Why AI is making capable workers feel like they’re falling behind - and what to do about it

This article originally appeared across News Corp Australia’s national network - including the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail and other regional publications - on 18 August 2026.

AI is changing work so fast that a lot of people now carry a quiet worry that they're falling behind. In my 20+ years of coaching, I've watched imposter phenomenon appear again and again, and I think AI is giving it ideal conditions to grow. The internet changed how we work too, but it did so over years. With AI, tools shift before most of us have finished learning them.

Imposter phenomenon is the inability to accurately assess the value that you bring to a situation. The trap I see most often is confusing the discomfort of learning with proof that you’re no longer up to the job. We'd never tell a child struggling with early reading that they don’t belong in school, yet as adults we read our own learning pains exactly that way.

It doesn’t always look like worry, either. It can show up as overworking a task, putting off starting, or staying silent in meetings, and colleagues can easily mistake those habits for laziness or disengagement. That costs you, and it costs your organisation good ideas.

A few shifts help. Recognising the work you need to do to get up to speed, learning from others instead of comparing and focusing on the value you DO bring!