Career Crisis: First Steps When "I Must Be the Best" Starts to Ruin Your Life

A career crisis often begins not with failure, but with the moment when the wish to be the best stops helping and starts to ruin your life. Dr. Saulitis describes a familiar trap: a person wants to be "good," famous, always charming, always giving more — and gradually this pressure turns into violence against one's own life.

When "I Must Be the Best" Becomes a Symptom

In the doctor's observation, the very wish to be famous can be the first sign of a painful process — a manifestation that grows out of fear. At first it looks like a drive to be better, to give more than others. But the same program later "gets in the way of living": a person imposes everything on themselves, forces their own life.

It is important to tell the difference: being already drawn into your work is one thing; *choosing* such a path out of fear of not being good enough is another.

First Step: Separate the Symptom From Yourself

The doctor stresses that sudden anxiety, pressure, the feeling that something is closing in — this is a symptom, not a verdict and not your essence. And symptoms differ in nature: some are closer to the bodily, organic kind; some come from a heightened sensitivity of a neurotic kind; some arise from within. The right course of help depends on this — and it is "not a five-minute conversation."

Second Step: Check the Body Before Blaming Character

Before explaining a crisis as "weakness" or "character," the doctor advises ruling out bodily causes that themselves provoke such states. In his words, there are simple, mandatory things: a blood test and a check-up, examining thyroid hormones and other markers — to exclude what may be masquerading as a "breakdown" or anxiety.

Third Step: Reach a Specialist — and a Second Opinion

The doctor's main advice is direct: see a good specialist. And if the first answer does not convince you — be sure to get a second opinion. Only then does it make sense to individually tailor support: nutrition, routine, movement, recovery. The approach should be "professional, with a serious smile" — that is, without panic, but without carelessness.

Fourth Step: Return to What Truly Draws You In

The doctor reminds us that health and joy are a consequence. "First the flame — then the warmth." If something in your work truly captivates you and turns you toward life — that deserves a "yes." But the pressure of "I must be the best or I won't be accepted" is the same infantile program in which a person waits for the world's approval as if from parents.

Practice: First Steps in a Career Crisis

1. Name the symptom. Write down exactly what is happening (anxiety, pressure, "I must be the best") — and say it aloud: this is a symptom, not my essence.
2. Check your body. Reach a specialist and do a basic check-up, including thyroid hormones, to rule out bodily causes.
3. Get a second opinion. If the first answer brings no clarity — seek another specialist.
4. Tell "drawn in" from "chosen out of fear." Ask yourself: am I in this work because it captivates me, or because I fear being not good enough?
5. Say "yes" to what turns you toward life. Notice what truly attracts you, and don't slow it down.