Are you ready?
Like most of you, I’ve gone through the public school system and learned English, Math, Social Studies, Science, P.E. and conformity. That in itself wasn’t a bad thing during the industrial age when industry required many workers that demonstrated conformity and careful following of instructions. The work was monotonous, but people were able to earn a comfortable living mass-producing widgets. Thus the educational system was tailored to produce pre-programmed ‘cogs’ ready to follow a set of instructions input by management.
“Sit down, shut up and conform with the rules.”
As is with most large systems burdened by bureaucracy, our educational system has been slow to evolve and has fallen behind in understanding what is currently in demand by society. Unfortunately, the idea of conformity and ‘going with the flow’ has become a de facto rule in making a living for oneself. Parents encourage us to stay in school, graduate and find a stable, well paying job. Peers calculate your success depending on the size your employer. [click to continue…]
Do you crave praise from others?
This post is part of the Guest Post Giveaway at the blog Unready and Willing. If you think articles about writing or personal development (or personal development for writers) sounds like a good fit for your blog, please take a look at the Guest Post Giveaway page and see if any of the articles spark your interest.
Why should you endeavor to overcome the want of praise? Isn’t it a good thing to be loved and celebrated for the things you do?
There’s nothing wrong with praise itself, but the want of praise is an entirely different matter. If you fall into the trap of constantly seeking approval, validation, and recognition from other people as the primary way to determine your self-value, you lose the ability to generate your own self-value, and you will continue to rely on other people to buoy your self-esteem. The reliance on external praise can grow to the point that whenever someone praises you, even in the smallest way, you feel a rush of elation, the feeling that “someone out there values my existence.”
Unfortunately, if this external praise is all you have, the high will always wear off. The people who applaud you can only clap their hands for so long and the awards and trophies you’ve received are destined to gather dust. No matter how great your achievements may be there will always be a time when the flood of praise will run to a trickle, and then be gone. [click to continue…]
