Tips for Managing End-of-Year Career Envy on LinkedIn

4 hours ago7 min read3 comments

Scrolling through LinkedIn as the year winds down can feel like walking through a hall of distorted mirrors, each reflection showing a version of success that seems just out of your grasp. It’s a peculiar modern malaise, this end-of-year career envy, where polished announcements of promotions, eloquent posts about 'grateful' transitions, and humblebrags about industry awards coalesce into a single, gut-wrenching narrative that you are, somehow, behind.I’ve spoken with dozens of professionals about this very feeling, and the story is almost always the same: a mix of admiration and a quiet, gnawing sense of personal inadequacy. The platform, designed for professional networking, has morphed into a stage for perpetual, curated achievement, turning our natural instinct for social comparison into a relentless, low-grade anxiety.This isn't just about jealousy; it's about the dissonance between our internal, often messy, career journeys and the polished, linear success stories we consume. One marketing manager I interviewed described it as 'watching the highlight reel of everyone else's career while you're stuck in the director's cut of your own—full of retakes and dead ends.' The psychology behind this is rooted in what social scientists call 'social comparison theory,' a concept that has been supercharged in the algorithm-driven attention economy. LinkedIn’s feed isn't a random collection of updates; it's engineered to surface the most engaging, often aspirational, content, creating a skewed perception of reality where everyone is thriving except you.To manage this, it’s crucial to consciously reframe your relationship with the platform. Start by practicing intentional gratitude for your own journey, perhaps even writing down three professional accomplishments from the year that weren't grand enough for a post but were meaningful to you.Secondly, curate your feed ruthlessly—mute or unfollow chronic over-sharers whose updates trigger more anxiety than inspiration. Third, remember the sheer volume of life that exists off the platform; for every 'exciting new chapter' post, there are countless unspoken struggles, rejected proposals, and quiet periods of stagnation.Fourth, use LinkedIn as a tool for connection rather than comparison—send a message to someone whose work you genuinely admire to learn, not to compete. Finally, set a timer.Give yourself ten minutes to scan, absorb, and then log off, re-grounding yourself in the tangible reality of your own work and life. The goal isn't to eliminate envy entirely—that’s a human emotion—but to prevent it from dictating your sense of self-worth as you look ahead to a new year.

#social media

#career envy

#LinkedIn

#mental health

#comparison

#self-improvement

#featured

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