The difference between external and internal validation

Is one of them enough?

Validation is an assessment of worthiness. When someone goes out of the way to seek validation, we call them desperate and attention hungry. When someone is oblivious to how s/he comes across, we call them self-assured on some days and arrogant on others. We are all - in some shape or form - seeking validation from someone somewhere. In this newsletter, we will unpack the difference between external and internal validation, and attempt to examine the impact on our lives.

In our earlier newsletter titled “Stupid Status Games and Careers to Avoid” we discussed that we are all status seeking monkeys who seek the most efficient path towards accumulating social capital. There should be no shame in accepting this truth. Even Mahatma Gandhi, through his various ingenious forms of protest, leveraged status differential to make a point.

On Gandhi's return from a visit with the King of England at Buckingham Palace, a correspondent asked how he felt so scantily dressed in the presence of the monarch (during his stay in England, Gandhi added only a shawl to protect himself from the cold). ''There was no problem,'' Gandhi replied with a mischievous smile. ''His Majesty more than made up for both of us.''