Is people-pleasing causing you more harm than good?

I was recently listening to Gwyneth Paltrow’s interview of Oprah Winfrey on her new podcast and they discussed the “disease to please.”

I’m intimately familiar with the concept of people-pleasing and discuss it often on the Hustle & Flow podcast, but I had never heard that phrase before.

It really struck a chord with me.

Because it does feel like a disease…

When we’re stuck in the cycle of people-pleasing, we:

• climb corporate ladders without stopping to ask ourselves if that’s what we really want
• cancel our plans and make others a priority in order to be seen as a team-player and hard-worker
• allow clients to email and call us at all times of day and night because we want to be seen as responsive
• say yes to networking events, coffees, lunches, boards, committees and other nonbillable activities because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings or be seen as selfish
• put ourselves last

And no matter how resentful we become, no matter how many times we feel we’re being taken advantage of, we just keep doing what others expect of us.

In that sense, it certainly does seem like a disease.

Because I haven’t covered this topic before on the Hustle & Flow podcast (how is that possible?), I decided now was the perfect time to tee up this discussion.

Even if you think this isn’t something you suffer from, I encourage you to listen.

It’s super sneaky and shows up in ways you might not even expect.

Listen to the episode HERE and be sure to share it with a friend, family member, or colleague.

Best,

Heather

 

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