3 Ways to Evaluate your Self-Confidence | Is Your Ego Getting in the Way of Your Career?

Boss getting on your last nerve? Your ego may be getting in the way of your career. Here are 3 ways to evaluate your self-confidence.

Have you ever had a leader always tell you things that you already know? Or a leader who seems to be condescending? Or a leader whom you feel like treats you like you don’t know anything? I have been there several times. I would get puffed up and beside myself, I would think to myself don’t they know I already know that. I would vent about it and get to a point of almost quitting my role. Usually, I would call one of my professional friends and they would talk me off the ledge.

Your ego is not your friend.

Recently, I have been listening to a leader guru called Cy Wakeman. She has a focus in reality-based leadership, and I love listening to her. She has a book called “No Ego” that I read last year. When I originally read the book, I took it as tips for me to be a better leader in my area. I try to reevaluate myself and do self-reflection and introspection when reading books. I recently started listening to her YouTube channel. One of the videos or shall I say several of the videos addressed the exact scenario that I described above. I discovered that my ego was getting in the way in all of those scenarios.

Here are some ways my ego got in the way:

Made the situation about me

Many times, with leaders they have their own insecurities, or their mind is other places, and they may not remember what was told to me earlier or what I don’t know. So, I would need to ask myself a question that Cy Wakeman always poses: What is fact? That question keeps you out of your feelings and helps you to deal with what is at hand.

2. Ineffective Communication

Many times, I need to watch how I communicate. That comes down to knowing yourself. What I know about myself, is that I tend to communicate as if people read my mind. I am going so fast that I thought I mentioned it and I didn’t. Also, if you are dealing with a new leader, they don’t know you. So, it is up to you to help them get familiar with what you already know so that they can try to appropriately give you information that is appropriate for the situation.

3. No consideration of my leaders standpoint.

It’s so easy for us to get caught up in us and what we need but our leaders have needs also. We must believe that they are working hard for us, because one day you will be a leader and will want that same grace extended.

We are high achievers and want the best for our on-work life. We have to remember that every situation is not about us, we need to always work on how to communicate effectively and check our own communication style and always consider your leader. We should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. Leave it to God and he will take care of the rest.

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