Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Jealous Therapist Syndrome

“Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it.” ~~Gordon R. Dickson~~

During an Accountability Group meeting yesterday we discussed what one of my partners called the “jealous therapist syndrome”. I Googled it… I think she may have coined the phrase. Basically the point is that it’s often easier to help someone else than it is to help yourself. We have clarity of thought when we look in from the outside. We can give great advice to others, but we don’t always follow our own. We can see what can work for someone else's situation, but have trouble plotting out our own path. A colleague of mine, Ed Han, even posted about it in his blog a few weeks ago as it relates to resumes, and how hard it is to write your own, while being so easy to give opinions on others. In his post, Ed challenges us to “Imagine what more any of us could learn if we had more input from people whose views we trust?” I like the idea! It’s why there are mastermind groups, power lunches with like-minded people, job clubs, and a whole host of other networking opportunities where we can share information and get input from people we trust and respect. Research has shown that job seekers who are members of job clubs land new roles more quickly than those who do not participate in such networking events. Another colleague of mine, Donna Svei, aka Avid Careerist, a resume writer who also writes a great blog for job seekers, strongly encourages job seekers to “show up” and “get yourself out with people” in her post HERE. So – what are you waiting for? Get out there, ask for ideas and input. Seek assistance… but beware the naysayers and the doom and gloomers. Not all advice is good.

3 comments:

  1. I love that--"jealous therapist syndrome" is a great name for it! And that quotation is terrific!

    I think that what stops so many folks--myself included--is the demon of self-doubt. It's hard to trust ourselves sometimes, I think. And the issue, at least to my way of thinking, is that our desire to help our friends or colleagues in those circumstances outweighs our self-doubt.

    But applying it to ourselves, that's the tricky thing.

    And of course, I'm always happy when anyone gives Donna Svei a shout-out--heaven knows she deserves it!

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  2. Jennifer,

    I'm honored. Thank you for being such a good friend to job seekers and to me!

    Donna
    aka AvidCareerist

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  3. @Ed - Thanks for more great insight! Great point!

    @Donna - Thank YOU! And, you're most welcome!

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