Last week, I talked a bit about Shirzad Chamine’s Saboteurs assessment, and how our saboteurs can harm us and our true potential if we aren’t aware of them.
I’ve found that being aware of and acknowledging mine has been incredibly helpful in improving many aspects of my personal and professional life, and in full transparency, I’m sharing my top three: starting with the Hyper-Achiever.
Boy oh boy, does this fit me to a T. Textbook definition:
✔️ Goal-oriented, with a workaholic streak
✔️ Constant thoughts of “I can be anything I want to be,” which is awesome—but also coupled with thoughts like “I must be the best at what I do” and “You are worthy as long as you’re successful”
✔️ Self-acceptance, self-validation, and self-love sometimes get wrapped up in whether or not I was successful, or whether I continue to perform at a high level.
My "aha" moment for me was realizing that whenever I achieved a goal, I was already onto the next one—or I'd constantly be telling myself I could have gotten further, faster. There's no satisfaction in hitting a goal as a high achiever because you're already challenging yourself for the next goal.
I don’t share this to put myself on blast—I share this because this is part of the reason I wanted to become an Executive Coach. I know hyper-achievers, and those feelings of you’re only as good as the results you produce—because I used to treat myself that way, too. (This saboteur is even MORE of a treat when combined with being Hyper-Vigilant — stay tuned for that saboteur next week!).
Is anyone a Hyper-Achiever like me? What do you do to get yourself out of the “performance and achievement” for self-respect and self-validation trap?
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