Stop Wishing THIS Was Easy: You’re Probably a High Achiever

I was talking with a frustrated friend recently and he didn’t like my response to his dilemma.

You see, he had just left his high stress job in search of some work life balance, but within weeks at his new company he was feeling even more stressed.

He said he just wished THIS was easier and I told him the job, his role, his manager were not the problem - it was him.

Some of us are the kids who jumped on the merry-go-round. Easy won’t work.

Who remembers those old metal merry-go-rounds? I lived in Florida in elementary school, and that metal surface would fry the back of my legs when I jumped on.

We are the kids who didn't choose easy. We wanted more than the swing set or monkey bars and we were OK with getting thrown off into the dirt.

Usually, we jumped on while the merry-go-round was moving slowly and then it got faster and faster. Kids would try their best to hang on, but at some point get slung off into the dirt. The one kid left standing, was the winner!

It was the daily playground battle to jump on, stay on, and go faster? We held on with all our might, tried different grips, teamed up, and got mad at the bully who stomped on people's fingers to get them to let go.

Well, here's the thing about our childhood. When we got thrown off, we waited till it slowed down... and we jumped on again!

We could say we loved the wind in our hair or the feeling of getting dizzy, but if I’m honest, I liked the challenge and the struggle to stay on. The thrill as it increased speed and the unknown of how fast I could go before I ended up on my butt in the dirt, a little scraped up... it was exciting.

Now our playground is a workplace and all of us High Achievers are the ones working diligently to stay on, straining tenaciously against inertia at times, struggling to beat the folks who are stronger than us and aware of the ones pushing the thing faster. 

This time of year, you may be being asked to take on more, be more productive, level up in some way for this new year. It can be frustrating since you just wrapped up the challenges of last year a few weeks ago.

Do you know why you are being asked to do THIS hard thing? It’s because you have proven that you can take on a challenge. You are a high achiever who has the skills, talent, and experience that they need to do THIS thing. They’ve seen you take on and beat the inertia in the past. They need YOU to get on board and do the hard thing in front of you. 

My friend with the new job is a guy who just can’t sit back and watch others do the tough stuff. He knows he can do the hard stuff and he jumps in. You probably are really good at doing hard things as well.

Adjusting our mindset and attitude towards the tough stuff can be a game changer. What if you leaned into the label, High Achiever, and admitted you like the struggle (and you are good at it).

You probably like to see what you are made of, how fast you can go, and how much you can take. Like me, It may be how you are wired. Be proud of that. Not everyone has this drive.

And while I’ve got you, let's make a playground pact to help each other ‘stay on’ as we play this game called 'careers'.

Let's all play nice. Don't be the kid stomping someone’s fingers. You could even choose to be the kid who reaches out and helps a friend hang on.

Remember, throughout our careers, there will be times we get thrown off the merry-go-round. (It could be a difficult boss, a customer who drops you, a product failure, a forced career change.)

We may even get scraped up a bit. But no matter how many bruises and falls, we don't give up; we keep trying, taking another shot at it. Because in the end, we High Achievers are not just observers of our lives – we're active players in this game.

Note to those of you who find yourself in the dirt, having just fallen off the merry-go-round as you read this - take a breath, brush off the dirt, and jump in for another ride.

You're wired for this. The next round is waiting for you. Come play.