Professional woman experiencing meeting anxiety and imposter syndrome at work Claire Bulman

Ever sat in a meeting with a clear idea in your mind… but your voice stayed stuck in your throat?

You leave thinking, “Why didn’t I just say it?” And then you replay the whole thing all day.

If this is you, you’re not alone. Research shows that 80% of people experience anxiety before meetings, and an estimated 70% of adults experience imposter syndrome at least once in their lifetime. For many professionals, imposter syndrome at work shows up most intensely in meetings—the exact moments when your voice and expertise matter most.

Many smart, capable professionals struggle to speak up, not because they lack skills, but because understanding their internal fears can help them feel more in control and more hopeful about change.

Let’s name what’s actually going on.

1. Your Brain Still Thinks Staying Silent = Safety

When you sense even the slightest risk of being judged or getting it wrong, your amygdala—the emotional processing centre of your brain—sends a distress signal to your hypothalamus, activating your sympathetic nervous system. This triggers the fight-or-flight response.

The autonomic nervous system cannot distinguish between a deadly physical threat and an imagined difficulty, such as speaking in front of a group. Your body reacts the same way whether you’re facing a lion or a conference room full of colleagues.

Silence feels safer—even if it costs you visibility and confidence. Research from the University of Pennsylvania found that people are more likely to stay silent if they fear they will be shunned for speaking up or aren’t confident enough to take interpersonal risks at work.

2. Imposter Syndrome At Work Hijacks Your Voice

That quick, anxious voice pops up: “Who am I to say this?” “What if I sound stupid?”

It’s not logical, but in the moment, it feels powerful enough to freeze you.

Here’s what the research tells us: Imposter syndrome affects an estimated 70% of adults at some point in their lifetime, with 25-30% of high achievers reporting persistent symptoms. A KPMG survey found that 75% of female executives have experienced imposter syndrome at work and throughout their careers.

Even more striking: 86% of people aged 18-34 report feeling they don’t deserve their jobs. You’re not imagining this struggle—it’s epidemic.

Infographic showing 80 percent of professionals experience meeting anxiety and 70 percent have imposter syndrome

People with imposter syndrome aggressively pursue achievement while being unable to accept recognition when success is achieved, leading to increased stress, burnout, and decreased job performance over time.

RTT can address root beliefs and support lasting change, complementing these practical strategies.

3. Old Beliefs Step In—Fast

If you grew up being praised for being “easy,” “quiet,” or “not making mistakes,” your mind learned that visibility = risk. Those programs still run in the background at work.

Maybe you were the “smart one” who wasn’t allowed to make mistakes. Or the “good kid” who learned that being seen meant being scrutinised. Or perhaps you were taught that speaking up was “showing off” or “too much.”

These aren’t conscious thoughts—those beliefs are wired in from childhood. And they run the show until you update them.

One of my clients, a senior consultant at a consulting firm, would physically tense up before team meetings. Through our RTT work, we uncovered a belief from age 8: “If I speak up and get it wrong, people will think I’m stupid.” This belief formed when a teacher corrected her in front of the class, and the children laughed. For 20 years, that moment dictated her behaviour in professional settings.

4. And the Symptoms Show Up Clearly

Second-guessing every idea before you share it
Feeling nervous before and during meetings—heart racing, shallow breathing – meeting anxiety
Rehearsing what you want to say over and over, then staying quiet anyway
Worrying others will think you’re unqualified or don’t belong
Leaving meetings frustrated with yourself, replaying what you “should have said”
Spending up to two weeks ruminating about problems you stayed silent about

If you’re nodding your head, you’re in the right place.

So What Actually Helps? (Small Steps That Create Big Shifts)

1. Micro-speaking

Commit to one sentence per meeting. It builds trust with your voice again.

Start with something low-risk—agreeing with someone, asking a clarifying question, or sharing an observation. Your nervous system learns: “I spoke, and nothing bad happened.” That’s the foundation for bigger contributions.

Why it works: Taking proactive steps when stress is at a 6 or 7 (rather than waiting until it’s at a 10) makes it much easier to soothe your nervous system.

