I had some trouble with this post... not with the concept, but with the fact that it presupposes that the readers' internal feedback mechanisms are superior to those of the people giving the feedback. I'll agree that there are plenty of people in corporate America who would hold you under their thumbs if you let them... just like there are people in our families and circles of friends who would do the same.
The key is not to dismiss *all* feedback simply because a few critics are mean-spirited or politically motivated, or to leave a job the moment something "bad" happens; it's to recognize how to separate good feedback from bad, to internalize it, and to make a conscious decision: is it *me* or is it *the job*. Human beings are notoriously bad at this; people are hard-wired to blame outside forces for our own shortcomings. In survey after survey where people have to compare themselves to others, the vast majority of respondents rate themselves as "above average." (It's mathematically impossible!) 35 careers in 35 years? Not quite. More like 35 jobs... and let's be careful about extrapolating from one example to the entire population of working adults!
Yes, perhaps if you run from job to job, it is because you are wired to do so, and that you're definition of success will look "unconventional." But more likely, it is because you are trying to run away from something... something that follows you from place to place because it's part of you, as opposed to being part of the various jobs you move through. In this case, you do yourself a disservice by moving so quickly... It's like shopping for a high end sports car without ever having learned how to shift out of first gear. You can test drive the cars all day long and you'll never learn a thing, about yourself or the car: until you learn how to open up that throttle, you'll just be wasting your time... and you'll blame the cars for not lighting your passions when the problem is that you're terrified of pressing the clutch.
So, while the advice is probably sound for a percentage of the population, each of us should think long and hard about whether or not we fall into that population, or whether maybe the feedback we're getting from the outside world--the feedback that sounds like, "You're not putting your all into this," "I think you should stay with this for a bit longer before that promotion," etc., is actually more insightful than the advice we give ourselves. Maybe the issue isn't with the job, but with our ability to commit to something on our own volition, or to accept feedback that we don't like.
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