How positive affirmations can help you excel in your new job

I am nearly at the end of my first month in my new job and I am absolutely loving it. I can already see that their fantastic company culture is not an interview myth, and from what I am learning about the product & customer success team, how much I am going to enjoy my work. That all said, it's hard not to have feelings of fear, doubt and insecurity when you are doing something new. Resetting to zero is tough.

I'm using affirmations as a tool to stop me from derailing myself with my fears and insecurities. After presenting my 30/60/90 day plan in the interview I remember one of the questions was "What will stop you from achieving this?" and I very quickly and intuitively answered "me". Our biggest enemy often lies between our two ears. So using affirmations is me, rooting for myself, setting myself up to achieve my actual potential.

I mentioned here before that I didn't really "get" affirmations for the longest of times. I found them cheesy and fake. I didn't really believe that just by saying something, it actually made me that thing. Like "I am beautiful". Cringe.

How times have changed(!), as I now find affirmations really powerful. I'm not sure what shifted, other than perhaps willingness to accept their usefulness. I still don't think they make me those things, but I am totally up for speaking to myself in a kinder way, and I do believe in the power of words (check out one my first blog posts on that very topic!). Affirmations paired with action, will move you forward.

"An affirmation is a strong positive statement that something is already so"| Shakti Gawain

Here are my go to affirmations for starting a new job:

1. I let go of the pressure I put on myself

2. I am equal to anyone I can think of

3. I am exactly where I am meant to be right now

4. My best effort is not the same as perfection

5. I handle feedback with ease

I let go of the pressure I put on myself

I have high standards, your typical type A overachiever. With steaks of perfectionist tendencies. And perfectionism sucks. It keeps you stuck, stuck in inaction and in fear which I do not want. So I let go of the pressure I put on myself. Right now I have come to the end of my new hire training, and every time I have a thought like "I should have known that", I write this affirmation down on a post note I have stuck to my desk.

I am equal to anyone I can think of

My new company is full of very smart people with amazing backgrounds. It gives you glimpses of impostor syndrome when you think, "How am I here among these super talented folks?". As a manager, I felt it acutely when I learned about the backgrounds of my team. Super smart, intelligent people with great experience and things I don't have like a second language, you have that flash of "how am I going to add value?". I am equal to anyone I can think of. The point of a team is that we all bring different skills to the table, and that is what makes us bigger than the sum of our parts.

I am exactly where I am meant to be right now

I've always become the go to person for product and customer knowledge in my previous roles, so knowing nothing, or not knowing how things fit together is frustrating for me. This affirmation helps me when I am beating myself up about my lack of knowledge. In training you are getting lots of information thrown at you and you are trying to piece it together to make sense. I keep telling myself I am exactly where I need to be right now when it comes to my learning.

My best effort is not the same as perfection

This is how I remind myself that things don't have to be perfect for you to be making progress. My best effort is not the same as perfection. Absolutely everything is progress when you start from zero 🙌.

I handle feedback with ease

This is a very personal affirmation, while many of the others may be common things we feel when we start something new. I had come from a work environment where there was no psychological safety. Every mistake was pounced on, criticised and shamed. Publicly at times. I found that mentally tough and I developed bad habits to cope with it, mainly that I became defensive about feedback, and took it very personally. How did I know what was valid feedback, and what was unwarranted? Were they criticising me, or my work? I managed to pull myself out of that somewhat, at least publicly, but feedback often stung as I had such an open wound around how I was receiving it. Now, my new company has a culture of feedback! Everyone gives it to everyone all the time. I worry I will slip back into my old habits so I tell myself I handle feedback with ease. The big difference is that I can feel already that people give feedback here because they want to see you succeed and improve, and I know that is healthy and positive feedback. Here, I handle feedback with ease.

Why do affirmations work?

Affirmations help achieve a sense of safety and hope. Your brain can't really tell the difference between these statements and reality, and so it starts to believe them if you keep saying them to yourself. I guess it's like the idea of "Fake it, until you become it". At the very least, it is a kinder, more compassionate way for us to speak to ourselves, which will usually be much more productive in producing change that beating ourselves up.

If you are starting a new job, I hope these could be useful. Are there any affirmations that you use? I'd love to hear about them!