I don’t know about you, or actually I do know a little bit about you: You are a human who occasionally forgets how good you are at something. What do you do when that feeling of doubt sneaks up on you? What if it’s worse and you battle a few of the hungry ghost mid-post pandemic anxieties, maybe even depression? How do you ground yourself? Please tell me because I have days where I could use ALL the tips and tricks.

Here is one of my best tips:

Regularly collect feedback from humans around you. In my case I sometimes question my value to others, so I collect feedback from my career development clients and business ESL students. They are a mixed bunch from around the world and have wildly different needs.

I can’t recommend collecting feedback & reviews highly enough. It is an absolute MUST not just for your emotional grounding but actually also for your professional present and future life. Reviews let others know that you are valued. Feedback lets you know what you can aim to improve. Caution: Feedback pointing at something that isn’t perfect doesn’t mean that one skillset that you are weak in makes you worthless, you know that right?!

You can ask friends to write you reviews & / or feedback. And then it’s time to get serious: Ask your colleagues, ask your manager, even the company CEO. Are you self employed, a freelancer, an entrepreneur, a solo-preneur? Then ask your clients and customers. I promise this is something you won’t regret because you will gain so much reassurance.

Note that review and feedback potentially serve different purposes.

Give your people some guidance: You can say: I lay awake at night worrying and I need a reminder of what I bring to this company, to your life, to your experience etc…

Don’t let shame and embarrassment stop you from living your best life.

Today I spoke with one of my clients about shame and embarrassment about having lost skill in a specific area that is needed to support the work he is doing. He was embarrassed when his colleague helped him and swiftly concluded that perhaps he isn’t knowledgable and capable enough and should leave his profession. NO-no-no-no-no. Do not allow shame to stop you when you are half way to the finishing line. It’s not the skills gap that ruins careers it’s allowing shame to have a louder voice than the trust that a skills gap can be filled and that everything else we know and are capable of is valuable.

Collect reviews to stop laying awake at night questioning your worth and value in the world.

Today I looked through some of the reviews that I got this year. It looks like I may have been useful. Maybe time to stop laying awake at night worrying that I didn’t deliver enough value?
Some feedback from my students (unedited):

“I can’t recommend Birgit highly enough. Birgit is not only a great teacher but also she helped me a lot with polishing my CV and cover letter to be more attractive for my job applications. Moreover Birgit has a lot of business and consulting experience. Her insights and tips helped me enormously with my preparation for interviews and to increase my self-confidence in my professional life.”

“It was a great lesson. We talked a lot about social entrepreneurship and business in general. It is hard to find an English teacher who can discuss those topics in deep like her.”

“I recommend Birgit from the bottom of my heart! She helped me perfectly prepare for the interview. It was incredibly interesting to discuss my work (Digital Marketing). In addition, she had the ability to coaching and where I was afraid she led me by the hand, reinforcing my self-confidence as a professional.”

“I am so lucky person because I meet Birgit. She is my English and Business teacher. Today she consulted how can I improve both of my English and Business skill. Thanks!”

“Thank you very much. I should pay more for your time and help.”

“Every class with Birgit blew me away. She is amazing teacher and person. Thank you so much and I hope to see you soon.”

I can’t thank all these people from around the world enough. They trust me with their time and hand over the steering wheel into their future, for a brief time in their life but it’s quite a lot of trust I am being given.

Leave a comment please, I want to hear from you.

Please tell me in comments if you followed my advice and asked for reviews / feedback and tell me how did it feel thinking about asking and how did it feel receiving it?