Adjacent to this, my life got immeasurably better when I stopped trying to prove myself to everyone. I always tried to share my ideas and opinions in every meeting. I was obsessed with trying to "read" people to figure out their unspoken priorities, what made them tick, trying to predict what they would say and do next, and match my actions to elicit their approval.

What a huge goddamn waste of time that was.

It got to a point that to preserve my sanity at work, I kept my head down, did the work that needed to be done (whether assigned or not), stopped going to meetings I didn't care about, and stayed mostly silent in all others. All the while dreaming of a new career or early retirement. But then a strange thing happened... It turns out that if your reputation is one of quiet confidence, people start to actually listen. They assume that when you do talk, it's only going to be about something important and worth hearing. Instead of co-workers on other teams trying to throw their work over the wall at you, they begin every innocent question with an apology: "hey, I know you're super busy, but I was wondering if I could bug you real quick..." Borderline indifference is so far my favorite superpower that I've accidentally discovered.