How do people handle insecurity, impostor syndrome, and other mental blocks?
I was wondering how people, particularly young people entering the industry or older people who have experienced it, deal with various mental blocks like insecurity over prestige/feeling like you are behind, the reverse with imposter syndrome and feeling like you are not worth the time, and anything else. I am not here to determine if its valid or not to feel these things, but hoping to get advice for myself and others on how to handle it if you do.
it's a waste of time to fret about feeling behind. if you're not happy at your current place in life, get on the path to change that. if you're on the path and still not happy, gain some perspective. perspective and gratitude are when snaps me out of "why am I not ___" negative thought patterns more often than not.
there will always be someone richer, taller, better looking, smarter, and more endowed than you. you cannot control that. however, you do have the power to control how you let that affect you. never lose sight of that power
My life improved significantly when I stopped comparing myself to others. It was never a strong thought to begin with, but since I stopped completely my entire life has improved.
Only focus on your goals and the steps to get there.
When you spend time with friends and family, make sure their company is the important part, not what products to buy, which car to drive or what in life is more prestigious.
I empathize with you as I struggle with this myself, and have since I was a kid. The honest answer here is that you have to attack it head on, taking it very seriously - it's not going to just 'go away'.
I strongly suggest that you make the investment in therapy for this - it goes a long way, and the earlier you start the better off you are. Talking through your challenges is very powerful, and can help you frame what is going on. It also can help you get to the core of the reasons you feel the way they do - they rarely, if ever, are simple.
Outside of that, some thoughts that have helped me:
There's a million ways to do this, but I'd emphasize that much of the above has worked for me and, to be sure, it's still a work in progress. It's hard to tell someone, but age does some of this work for you. It provides perspective, experience and really a comfort level with yourself that at 21 I would have laughed at. You'll get there, keep working on it.
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Great tips already about not comparing to others. It took me a long time to realise that just because someone appears confident to you, they may still be freaking out themselves about the decision / direction etc.
On the flipside, in some investing roles I think being unsure can help you try to figure things out better (vs being supremely confident and overestimating your ability to predict the future).
Deleting social media is huge.
Understand that most people don't know what they are doing and are just faking it until they make it.
I've learnt that as long as you work on your presentation then people will assume you are smart. For example, since office dress code is more casual now, I have gone the other way and wear a 3-piece suit with wide peak lapels and roped shoulders (similar to the Harvey Specter). Everyone who doesn't know me automatically thinks I'm a VP or above despite only being an Analyst.
I hope this is a joke and you’re not actually wearing a 3 piece suit as an analyst....
Go on WSO and shit on lower tier banks.
Lots of good advice above so I’ll just add one little thing that’s helped me out:
Remember that you wouldn’t be in this seat if you weren’t capable. You got here for a reason.
Bullying in workplace.
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