The Perfectionist’s Dilemma.

Merriam-Webster defines an overachiever as “one who achieves success over and above the standard or expected level….”

Sounds pretty good right?

Of course it does.

We live in a society obsessed with achieving.

Overachieving = succeeding.

It’s an idea so baked into your brain that it repeats itself in YOUR voice. Making you believe it is innately true.

But overachieving by itself is not an inherently good or bad thing. It just is.

One problem I see is when overachievers become Perfectionist Overachievers. When you take that overachieving and add a healthy dose of perfectionism.

You know when you’re trying to add some spice to what you’re cooking, and you accidentally open the spoon side instead of the sprinkle side? (No? Just me? I’m a good cook, but I’m often a menace in the kitchen.)

That’s what perfectionists do with overachieving.

We add it from the spoon side of the jar.

We constantly overachieve. And constantly succeed. But we are never satisfied.

We experience relief in meeting a goal rather than pride.

Then we just move on to the next goal without really celebrating the last one or who we became along the way.

We feel compelled to overachieve in every area of our lives. Then when we fall short of these ridiculously unrealistic expectations we’ve set for ourselves...

We don’t look at the expectations. We blame us.

For not working hard enough.

Not being good enough.

Not being enough.

Blame turns into shame.

We base our self-worth on our productivity and “success” as it has been defined for us.

We try to maintain such a high level of output and performance that it becomes exhausting. Impossible to maintain. And then we reach our breaking point, and the break can be devastating.

Because we use it as one more reason to tell ourselves that we are not good enough.

If this sounds like you, stick around.

This week, we’re going to talk about:

▫️ How Perfectionist Overachievers are created and how being one negatively impacts your life

▫️ How to start rewiring your brain so you can turn the overachieving on and off when it serves you.

A ❤️ note to you: If this resonated, and you’re ready to ditch the Perfectionist Overachiever title and everything that comes with it, I’m here to help. Just send me an email (jenn@jenndealcoaching.com) or sign up for a free call with me at jenndealcoaching.as.me/consult.