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Many of us tie our self-worth to our professional accomplishments.

But self-worth based on what we do, rather than who we are, is precarious—because there's always more to do.

Changing this pattern calls for honest self-examination and the gradual unlearning of old beliefs.

Our institutions tenaciously encourage us to prove our worthiness. It may be to prove our understanding of an academic lesson, or to be in possession of a particular skill, or to be worthy of some form of reward or advancement.

Unfortunately, many of us weave proving our personal worth together with proving we can accomplish a task, particularly in the workplace. But there is always another task offering an opportunity to prove we have personal value—meaning our personal worth always lies just out of reach. We also often struggle to differentiate between being OK because of what we do and being OK because of who we are.

What It Looks Like to Divorce Tasks from Self-Worth

What might it look like if we simply demonstrated that we can do something, without tying that demonstration to our sense of personal worth? In the workplace in particular, I propose the........

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