The few professionals who become great do so, at least in part, because they relentlessly criticize themselves. That's the inevitable first step to getting better at what they do. Limiting In fact, it's tempting to suspect that there's an inverse correlation between how satisfied people are with their own work and how good they really are, or can become. Still, being bothered by your own limitations, and being able to see them clearly, tends to be correlated with getting better at what you do. As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living.
Satisfaction is death.
By the way, self-criticism is even more important for independent professionals than it is for regular employees, because wage slaves usually get criticism from their bosses, but IPs are more likely to be dropped without explanation by unhappy clients. As with so many other things, criticism is something that IPs often have to supply for themselves. Unfortunately, simply becoming aware of your own limitations isn't enough. In fact, the habit of perpetual self-criticism, in and of itself, is just as likely to be associated with inefficient neurotics as it is with successful professionals. Assuming your goal is success rather than neurosis, you need to distinguish between the kind of self-probing that leads to improvement and the kind that leads to paralysis.