If you have found yourself in a career you don’t enjoy or can’t seem to accomplish any advancement, it can negatively affect your mental health, and your personal self worth. But you might be undercutting your career all on your own. Self-sabotaging behaviors are common in many types of mental illnesses and mood disorders, and they can interfere with your ability to be happy in life, and in your job.
Striving for Perfect at the Expense of Completion
Many people who suffer from anxiety and depression can struggle with perfectionism. They may work so hard to make sure every detail is correct that they never actually finish the project. This can create problems in meeting deadlines or client expectations.
The Solution: Set Benchmarks and Celebrate Successes
Perfectionism turns into paralysis when projects get too big to handle all at once. By breaking things up into smaller pieces, you can set reasonable expectations and celebrate when you meet each of your benchmarks. This can make it easier to overcome perfectionism and accomplish your day-to-day goals.
Get Help to Stop Undercutting Your Career.
Work with a psychotherapist to identify how mental health is standing in the way of your career success.
Staying in a Job You Don’t Like
If you have anxiety or struggle with certain social phobias, it can also make you insecure about your own abilities. This can lead you to stay in a job you don’t like long after you could have found a better replacement.
The Solution: Build Self-Worth by Being Mindful of Your Strengths
From a psychological perspective, the best way to overcome feelings of inferiority or incompetence is to identify and celebrate your strengths. Remember that this doesn’t mean you have to be good at your job. If it is not a career you like, your strengths may lie elsewhere, and that’s okay. Being mindful of your strengths can help you build your self-worth, giving you the confidence you need to make a change.
Ignoring Feedback
A common maladaptive defensive mechanism among many personality disorders is the tendency to ignore feedback. This may take the form of assuming you are always right, or you might simply discount other people’s opinions. This can undercut your career and cause you to miss opportunities for personal improvement.
The Solution: Active Listening
To overcome this tendency, you need to commit to actively listening to people when they give you constructive criticism. Rather than thinking about what makes them wrong, reframe the question to ask what part of their observations are right. Avoid viewing the statements as a personal attack. Remember, the person telling you this likely wants you to succeed. By reframing your mindset you can learn to see your own blind spots with the help of others.
Avoiding Networking with Others in Your Field
People with social phobias, depression, or even a more introverted personality type may find it difficult to network with others in their field. However, this may be undercutting your career by keeping you from making the connections you need for your next opportunity.
The Solution: Find Ways to Connect that Feel Natural
Networking doesn’t have to involve large social events or business cards. You can connect with others in your field in ways that work for you – from message boards to one-on-one meetings. Actively pursuing these connections can build your network. Especially if you are well established in your industry, nurturing social connections can lead to new assignments and even job opportunities.
Avoiding Planning for Career Growth
Many different mental health issues, from ADHD to depression, can interfere with your ability to plan for the future. Taking a day-to-day approach to life can undercut your career and make it harder to pursue advancement.
The Solution: Work with a Professional to Plan for the Future
There is an entire industry of professional and leadership coaches whose job it is to help people like you plan for the future. They can help you identify career paths and locate training opportunities or education to help you along your way. However, if you also face mental health struggles, you should also be working with a psychotherapist who can help you recognize how your diagnosis interacts with your circumstances. If your mental health condition is not well managed, it can interfere with your plans and undercut your career success.
David Stanislaw is a psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience. He helps adults with career issues and the mental health challenges that come with them. Contact David Stanislaw to get help today.
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