This post was created without the assistance of generative AI.

This week I’ve had the privilege of starting as Staff Field Enablement Engineer at Vercel. Really! I cannot freaking believe it. It’s like ~ the dream role ~ for me. I get to empower and support our go-to-market teams through product and technical enablement. It’s all of my favorite things rolled up into one. It has been an incredible week so far and I’m so grateful to be working alongside some really amazing individuals.

Let’s talk about my second day. Things are going well, right? I’m feeling super inspired and suddenly, I start feeling waaaay in over my head. Then the critical thoughts start popping up and taking over. This is not a new experience for me. Some people call it “imposter syndrome”, others call it doubt, having a strong inner critic, not being comfortable in new situations, and the list goes on and on. Instead of drilling down into why I started feeling this way or what the experience is called, I want to focus on how I got out of it.

I got out of this creeping negative mindset by using affirmations to push through the unease (I should also mention that my husband is so wonderful and is such a huge support in my life and that external support is amazing and helpful and a great complement, but it can only go so far– ultimately it’s up to us to deal with our inner critic). So, how did I choose which affirmations to use?

Well, first, it’s important to note that for affirmations to be effective, they must evoke an emotion in you. When affirmations or mantras evoke an emotion in you, they inspire action (think CBT theory, the idea that human thoughts, emotions, and behavior are all connected, and that what we think and feel affects what we do). I looked up a few different affirmations in Google around self-confidence and leaned into the ones that triggered something in me. It’s extremely important to pause and be in tune with your feelings when seeking which affirmations serve you.

Some affirmations that elicit emotions in me:

My authenticity is my superpower.

I embrace and welcome challenges.

I am comfortable with failure and feel at ease knowing failure is a vital part of success.

I inspire others through my actions and words.

I feel grateful that I have unwavering focus to accomplish my goals each day.

Hopefully this inspires you to find or write some affirmations of your own. And maybe one day I’ll build the comments functionality for this blog so you can share them here. maybe. 😛