Exhausted High-Achiever? Have a Break & Try Underachieving For a Day!

Hey there! I work with a lot of exhausted high achievers in my coaching business.

They’re women who are C-level execs, senior leaders and women managers who often have two things in common:

#1:

They are ambitious and striving for more from their careers.

#2:

They are willing to put in the work to get it.

 

I’ve seen a common thread amongst my clients (and laughed out loud because I realise I share the same trait too):

Overachievement.

This desire to deliver at a high standard, consistently and across multiple aspects of life and work at the same time.

You might like to listen to this conversation more deeply in my podcast.

 

Are You an Exhausted High-Achiever?

If you set yourself high standards…

And consistently expect to achieve high…

And across multiple aspects of work and life at the same time…

You’re a high achiever. 🙂

Operating at this pace might be how you’ve always done it.

And maybe this approach always gets you great results…

Which might explain why you do it!

But what are the costs of consistent, relentless high-achievement?

Often I see women who are excellent at what they do… but they are also on the verge of burn out.

And, if that’s you, I’d love to say…

That just because you can get great results operating at this high level of intensity, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the only way you can get the same great results.

The likelihood is you’ve not tried alternative approaches, because you’re subconsciously worried that deviating from what you know won’t deliver for you.

 

What Are the Benefits of Consistent High Achievement?

Clearly with this relentless approach, you get results.

And you feel good… because you get those results.

In my experience delivering results though does not always equate to recognition (but that’s a post for another time).

 

 

What Are the Costs of Consistent High-Achievement?

#1

First up, it’s exhausting.

Operating at a quick fire pace heightens levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.

#2

Secondly it’s all-consuming.

How many walks or workouts have you missed out on because you were working and trying to get things ‘just right’?

How many times could you have really done with some downtime instead, time with family or friends or time to meditate?

#3

High-achievers are always ‘on’.

Have you ever woken up in the night, thinking about work?

#4

Fourthly, it can be frustrating.

A lot of high-achievers yearn for everyone around them to want to operate at the same high standard as them…

And are irked when they realise that not everyone wants to perform at this same level.

It can lead you to think, as a high-achiever, that these people are ‘slackers’ when actually, they simply don’t share the same value set as you.

#5

And last up, it’s never-ending.

(You might like to read about Insecure Overachieving too).

Because as soon as you finish one project (to a high standard obvs)…

You’ve wired yourself to immediately be looking for the next project you want to succeed at.

Sound familiar? 😉

 

So What Can You Do About It?

Today I’d like to share with you a simple yet profound tool:

The gift of underachievement.

(Bear with me – I know even that word might send you into a spin).

Remember…

As a coach, my intention is always to support you in achieving your goals…

And this idea might be just what you need to challenge your patterns – maybe just for today – to see if you could still get those phenomenal results but without the pressure.

So underachievement – what’s that all about?

Say for argument’s sake that today, you set yourself a low goal?

Something straight forward that you can easily achieve…

And you decide:

“Once I’ve achieved that small thing, I will know that today has been an incredible day.”

Just just a mediocre day but an incredible one.

Go ahead and achieve that small thing.

Then at the end of the day, check in with yourself.

See how different you feel having achieved your intention.

See how the guilt of having not achieved anything else is suddenly an irrelevance.

You can never be disappointed when you don’t have any expectations right? 🙂

You’re always winning!

“But how will I get anything done Rebecca?” you might be asking. “My to-do list is the length of my arm!!”

(Yes – the dreaded mile long to-do lists… we can talk about those another time too)…

I’m not suggesting to replace your old pattern of high-pace, high-achievement with this idea or underachievement entirely…

But I’d love to invite you to give this a try for 24 hours and see what happens!

 

What Happens When You Intentionally Underachieve?

When I have tried this technique myself, I’ve had incredible results.

For example…

One day I chose a simple task that had to be nailed in the morning and a task that needed to be nailed in the afternoon.

Rather than trying to get to everything on my list…

I just set the intention that 1 task would be complete within 3 hours that morning and the 2nd within 2 hours that afternoon.

And, at the end of the day when I had achieved both, I looked at myself and was super proud.

I forgot about all the other things that were on my ‘list’ and just focused with real intention on each single task.

And instead of feeling inadequate and overwhelmed at the end of the day, looking at all that still needed to be done…

I was elated with my achievement.

It was refreshing I can tell you!!

Give it a go and see what happens!

High-achievement perhaps, isn’t everything?

Rebecca x

 

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