Fawning vs flailing

Looking into the mirror a bit:

Despite looking and talking like I don’t care for approval from others, I do care.

Positive testimonials from customers, clients, people whom I worked with. That’s all I seek when I work so hard.

Fawning.

That’s why when I don’t get that in my products, it gets hard to be motivated.

Intrinsic motivation can only go so far.

Is it necessarily a bad thing? To fawn?

It has its uses. Pushes me to work hard to deliver stellar service, or a great product.

I think the (irrational) fear is that if I don’t seek external approval, the quality of my work
will slide. But the downside is when it goes out of balance, you’re never satisfied, always seeking external approval to feel whole.

Much inner work needed for this.

Fawning vs flailing