Are You Suffering from Praise Addiction?
The main reason why so many people are unhappy with their jobs
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C-A-R-E-E-R
What does that word mean to you? Some people might say that it means “money”, “prestige”, “pride”, or “self-achievement”. Michelle Obama felt particularly disturbed about this word as she mentioned it briefly in her book titled Becoming. “What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is a sure thing to experience later in life”, she quoted. She argued that growing up is not finite. That one is always becoming who they are meant to be.
Now goes the question, “Is being known as someone who’s pursuing a career is someone who I’m meant to be?”
A recent study by J.T. O’Donnel showed that more than 70% would say no to that question. To put it in another perspective, they don’t think the career that they have is who they’re supposed to be or what they’re supposed to do. They feel such dissatisfaction that leads to a decreasing level of happiness when it comes to their professional work.
One would wonder then, if that many people are so unhappy with their jobs, why would they stay? Why would they even do it in the first place?
J.T. O’Donnel spent 15 years to find the answer and it is called Praise Addiction.
As human nature, we like the feeling of being liked or be complimented upon. This concept is highly proven by how much we’re addicted to social media. No one can deny how good it feels when we see someone likes our post or gives positive comments. Such activity causes our brain to produce dopamine that leads us to feel addictive pleasure.
The same occurrence happens with our careers. As J.T. O’Donnel stated, “The problem is we end up making career choices to impress other people so we can feel that fleeting rush of validation. In the process, we lose sight of what makes us truly happy. With each career move, we get unhappier. The more we try to impress, the more frustrated we feel.”
Mistake number one is when we choose a career based on people we want to impress. Not to mention if those people are not…
