Do you know your team? Do you know that they are getting what they need from you? Are they clear…
Are You An Insecure Overachiever?
You might have heard the label before: Insecure Overachiever.
It’s defined as someone who:
Works long hours…
Accepts an ever-increasing workload…
Doesn’t rest…
Is driven by achieving (but not necessarily celebrating) the results…
And…
This behaviour is seen as normal to them.
In fact, Insecure Overachievers trick themselves into believing that this behaviour is actually good for them…
Because it has historically helped them to succeed.
It may also be the case of course that this kind of behaviour is regarded as ‘normal’, even praised, throughout their organisation too…
With many people, even the most senior people, emulating this kind of road-to-burnout type of behaviour as well.
What is an ‘Insecure Overachiever’?
I read an article recently, written by Laura Epsom (author of the book Leading Professionals: Power, Politics and Prima Donnas)…
In the Harvard Business Review, she defines Insecure Overachievers as:
“… exceptionally capable and fiercely ambitious, yet driven by a profound sense of their own inadequacy. This typically stems from childhood, and may result from various factors, such as experience of financial or physical deprivation, or a belief that their parents’ love was contingent upon their behaving and performing well.”
So at the heart of that desire to constantly and consistently overachieve is…
Insecurity.
Which almost sounds odd right?
I mean these people are very intelligent and they are prolific high achievers…
They’re fiercely self-motivated…
They get results time and time again and, even when it seems impossible and the odds are stacked against them, they still pull remarkable results out of the bag.
So how can such high achievers also be insecure?
Don’t their results fill them with pride and build confidence?
It would seem not…
Which begs the question: if you’re delivering such outstanding results…
What’s the insecurity about?
What’s that fear rooted in?
Well…
It’s interesting.
Because like anything, this concept of insecure overachieving comes up in different shapes and forms.
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3 Needs of Insecure Overachievers
In my observation, that insecurity stems from one, or some, or all of these factors:
- A deep-seated need to remain relevant
- A deep-seated need to stay and be competitive (you know your peers and colleagues are also your greatest competition)
- A deep-seated need to be adding enough (or ample) value or even have a need to over-deliver on the value you’re adding
There’s a lot of self-pressure in the space of insecure overachievement.
And it all comes from you…
Not the external world, but from you.
I’ve seen this myself in the work that I do.
‘I’m Not Relevant’…
More than once, I’ve had highly intelligent women come into my coaching practice with impressive tertiary education under their belts, tell me they ‘need another degree’ for example.
And of course sometimes, that additional study is going to add value to you…
Maybe it will make you more employable…
But maybe it won’t.
For some people, that need to learn more is based on an insecurity that they don’t know enough…
And so they study more to remain relevant and to be competitive.
But the unfortunate thing is…
That fear will probably not be appeased by simply learning more.
The fear that you ‘aren’t enough’…
Or that ‘people will realise you’re not that smart’…
That fear doesn’t go away when you learn more.
It goes away when you start to recognise and acknowledge that you are already enough, right?
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‘I’m Not Adding Enough Value’…
And I see it too in this space where women readily undermine the value they’re adding.
(I only coach women so I can only talk from this perspective but of course this challenge isn’t unique to women. Men and women alike can make the same mistake of assuming they aren’t adding enough – or good enough – value).
Undermining your value can come in different guises too:
It can be an assumption that the people around you must be smarter than you
It can be an assumption that other people add more value than you
It can be the view that you still have so much to learn or so much more you need to do
That fear that there is always more to offer, more to give…
That’s a feeling of inadequacy…
And to compensate for that, Insecure Overachievers simply work harder and harder.
Believing that working harder will eventually result in them being recognised or rewarded.
Why Many Organisations Love Insecure Overachievers
In her Harvard Business Review article, Laura Epsom points out that many organisations are actively looking to hire insecure overachiever types.
This isn’t something that would be made public of course…
Because publicly admitting you like your employees to run themselves into the ground would be bad for PR…
But there’s a somewhat logical explanation, and it’s this:
Insecure Overachievers are machines.
They get the work done (and some more…)
And… because they’re insecure…
They will work even harder to deliver results.
They will take on additional projects…
They will ignore the health and wellbeing implications…
Because their desire to achieve is so strong.
And that insecurity makes them constantly question how much value they are actually offering… (even when they are delivering in truckloads), which simply keeps them locked in that cycle.
Which is exacerbated further of course if, in their corporate culture, that kind of behaviour is seen as ‘normal’…
Where working exceptionally long hours is commended…
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Finding a New Way to Get Results
Part of the challenge for an Insecure Overachiever…
Is realising that you can still get brilliant results but without adopting this kind of burnout behaviour.
Over the years of falling into this same pattern…
You might have conned yourself into believing there’s only one way you can ever get results…. or be successful…
And it’s by breaking your back, working long hours, not taking breaks, having no boundaries and accepting yet more work…
Well I am here to let you know there are other ways to deliver and without these costs!
And I know you might be hesitant to think that doing things differently could work…
Because doing it how you have done it for 100 years makes you feel safe and you might also feel a sense of belonging too if everyone in your organisation behaves this way too:
“Hey! It’s not just me who behaves this way. It’s everyone I work with too. We’re all in this together!”
So what do we do about it?
Well…
To get a sense of how to change this pattern, it’s useful to explore first what ‘insecurity’ means.
What Does ‘Insecurity’ Mean?
Insecurity is a loaded word because of the many negative meanings people place on it right?
But the truth is…
‘Insecurity’ is simply ‘uncertainty’ or having a ‘lack of confidence in yourself’.
So let’s start by asking,
How are you labelling yourself?
What are those beliefs that you hold about yourself?
And how are this beliefs protecting you?
One of the aspects of my work is in helping you flip these patterns of self doubt, uncertainty and where you’re questioning your value…
And helping you uncover the phenomenal value you are adding.
One of the fantastic processes in our coaching program, The Career Accelerator Game Plan, that I take you through is our signature STEEP Model to help you mine for those gems of value.
It’s about helping you identify the impact you’re making every day across different measures so that you can quantify and verbalise your value…
As well as the impact you’re making (if you prefer that frame), with total confidence.
Imagine how much more confident you’d be at your next performance review if you were deeply aware and confident to talk about the impact you are making every day?
Imagine how that would affect your body language?
Imagine the leverage you would have come pay negotiation time, to connect your daily outputs with the monetary reward you are expecting?
Insecure Overachievers stay stuck in their exhausting patterns largely because they lack any alternate strategy to deliver results.
And if you’re a corporate woman who feels trapped in this way…
Today might be the day when you decide to do things differently.
Rebecca x
Hey I’m Rebecca Allen and I’m a Career Success Coach for corporate women who are seeking promotions, pay rises and the visibility they need to succeed in their careers. If you’re ready to think differently about how you get awesome results in your career I’d love to invite you to book a free 15-minute strategy call with me – let’s speak.Read client testimonials and get free resources.
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