[andai]

What I mean is, you're reinforcing a mechanism of conditional self-approval. A Sisyphean endeavor by definition!

Giving yourself credit for what you've done is fine, but if it comes from a feeling of insufficiency, then at best it's symptom relief that helps you avoid the underlying issue.

[sublinear]

I do agree that it's "bad" to need a reason to justify your existence and happiness, but that's totally separate from evaluating your performance at work. I think you're assuming too much.

[andai]

I assume our entire economy runs on this basic insufficiency. You can actually see it most clearly in the most "successful" among us.

[fastasucan]

Maybe the underlying issue is a low awareness of what thry actually have done?