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The Impact of Schemas in Your Job; “When the Past Sits at Our Desk”:
The obstacle standing in the way of our career progress may be due neither to a lack of knowledge, nor to lack of talent, nor even to an unfavorable work environment; rather, it is an old pattern we learned years ago, and today—without realizing it—we repeat it in the workplace.
🔹Someone who has the “Defectiveness and Shame Schema” may, despite genuine competence, constantly feel that “I’m not good enough”; they may fear being seen, presenting ideas, or taking on bigger responsibilities.
🔹A person with the “Rigid Standards Schema” may never consider their accomplishments sufficient; they work more and more, experience rest with feelings of guilt, and ultimately replace success with burnout.
🔹Someone who has the “Subjugation or Self-Sacrifice Schema” may accept responsibilities beyond their share in the workplace, be unable to say “no,” and repeatedly put others’ needs ahead of their own—so that others see them as “always available,” not as a human who has the right to have boundaries.
🔹And a person with the “Mistrust/Abuse Schema” may experience even simple feedback as a threat, as humiliation, or as an attempt to control them; as a result, they may fall into a cycle of defensiveness, anger, withdrawing, or conflict.
In schema therapy, the issue is not merely the existence of an unhelpful belief; the issue is “repeating an old emotional, cognitive, and behavioral pattern in new situations.”
That is why someone may change jobs again and again, yet in every new environment they experience the same story:
🔸Always a strict boss,
🔸Always a coworker who exploits others,
🔸Always feeling ignored,
🔸Always fearing failure,
🔸Or always needing to prove themselves.
Sometimes we only change our job; but “we take our schema with us to the new workplace.”
Career progress depends not only on skills and intelligence. Before we change our resume, we need to “see the patterns we’ve internalized about work, success, power, failure, and other people.”
Maybe some of our career obstacles were created years ago somewhere else; but today, they are sitting behind our desk.
Dr. Alireza Gol
Learning article
The Impact of Maladaptive Schemas on Job and Work
The Impact of Schemas in Your Job; “When the Past Sits at Our Desk”:The obstacle standing in the way of our career progress may be due neither to a lack of knowledge, nor to lack of talent, nor even to an unfavorable…
The obstacle standing in the way of our career progress may be due neither to a lack of knowledge, nor to lack of talent, nor even to an unfavorable work environment; rather, it is an old pattern we learned years ago, and today—without realizing it—we repeat it in the workplace.
🔹Someone who has the “Defectiveness and Shame Schema” may, despite genuine competence, constantly feel that “I’m not good enough”; they may fear being seen, presenting ideas, or taking on bigger responsibilities.
🔹A person with the “Rigid Standards Schema” may never consider their accomplishments sufficient; they work more and more, experience rest with feelings of guilt, and ultimately replace success with burnout.
🔹Someone who has the “Subjugation or Self-Sacrifice Schema” may accept responsibilities beyond their share in the workplace, be unable to say “no,” and repeatedly put others’ needs ahead of their own—so that others see them as “always available,” not as a human who has the right to have boundaries.
🔹And a person with the “Mistrust/Abuse Schema” may experience even simple feedback as a threat, as humiliation, or as an attempt to control them; as a result, they may fall into a cycle of defensiveness, anger, withdrawing, or conflict.
In schema therapy, the issue is not merely the existence of an unhelpful belief; the issue is “repeating an old emotional, cognitive, and behavioral pattern in new situations.”
That is why someone may change jobs again and again, yet in every new environment they experience the same story:
🔸Always a strict boss,
🔸Always a coworker who exploits others,
🔸Always feeling ignored,
🔸Always fearing failure,
🔸Or always needing to prove themselves.
Sometimes we only change our job; but “we take our schema with us to the new workplace.”
Career progress depends not only on skills and intelligence. Before we change our resume, we need to “see the patterns we’ve internalized about work, success, power, failure, and other people.”
Maybe some of our career obstacles were created years ago somewhere else; but today, they are sitting behind our desk.
Dr. Alireza Gol