Maintaining Perspective
During what can charitably be described as challenging times in the business world - when it can feel like the world is collapsing around you and the rules as you understand them are changing, it's sometimes difficult to maintain perspective. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a thought-provoking article on the risks of being addicted to a kind of success that revolves primarily or exclusively around career. As the article says: The deepening recession is exacting punishment for a psychological vice that masquerades as virtue for many working people: the unmitigated identification of self with occupation, accomplishment and professional status. This tendency can induce outright panic as more and more people fear loss of employment. For the entire article, see: You Might as Well Face It: You're Addicted to Success In terms of what one can do about professionally focused success addiction, the piece has this to say: To disassociate identity from professional status, therap...