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.

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Most Helpful

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:

  • Delete social media, or limit it as much as you can. I recommend deleting it - but I'll leave that up to you. It doesn't help. 
  • Make a plan for yourself. Start short term - like weeks or months - and then go out long term. Evaluate what you want, what makes you happy or drives you and align it to that. Set benchmarks and check ins with that plan. This is so important, because it's so easy to get hung up on feeling left behind financially when, really, there are tradeoffs to everything. 
  • Read more and start writing about it. Literally - write about what you read. Could be here on this forum, could be on a blog or could just be in a random notebook you have. What's important about this is that you develop your own thoughts about things and your own views on what you read. I've found that a powerful way to build that confidence in yourself that you know what you are talking about. We so readily want the 'cliff notes' or the 'right understanding' when the reality is so much more complex. 
  • Find things that you hate, scare you or make you nervous and do them. Doesn't really matter what - just that you take action and do them. Doing the hard things in life makes the rest that much easier. 
  • Seek out a mentor for your career, to help give you that long term perspective on the professional side of your life. Having someone who can help guide you is so important, and honestly overlooked in most cases. 
  • Travel more. It may seem an odd one, but if you haven't go as many places as you can. Discovering other people, cultures and lifestyles really changes how you view yourself in the world. Experience things for yourself, and not through others. 
  • Last one is exercise, both indoors and outdoors. I think the outdoor component is really important to this - get outside as much as you can. 

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. 

 

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). 

 

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.

 

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