Therapy for Professionals
Do You Feel The Need To Succeed At Higher And Higher Levels Before You Deserve Happiness?
Rather than enjoying your work, are you continually stressed out, anxious, and racked with self-doubt?
Do persistent thoughts of never being good enough tarnish your achievements, making them feel inadequate?
Despite pouring most of your energy into your professional or creative pursuits, do you feel burnt out, empty, or unsatisfied?
No matter how much you achieve in your field, it’s never enough to quell the harsh voice of your inner critic or improve your sense of self-worth. Instead, your perfectionistic tendencies could push you to strive for impossibly high standards that take a toll on your physical and mental health.
You May Feel Like You’re Trapped On A Hamster Wheel…
Perhaps you’re stuck in a mindset where no amount of success provides pleasure, satisfaction, or a sense of accomplishment. No sooner have you fulfilled your latest goal than you begin to wonder, “what’s next?”
Rather than accept praise or recognition for a job well done, maybe you dwell on your mistakes and all the things you could have done better. The pressure you put on yourself could undermine work-life balance, not only causing stress symptoms—such as sleep disruption, muscle tension, and headaches—but could also negatively impact your relationships.
…Or An Imposter
Although you might appear to be the picture of success from the outside, internally, you may feel like an imposter. Perhaps you fear you’ll be found out as a fraud because you’re not intelligent or hardworking enough or constantly struggle with insecurity and self-doubt. If you are a high-achiever suffering from imposter syndrome, therapy for professionals, creatives, and artists can help. In counseling for professionals, we can address issues such as burnout, perfectionism, stress management, and self-esteem.
Have any questions? Send me a message!
We Live In A Results-Driven Culture
Everywhere we turn, we are reminded that our society focuses primarily on our external accomplishments, not on who we are. Popular culture has embraced the concept that success is achieved when we strive for excellence; it’s through hard work and dedication that we channel our desire to “be the best.” Whether we realize it or not, these societal pressures to pursue achievement often cause us to place exceedingly high expectations on ourselves.
Living with a constant pressure to perform also creates a sense of competition, driving us to compare ourselves to others. Our competitive culture can foster a perfectionist mindset, pushing us to excel in everything we do—often at the expense of our energy and well-being.
Some Geographic Areas Are More Highly Competitive Than Others
The pressure to succeed found in our society at large is especially heightened in communities such as Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Many ambitious people are drawn to these places, raising the bar professionally and artistically and leaving us more prone to self-comparison and self-doubt.
As high-achievers, we often struggle with showing vulnerability and asking for help. We worry that admitting we can't do it alonewe can’t do it all alone may be perceived as a sign of weakness. But the truth is, the pressure we impose on ourselves to perform perfectly isn’t sustainable.
At some point, you need to slow down and ask yourself what’s driving you to succeed and why it’s not bringing you the satisfaction you hoped for. Therapy for professionals is a safe space to better understand your motivations and explore how to rediscover the joy in what you do.
Therapy For Professionals Helps You Understand What Drives Your Desire To Succeed
While there’s nothing wrong with seeking success, and it can be incredibly gratifying to see hard work pay off, it’s easy to conflate accomplishments with self-worth. If each time you reach the top of a new hill you soon feel empty and restless, you may realize that striving for the sake of achievement alone is fruitless. Even though you may convince yourself that once you achieve “X,” all will be well, the reality is that if you’re stuck on a hamster wheel of achievement it will never be fulfilling. Soon, you’ll feel empty again and begin chasing the next thing.
The good news is there’s a healthy way to pursue and achieve goals that can look different and feel better than unhealthy striving, where it's never enough. Aside from an identity solely tied to achievements, therapy gives you a chance to examine what other values can provide meaning and purpose in your life and how perfectionism and imposter syndrome could be robbing you of joy.
What To Expect In Sessions
In therapy for professionals, we will explore how your past experiences influence your tendency to overachieve or set impossibility high standards for yourself. For instance, you may have received praise for your achievements or faced criticism for your failures, which can lead to increased anxiety and diminished self-worth. Additionally, perfectionism and constantly striving for success might serve as a way to mask feelings of insecurity and self-doubt.
Therapy will help you understand how stress and burnout impact you emotionally, physically, professionally, and in relationships. As we collaborate on a treatment plan and long-term goals for therapy, we may include a visualization of your future self who experiences life differently, taking note of what you want more or less of in this reimagined framework.
The Modalities I Incorporate Into Therapy For Professionals
Some strategies we may include are:
Gaining deeper insight into what could motivate perfectionistic tendencies and why your self-worth may be tied to achievement;
Expanding your identity and definition of success to include more than your occupation and accomplishments;
Identifying what brings fulfillment and joy outside of result-driven ambitions;
Clarifying your values and understanding how to live in alignment with them; and
Helping you get to a place where you feel worthy and can appreciate your work and accomplishments.
Drawing from approaches including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and psychodynamic, relational, and existential therapy, we will focus on increasing your tolerance for making mistakes while enhancing your capacity for self-compassion and acceptance. Utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), we will challenge your beliefs and assumptions about success and replace critical self-talk with more balanced thoughts.
Instead of feeling the pressure to constantly perform and produce, it’s time to take off the mask and become a more authentic version of yourself. Therapy for professionals can broaden your sense of worth so it’s no longer based entirely on what you've accomplished. With a better work-life balance, you can avoid burnout and stress and feel more fulfilled, both in your career or vocation and in your relationships. Rather than facing the prospect of another hollow achievement, you can start enjoying and appreciating your accomplishments, as well as the process of getting there.
But Maybe You’re Not Sure If Therapy For Professionals Is Right For You…
Is there really a problem with wanting to be a high achiever that requires therapy?
Wanting to achieve your goals isn’t a bad thing. What becomes problematic is when chasing success comes at the cost of your well-being. Maybe you continue to push through challenges, resulting in stress, anxiety, or burnout.
Or perhaps you suppress emotions in pursuit of productivity, perfection, and achievement. Therapy for professionals can help you develop a more balanced view of what it means to be successful in life and expand your identity so it includes more than your professional accomplishments.
Will dredging up personal issues in counseling affect me as a professional?
Many high achievers, artists, and creative individuals often worry that delving deeply into therapy and confronting long-avoided issues might disrupt their ability to manage their professional lives effectively. It’s understandable—after all, you have worked hard to reach your current position, and you don’t want anything to interfere with that success.
But if you're largely ignoring your mental health to prioritize success, this will eventually negatively affect other aspects of your life. It's essential to make space for your own well-being and personal development—it may even improve or deepen your work.
I question whether therapy for professionals would really help me.
Even if everything looks great on the outside, you may be struggling internally. And because you're used to doing everything on your own, you may wonder if you need help. Counseling for high achievers, artists, and creatives is about growth and living a more fulfilling life.
Seeking support doesn't take away from what you've accomplished and isn't a sign of weakness. Many high achievers find counseling helps address burnout and perfectionism, improving their overall well-being, enhancing performance, and providing a sense of fulfillment.
Success Can Be Defined In Many Ways
Developing self-worth that’s no longer tied to achievements can be life-changing. To learn more about online therapy for professionals with me, please call (310) 728-9729 or visit my contact page.
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Therapy for Professionals
in Los Angeles
627 N Larchmont Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90004