4 books to boost your career confidence
No matter how much experience you have or how well developed your skills are, career confidence can feel hard to come by sometimes. Most people will find themselves battling self-doubt or imposter syndrome at some point, but the good news is that there are some brilliant books out there to help you overcome your confidence blocks and build your self-belief.
Here are 3 of our favourite books to boost career confidence…
Playing Big: For Women Who Want to Speak Up, Stand Out and Lead - Tara Mohr
The ultimate guide to building confidence as a woman in the workplace. In Playing Big, Mohr explores the unique challenges women face in their careers, and offers up practical tools, exercises and actions to help you quieten your inner critic and embrace your most brilliant self.
If you find yourself stuck in the planning phase or feeling like you need just one more qualification or credential to finally feel confident, this is the book for you. We particularly love the inner mentor meditation!
F*ck Being Humble: Why Self-Promotion Isn’t a Dirty Word - Stefanie Sword-Williams
One of the biggest blocks to confidence is knowing how to show up and share our work and ideas without seeming arrogant and cocky. If this is a challenge you’ve faced, Sword-Williams’ brilliant book F*ck Being Humble will give you all of the practical advice you need to get out there and be your own biggest champion.
What we love most about this book is the emphasis on authenticity - there’s no encouragement to show up as anyone other than your truest self. We also love the practical examples and relatable tone - you’ll feel like you’re chatting to a mate rather than reading a career book.
Brave, Not Perfect - Reshma Saujani
Our final recommendation is one for the perfectionists! Striving for perfection (and struggling to achieve it) can be a huge obstacle to confidence, and in this book, Saujani offers up an alternative approach: striving for bravery rather than perfection.
If you feel like a fear of failure is getting in the way of being your most confident self at work, add this one to your wishlist. Saujani will help you to dream bigger and see the possibilities and opportunities in front of you, rather than the obstacles to success.
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead - Brené Brown
Following on with the themes of bravery and authenticity, Brown’s brilliant book, Daring Greatly, will help you to connect more deeply with yourself and find more clarity and confidence in both life and work. This book challenges the idea that vulnerability is a weakness, and instead, shares research that shows it can be the missing key for courage, connection and confidence.
If you’ve ever struggled to be your authentic self at work, or if you’ve felt like you’ve had to act tough to get ahead, Daring Greatly will be a gamechanger for you. And it will have the added bonus of improving your confidence outside of work too.