2. Prepare one non-negotiable point

Ask yourself before each meeting: “What value do I want to add today?”

Write it on a Post-it note and take it into the meeting with you. This gives you a concrete anchor—something specific to contribute rather than waiting for the “perfect moment” that never comes.

Think of your contribution not as needing to be brilliant, but as one piece that helps the team arrive at a better outcome. Your idea might be incomplete, but it could be the source of your team’s breakthrough—think of it as a suggestion that the rest of the team can build on.

3. Name the moment

“This is anxiety—not truth. They are only thoughts.”

The moment you separate the feeling from reality, the freeze begins to loosen. Your racing heart isn’t evidence that you’re unqualified—it’s evidence that your nervous system is overreacting to a non-life-threatening situation.

When the threat passes, cortisol levels fall, and the parasympathetic nervous system—the “brake”—dampens the stress response. You can activate this brake intentionally.

4. Shift the inner question

From: “What if I mess up?”

To: “How can I contribute?”

This simple reframe moves you from a threat state to a contribution state. Your brain literally processes these questions differently—one activates your fear response, the other activates your problem-solving capacity.

5. Regulate the body first

One slow exhale before you speak activates clarity over fear.

Deep, slow abdominal breathing counteracts the fight-or-flight response by slowing down the respiratory rate and calming the nervous system.

Try square breathing: a calming technique where you inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold again for four, while visualising drawing a square. It helps regulate the nervous system and quickly reduces stress. The square breathing tells your nervous system, “We’re safe. We can think clearly now.”

Professional practicing square breathing technique to reduce meeting anxiety

But Here’s the Deeper Truth

Confidence isn’t built in the moment—it’s built in the mind.

These practical strategies help in the moment, but they’re surface-level interventions. They manage symptoms. To create lasting change, you need to address the root cause of your lack of workplace confidence.

When I work with clients using Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), we go underneath the symptoms to the beliefs driving them:

“I need to get it right.”
“I’m not as good as everyone else.”
“If I speak up, I’ll be judged.”

What is RTT?

RTT is a powerful hypnotherapy-based method that identifies and rewrites the subconscious beliefs formed in childhood that are still controlling your behaviour today. Unlike traditional talk therapy, where you might spend months discussing the problem, RTT goes directly to where these beliefs live in your subconscious and changes them—usually in just 1-3 sessions.

We use a deep relaxation to access the subconscious mind, and then, together with the client, identify the root scene where the belief formed, and rewrite it with a new, empowering belief. It’s like updating the operating system that’s been running your life.

A Real Example:

One of my clients, a mid-level finance manager, came to me for imposter syndrome at work. She would almost get paralysed and felt her jaw locking up when she had to speak in a meeting. After our first RTT session, she uncovered a belief from the age of 6, that “I’m different because I have no one to play with, because I am smarter than the other kids, and I stand out. If I make myself smaller, I won’t.” So she stopped contributing.

We traced it to a moment when she wasn’t included in the playground after excelling in class. Her six-year-old brain decided: Being visible = rejection.

Once she saw that that belief no longer served her and was keeping her small, not just at work but in life, she found it no longer affected her. Because none of it was true anyway, it was the meaning she put on the situation.

Two weeks later, she led presentation after presentation and felt genuinely calm doing it. Her manager called her in for a one-to-one and commented on her increased level of confidence. The change was permanent because we addressed the root, not just the symptom.

Confident professional woman speaking in workplace meeting after addressing childhood beliefs

The Reframe

You don’t need to become louder.

You don’t need to be perfect.

You need to trust that you belong, your ideas matter, and your voice is worth hearing.

When those beliefs shift, confidence stops being something you try to “perform”—it becomes who you are.

A Gentle Invitation

What’s the most challenging part about speaking up in meetings for you? Does meeting anxiety affect you? I’d love to hear how imposter syndrome at work affects you.

And if you’re tired of leaving meetings frustrated with yourself and ready to actually trust your voice, let’s talk. I offer a free consultation to explore what’s been holding you back and whether RTT is the right path forward for you. Send me a message—I’d be glad to help.