Episode #126 Keeping Calm

As a lawyer with Imposter Syndrome, the idea of feeling calm at work might seem like sheer fantasy.

When you feel like a fraud, that your success is down to luck and that you might be exposed at any time, you are often stressed, overwhelmed and anxious at work. When your Imposter Syndrome is triggered, your reaction is to panic, and to spiral into self-doubt and confusion. The total opposite of calm!

But the ability to stay calm is a vital skill. Especially when you have Imposter Syndrome.

  • It’s how you do your best work.
  • It’s how you look after your mental and physical health.
  • It’s one of the key bits of value you can bring to your clients and colleagues.

The better you are at keeping calm, no matter what is going on around you (and especially when your Imposter Syndrome has been triggered), the more you will progress as a person. And the more you progress as a person, the more your career also progresses.

In this episode, I describe the meaning and value of calm. I explain that calm is not just the ‘absence of’ strong negative emotions – but also the creating of space for something new – like putting your car in neutral to prepare for the next move. It’s how you neutralise unhelpful feelings, reset, and work from a place of stability and safety. I explain that however high-pressure and stressful your work environment may be, it’s your responsibility to create that calm within yourself.

I walk you through this calming process, so that you:

  • Develop self-awareness to recognise when you are not calm and understand how a calm version of you would react differently.
  • Know and anticipate your Imposter Syndrome triggers.
  • Allow the negative emotions to pass through without acting on them.
  • Using the Imposter Speech tool, remember who you are and trust that you are enough.

When you do this, you can:

  • Respond to a client’s questioning or doubting, from a place of calm rather than defensiveness or fear.
  • Have much easier access to your other internal resources because you’ve cleared the way by letting go of anger and frustration.
  • Think more clearly about an issue, problem-solve at a higher level, and come up with more and better ideas.

In Imposter Speech Coaching one of the results you’ll get is the ability to stay calm when all around you are losing their heads! Valuable for you, valuable for your employer and valuable for your client.

Enrolment is opening 10th June. Make sure you’re on the waitlist to sign up.

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Free guide: The Secret Signs of Imposter Syndrome Every Black Lawyer Should Know – featured at the bottom of Podcast episode pages

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The Secret Signs of Imposter Syndrome Every Black Lawyer Should Know

Discover the 60 behaviours quietly driving your overworking, overthinking, playing small, and self-sabotage – and finally understand why before they derail your day or career.

This guide is built specifically for Black lawyers, where these behaviours aren’t just about self-doubt. They’re also survival strategies you’ve developed in spaces where you’ve had to be twice as good to get half as far.