You get to see some unusual behaviour as a professional writer.
One of the most curious is self-defeating or self-sabotaging actions.
The most common self-sabotaging behaviours include procrastination, self-medication with drugs or alcohol and comfort eating.
These create problems in daily life and interfere with achieving goals.
Procrastination is death for the job hunter or promotion seeker.
One example of self-sabotage is not leaving phone messages. We can’t always answer the mobile as we’re writing to deadlines.
We understand that young people don’t always leave a phone message but we surmise that plenty of older people don’t leave a message either.
To speak to someone in person, they have to leave a message and we will always call them back.
One prime factor for people not leaving a message is this sort of thinking: ‘Well, at least I tried to contact someone to get my resume written or to talk about a job I want to apply for. I tried.’
And that’s where they leave it. The resume remains unwritten and the job isn’t applied for.
A job they might have won with a professional resume. A job which may have paid them more money and which had better conditions.
The forces that lead to self-sabotage can also be subtle, such as an accumulation of distorted beliefs that lead people to underestimate their capabilities.
‘I tried’ is a common refrain. Leaving a message and seeking help is the solution.