite that relate to the metabolic syndrome. Journal of Environmental and Public Health. Doi:10.1155/2009/165013
A FIFO lifestyle presents unique challenges to your sleep, relationships, and mental health. We cover these challenges and suggest tips to help you cope.