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Episode 133 – How to Rebuild Confidence During Career Change

In this episode, I talk about confidence — not the loud, motivational kind, but the quieter, steadier confidence that helps you stay grounded and keep moving when things feel uncertain.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with clients who are in the midst of career transitions — one leaving a long-term senior role, another adjusting after redundancy. Both found themselves in what I call the in-between space — that period when one chapter has closed but the next hasn’t yet begun.

It’s a phase that can unsettle even experienced professionals. You haven’t lost your ability — but the familiar structures that once reinforced your confidence have shifted. Confidence in this stage has to be rebuilt from within.

As one client said, “I know I’m good at what I do, but without the role, I feel like I’ve lost my footing.”
That’s common. Work carries far more than tasks and titles — it shapes our identity and meaning. But confidence doesn’t disappear; it simply takes on a new form while you find your footing again.

What Confidence Really Is

Confidence isn’t bravado or certainty — it’s the calm belief that you can handle whatever happens next.
It grows from three places:
1️⃣ Remembering what’s true about you
2️⃣ Acting in alignment with your values
3️⃣ Taking small, deliberate steps forward

When you reconnect with your best moments — the times you solved problems, led people, created impact — you remember that your strengths travel with you.

Confidence also builds naturally when your work supports your values — curiosity, collaboration, integrity, balance, contribution. When those are ignored, confidence quietly drains away.

And small steps matter. Each conversation, application, or experiment sends a signal that you’re still in motion. Momentum creates self-trust.

Comparison can erode confidence, and fear can disguise itself as self-doubt. But fear isn’t a stop sign — it’s a signal you’re stretching into something that matters.

Confidence in mid-career comes from remembering who you are, aligning what you do with what you value, and taking the next right step — even when you don’t have all the answers.

Confidence doesn’t come from certainty.
It comes from alignment, action, and a willingness to stretch.

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