Dear J.T. and Dale: I moved to a new town and, ever since, my career has been in a freefall. I got a good job and messed up on it, and ever since, I can’t get anything right. I’ve had three jobs in the past year and have failed at all of them. My resume and my self-confidence are a mess. I’m afraid to try again. — Jade

Dale: Here’s what I’m thinking: You got yourself caught in the “set-up to fail syndrome.” There’s a book by that name, authored by Manzoni and Barsoux. See if this pattern sounds familiar: An employee screws up, and then the manager starts watching for future mistakes. The resulting overmanagement shakes the employee’s confidence further, and has him or her second-guessing every action and becoming a drag on co-workers. That’s where the book’s authors end — it was written for managers — but it’s easy to see how the poor employee would continue spiraling down, job after job, all starting with a single mistake.

J.T.: But blaming management isn’t going to turn things around. You, Jade, need to be open to learning if there is something about yourself that might be putting off others. Your former managers are unlikely to confide their opinions about you, but former co-workers might. Ask for help. Tell them you want to turn around your career and ask what they saw in you that was holding you back.

Dale: And also ask them what you did right. You need to fix whatever you’re doing wrong, but also mend your self-confidence. What is self-confidence but what you think when you think about yourself? Right now, when you think about work, your brain jumps right on that downward spiral, recounting the series of failures. That’s like a baseball player going up to the plate thinking, “Here we go again — I always strike out.” You need to start talking yourself up to yourself. Lovingly recall every accomplishment, every compliment. Tell the part of your brain yakking about your defeats to shut up, and instead start recounting your successes. You’ve hit bottom and bounced. You’re headed back up. You’re now writing the new chapter in your career, the one with the big turnaround.