Career Anxiety Quotes

Despite my career, so much of my life has been dictated by what I'm afraid of: fear that I am not talented. Fear that people will finally realize that I am a boring individual who doesn't have many ambitions beyond starting a family 'at a good time' in life.

As for 'Twin Peaks,' I'm happy to have been a part of something that was a success. The only time I was concerned was during the second season when it started to lose its focus, and I was thinking, 'What if I get stuck here for five years? I would go crazy.'

There is pressure that comes with everything being a big deal. I remember thinking, 'I need to survive the Shins. I don't know what I'm going to do to make a living otherwise, but I really don't want to do the Shins right now.'

I felt like my career was out of my hands.

I remember having a conversation with my sister, saying, 'What if I don't make it? What if I'm still waiting tables when I'm 35?' I was just at the end of my rope. But I've been at the end of that rope several times.

It's perhaps easier now than ever before to make a good living; it's perhaps harder than ever before to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety.

If you had asked me, did I have everything nailed down and wired about what I wanted to do, and was I following some real plan? No. In fact, by the time I was in my mid-20s or even late-20s, and I was still in the law firm, I really was starting to get a little nervous that I didn't know what I was going to do.

My father was an aspiring country singer and songwriter. He just didn't get that off that ground. I was afraid, very tentative to do anything with music for years. I didn't tell him I was playing in bands when I was away from home, because it had been such an unpleasant experience and a letdown for him.

It's a weird thing about our business: You give everything you have, and there are moments where you go back and forth in your mind about if what you're doing is brilliant or a total disaster.

Well, I was coming off of being on 'Law & Order,' and I was a little worried that it might be the end of my career - I've never been one of those actors with a lot of confidence that the next good job will come along.

Job-wise, I did have a moment of panic that I should have been a doctor a few years ago, but I hate when people vomit.

I've a belt that I have worn for every single stand-up comedy session since I was 19. I fear if I ever lose it, my career would crumble. That's my one OCD.

I got to a stage in my mid-20s where I was focusing on 'what's next, what's next,' and sometimes you don't enjoy what you should.

It's weird: I always feel like my career is about to end. Like someone is coming to get me. I don't know. I guess I need to find a better balance, but without my work, I don't think I would be alive. If I don't work, I don't live.

When I look back over my career, there was so much stress. And it was because of the business. It was always because of the business.

There's fears in everyone's job. Ours are in the limelight, and people think we're incredibly privileged or nuts to do what we do for a living.

I always wanted to be an actor, but I was always fighting it. It never seemed that honorable to me, and I guess I was always afraid that I might fail.

I used to have nightmares that they would put 'He played Ted' on my tombstone.

My biggest fear has always been being 40 and hating my job. I love challenges. I'm not afraid to try anything.

I'm constantly paranoid that I'll be unemployed for the rest of my life... and have to go back folding shirts at the Gap, which you know... you gotta do what you gotta do.

But as soon as I joined 'Six Feet Under', I felt like I was finally doing something again that the fans really loved, and I could stop being afraid of 'Clueless' fans!

I was so worried when I left 'GH:' so scared I'd never work again.

I don't want to say I took myself too seriously, but I put a lot of pressure on myself coming out of school. I saw so many people leave the business behind, certain opportunities disappear for folks who had to go into other professions. That kind of terrified me. As a result, I wanted things to happen really quickly.

I have a freelancer's mentality: if I leave the country for more than 24 hours on a non-work trip, I believe I will never be employed again.

This office seeking is a disease. It is even catching.