--- title: TBM 447: Why We Sabotage Our Careers | daily.dev description: Self-sabotage at work can be a protective response rather than simply a flaw to fix. John Cutler argues that behaviors we label as self-sabotage can be... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/tbm-447-why-we-sabotage-our-careers-hd36y0zsw twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: TBM 447: Why We Sabotage Our Careers | daily.dev og:description: Self-sabotage at work can be a protective response rather than simply a flaw to fix. John Cutler argues that behaviors we label as self-sabotage can be... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/tbm-447-why-we-sabotage-our-careers-hd36y0zsw og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/hD36Y0ZSw.png og:image:alt: TBM 447: Why We Sabotage Our Careers og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # TBM 447: Why We Sabotage Our Careers **[Tech Lead Digest](https://daily.dev/sources/techleaddigest)** · 10 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Self-sabotage at work can be a protective response rather than simply a flaw to fix. John Cutler argues that behaviors we label as self-sabotage can be defending values, relationships, or parts of ourselves we're afraid to lose. He warns that trying to consciously correct these reactions can replicate the self-surveillance that caused them. Continuous self-improvement, he writes, can become its own trap, turning every reaction into evidence of more work needed. He suggests learning to accept these conflicting parts of ourselves rather than trying to eliminate them. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Selling out](https://daily.dev/posts/selling-out-hvkjrgvg6) · sean goedecke · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [Selling out](https://daily.dev/posts/selling-out-p8vkmvdfj) · Tech Lead Digest · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Yet again, I finally sit down to tackle…](https://daily.dev/posts/yet-again-i-finally-sit-down-to-tackle--brzvli9tt) · Justin Searls · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/tbm-447-why-we-sabotage-our-careers-hd36y0zsw) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"TBM 447: Why We Sabotage Our Careers","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tbm-447-why-we-sabotage-our-careers-hd36y0zsw","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/tbm-447-why-we-sabotage-our-careers-hd36y0zsw"},"datePublished":"2026-10-29T13:50:10.910Z","dateModified":"2026-10-29T13:50:53.297Z","description":"Self-sabotage at work can be a protective response rather than simply a flaw to fix. 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