A Better Way

 by JenniferWhite, President, The JWC Group

Broadcast of 3/12/99

Subject: Stop Overachieving! Be A High Achiever Instead

A BETTER WAY
A nationally syndicated column
by Jennifer White
jencoach@successu.com"I'm an overachiever."

One of my clients ­ Betty ­ recently said this to her with pride. We were just starting their coaching relationship, and Betty was sharing the story of her life.

Betty is probably like someone you know. She graduated from college with a 4.0 grade point average while she was involved in numerous high-profile campus leadership programs. She got a job with a prestigious Fortune 100 company upon graduation and successfully climbed the corporate ladder. All the way to the top, Betty went after the most visible projects. And she couldn't just get promoted to vice president. Betty had to be the youngest to get there.

When she decided to take up running, Betty didn't just jog 30 minutes a day. She had to train to run a marathon.

She's definitely what you'd call an overachiever.

The problem is Betty is so focused on achieving, she doesn't see that her whole life evolves around her achievements. She's caught up in trying to make everything perfect from her clothes to her speaking abilities to her management skills. In fact, when I congratulated her on her recent promotion, Betty couldn't celebrate her success. She was already focused on her next big goal.

In my many years of coaching, I've heard "I'm an overachiever" said with pride. Typically the people saying it have hired me to help them become even more successful ­ usually to help them generate more money and prestige in their already amazing lives.

The problem is not in the achievement. The problem is in over, as in too much, obsessive and obnoxious. I want you to strive to be a high achiever, not an overachiever. And there's a big difference.

Overachievers are unconsciously fulfilling a need they have for approval and recognition. Their desire to get the approval from other people prevents them from living the life they want to live. It's all about proving themselves to someone else verses building their own lives. Overachievers do not believe that who they are is enough, so they go looking for achievements to make them feel better about themselves.

A tough pill to swallow, huh?

Being a high achiever, on the other hand, means you accomplish great things in your life because that's just who you are. You're not striving to live up to someone else's standards. You're simply living to your full potential. If you're a high achiever, you carefully choose where you are going to achieve in your life. And more importantly, you know when you've attained your goal, and you celebrate your success.

Overachievers rarely celebrate. That's the real distinction between high achievers and overachievers. High achievers spend time to set their goal, but they focus on what it takes to get there, the process. Overachievers only focus on the end result and are off to the next goal as soon as they hit the first one. No time for celebration on this fast track.

High achievers have an intensity about the goals they set. They work hard to get the results they want, but if they don't quite make the big goal, they credit themselves in what they learned. Overachievers beat themselves up if they don't win every time. And they set up their lives so they always win.

High achievers focus on constant never-ending improvement. Overachievers focus on perfection. (And you know what we think about going for perfect...) High achievers focus on joy. Overachievers focus on what's still missing.

High achievers and overachievers both accomplish great things in their lives. Y only high achievers savor and appreciate how far they've come. And their lives are richer because of it.

Who would you rather be? Yeah, I thought so. So when the world calls you an overachiever, don't take it as a compliment. Go for being a high achiever instead.
Copyright 1999, Jennifer White. All rights reserved. Please do not duplicate this information without written permission.

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