Discover the habits, beliefs, and behaviours that create low confidence. And how to fix them.
HAPPY CLIENTS INCLUDE:
If you ever find yourself…
- Doubting your ability, even though you KNOW deep down you are good at your job.
- Staying quiet when you had something to say.
- Overanalysing the opinion you shared in that meeting, and wondering what your colleagues thought about what you said.
- Panicking before giving a presentation at work, and spending hours preparing for every possible question someone might ask.
- Wondering if you’re even doing a good job – now that you’re senior-level, you’re not getting feedback like you used to, and you’re afraid about what the people around you are thinking.
- Cringing a bit when someone asks what you do, because even though you are senior and your work is important to you, you don't want to come off as arrogant.
- Frustrated because you want people to perceive you as excellent at your job, but it seems that no matter how many promotions and opportunities you receive, you never feel secure in the way you show up at work.
… then I want you to know something:
A lot of professionals experience these thoughts and feelings.You aren’t alone in lacking some of the confidence you want, despite a CV that has all the credentials.
It is possible to reduce self-doubt, so that you can finally feel proud of where you are and show up at work feeling calm, collected and more confident – without second guessing yourself and getting in your head about everything.
Your internal culture is as important as your company culture.
One fact I’ve learned over and over again about the professional world is that people don’t talk about their internal struggles.
Yes, you love your job and your team, and you care about doing a good job.
But if you’re here, I guess that you are still weighed down with negativity, insecurity, and uncertainty.
I want to show you another way.
Authentic Confidence is the missing puzzle piece.
Most women and other historically marginalised groups learn to look “confident” through masking: wearing a power suit, learning how to project your voice, taking speech classes, changing your posture…
But this is NOT Authentic Confidence. When you are authentically confident, your confidence comes from the inside out. It’s real. There’s no need to alter who you are, or spend time learning how to carry yourself “correctly” or “confidently.”
With Authentic Confidence, you don’t put on a mask when you go into the office. You show up as you are, without a doubt about your expertise or ability. You will feel the kind of confidence on the inside, that everyone else assumes you already have.
How would it feel to…?
- Feel supported by your team, instead of trying to take everything on yourself. Yes, you care about your job – but you know that you can’t be the strongest leader if you’re trying to do it all.
- Be confident in your work even when you’re in a room full of senior executives. You’re confident in the ideas you contribute to the conversation, and you no longer spend hours afterward wondering if you should have just kept your mouth shut. You can make your point and move on with your day.
- Show up to important meetings and presentations feeling calm and collected, rather than anxious and exhausted, because you got a good night’s sleep rather than making pages and pages of notes just in case someone asks a question you don’t know the answer to.
- Silence the niggling doubt that maybe you just aren't cut out for this job. No more imposter syndrome: you just feel secure in your expertise and achievements.
- Be excited to share about your recent projects and accomplishments when someone asks how work is going. Instead of worrying it’s tooting your own horn, you’re happy to tell them about your contributions to the organisation.
Now imagine that you can create all of this within a non-judgmental environment where you can freely share your internal struggles and develop the tools to learn from them.
This is one of the reasons why Private Coaching has been so life-changing for my clients.
Finding out where your low confidence stems from is the very first step to creating results like this in your work.
You already know that you’re good at what you do, and I know it can feel ridiculous to have these doubts.
It doesn't matter if what you're thinking feels crazy – I've heard it all. Saying it out loud can be scary, but it’s the first step.
“When I started working with Anna, I had rock-bottom confidence and my inner critic was fully in charge. I believed, because I’d failed something, I was a failure.
And now, because of Anna’s coaching, I truly don’t believe that anymore. Anna’s empathic, caring and very personal approach to coaching has turned me around to believe in myself.
I’ve learned so much about how to manage myself, and my thoughts and my expectations, and I’m now genuinely excited rather than terrified about the next step of my work journey, which I couldn’t have imagined 12 weeks ago. I can’t thank Anna enough and would strongly recommend her coaching to anyone struggling with their confidence. It might even change your life!”
— Kate Sanders, Consultant
"I had lost confidence in myself from a strong belief that I needed to play a role at work, totally ignoring my achievements to date or the fact that I had got to where I am from being me and doing it in my way. Anna helped me to recognise that, and to find my inner confidence once again just by being myself.
If I am honest, I thought coaching would be about teaching me how to play a role at work to make my mark in a male dominated environment. How I should act, phrases I should use, the power suit I should wear, “fake it until you make it” etc..
It couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact it was all about accessing what I already had and learning to trust myself again.”
— Sarah, Legal Partner
Very specific habits and behaviour patterns create low confidence. Addressing these directly transforms your low confidence to Authentic Confidence.
After analysing data gathered from 100s of confidence coaching sessions, I’ve noticed that people with low confidence have a very particular set of habits and beliefs.
More importantly, I noticed that when they begin to change these specific areas, they can increase their confidence and leave behind the painful patterns that used to keep them stressing over every decision, anxious about what other people think of them, and wondering if they’re even good enough to do their job.
I created this visual summary of high and low confidence cycles to help show you exactly how this shows up for people.
Low Confidence Cycle
Poor Self- Management
- Self-critical
- Self-doubt rife and unmanaged
- Focus on how you are being perceived
- Creating internal pressure
- Not providing emotional support to yourself on difficult days
Unrealistic standards
- Perfectionism - demands you know everything
- Comparison (usually negative)
Failure to acknowledge good work
- Focus' on the negatives and forgets positives and achievements.
- Needs someone to tell you you are doing a good job- or you assume you aren't
- Refusal to acknowledge good work or give yourself praise
High Confidence Cycle
Good self-management
- Manage yourself how you want to be managed
- You can recognize and manage the inner critic
- Reduced self-doubt and building self-trust
- Reduced the internal pressure for a cleaner, calmer mind
- Focus on what your doing v. how you are perceived
- Provide yourself with emotional support
Realistic Standards
- Setting more realistic standards: does it / do you need to be perfect?
- You can tolerate some learning points / I don't know moments and still feel secure in your job
- Increasing tolerance to failures, mistakes and setbacks, more resilient
- Reduced comparison
Acknowledges good work
- Know you are in your job for good reason
- Acknowledging your good work and giving yourself praise
- Intentional focus on the positives and progress
Through Private Coaching, I’ll support you to identify what habits are contributing to you having lower confidence than you want.
We’ll work together to rewire your brain and change these habits – and many clients of mine start seeing the effects from the initial Free Exploration Call alone.
→ Book a Free Coaching Exploration CallIf I can help you – I'll tell you. If I can't help you, I'll tell you that as well.
Let’s work together to help you build the confidence you’ve earned.
Hi! I’m Anna.
I always had lots of ambition AND lots of mental drama to go with it. I worked as a lawyer within law firms, the NHS, and as a policy and strategy consultant – it probably looked easy on the outside, but it didn’t feel very easy on the inside.
People often assumed things were easy for me, because I was always pursuing some new opportunity or getting promoted.
But years of listening to the critical voice in my head had reduced my confidence, and I experienced a lot of internal drama.
That persisted throughout my professional career, clouding my experience even as I rose through the ranks, until I worked on quieting my inner critic. From there, I learned that it’s actually possible to identify markers that cause low confidence, so that you can change them.
Since then, I’ve been helping professionals develop more confidence in their whole selves, with a holistic approach that will never ask you to be someone you’re not, fake it ‘til you make it, or “just think positive.” That approach can get you so far, but it doesn't address what is actually creating the low confidence, so it doesn't actually solve your problem.
By working with me, you’ll find out what’s actually creating the low confidence, so you can fix the problem at the root.
You’ve invested in developing your expertise, skills and becoming really good at your job. Now, it’s time to invest in yourself so that you can actually enjoy the career you’ve built.
What’s included in Private Coaching…
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Twelve 50 minute weekly calls over 3 months
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Access to my Confident At Work online program
“One of the most valuable things I've ever done in my professional career.
It's made me realise how much harder my working day was just because of my own thoughts, self-doubts and being my own worst critic.
Being given the space and opportunity to properly understand what is going on in my own mind, and the tools to be able to deal with it has made a huge impact on how I approach new, challenging or confronting tasks. I can't recommend it highly enough.”
— Emma Wake, Legal Director, Birmingham
“Before starting, I was highly sceptical about myself and coaching but for some reason, I still decided to take a leap into the unknown. Today, I think that was one of the best decisions of my life.
I know myself better, I have tools I didn't have three months ago and I know how to use them to achieve the results I want both at work and in my private life...
Today I have chaired a meeting that wasn't planned to be chaired by me with people I have never met before and I felt like a new person! I was smiley, calm, assertive, clear and FULLY PRESENT. What did you do to me?!!”
— Daniela, Senior Healthcare Scientist
“At work, I have struggled with a fear of speaking up to share ideas, a fear of engaging in conversations in meetings, a fear of being judged as incompetent. This fear would keep me in my safe zone, affecting performance and productivity and the potential to further improvements.
Within a few weeks of starting work with Anna, I noticed a difference in my behaviour.
The fear was not so pronounced; I was becoming assertive, questioning, and contributing to meetings. From then on, my confidence was growing fast.
Whilst sometimes that reluctance is still there, I can accept it as normal, and despite my reservations, I am no longer apathetic at meetings.”
— Ione Ashurst, Head of Therapies and Rehabilitation
“I started coaching with Anna following my return to work after maternity leave with my first child. I was struggling to understand who this new me was and how I fitted in at work given that my life had been completely transformed. I lost a lot of confidence in myself and in my own judgment. I spent a lot of time worrying about what other people thought about me and analysing interactions and what they might mean.
“Anna was supportive, encouraging and sometimes challenging (which I needed) and helped me regain my confidence and self-assurance – all magically and without giving any advice!”
— Lydia, Legal Associate
Growing your confidence is the first step to the next stage of your career.
You’ve spent years focused on powering through, doing everything right, and worrying about everyone else’s needs: your team, your boss, your company.
Now, it’s time to prioritise your internal experience, so that you can continue to enjoy the work you do for years to come.
Once you build the skills to self-manage, set realistic standards,and acknowledge your accomplishments, every day you will feel more prepared, positive, and peaceful.