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10 Signs Your High-Achiever Personality Could Be Holding You Back

  • Writer: Brainz Magazine
    Brainz Magazine
  • Apr 18, 2023
  • 3 min read

Written by: Dan Lawson, Executive Contributor

Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.

Are you constantly feeling busy or stressed? Do you find it hard to say "no" to requests or invitations? These could be signs that your high-achiever personality is causing you to over-function.


Here Are 10 Signs To Look Out For:

  1. Constantly feeling busy or stressed: You are always on the go and find it hard to relax.

  2. Difficulty saying "no" to requests or invitations: You feel guilty when you turn down an opportunity, even if you're already overwhelmed.

  3. Taking on too much responsibility at work or home: You tend to take on more tasks than you can handle.

  4. Micromanaging others: You have trouble delegating tasks and feel the need to control every aspect of a project.

  5. Feeling resentful when others don't meet your expectations: You set high standards for yourself and others and get upset when they aren't met.

  6. Neglecting your own needs and self-care: You put your own needs on hold to prioritise work or others.

  7. Struggling with anxiety or perfectionism: You feel anxious when things don't go according to plan and tend to be a perfectionist.

  8. Feeling a lack of fulfillment or satisfaction despite achieving success or recognition: You achieve great results but still feel unfulfilled.

  9. Having difficulty delegating tasks to others: You struggle to trust others to do things the way you would do them.

  10. Feeling like you need to be in control of everything: You feel like you have to do everything yourself to ensure it's done right.

If you notice these challenges in your life, it's important to take a step back and evaluate how they're affecting you. While you may be achieving great results in certain areas, over-functioning can negatively impact your overall well-being.


For many high-achieving people, while they say they’d prefer it not to be this way, subconsciously they are choosing not to change because of the fear of them getting ‘lesser results’. However, in every client example I have worked with, the results have been the opposite with an increase in quality of life because of a healthier more functional approach to actionable tasks.


You might also resonate with having already ‘tried everything’ to improve your approach. Like many before you, having been conditioned to do more to overcome challenges, this tends to only compound the problem. Although yoga, mindfulness, and breathwork, are all wonderful practices for example, they still bypass the underlying driver for being an over-functioning personal type which is called ‘spiritual bypassing’.


So what is the solution you are now asking? Well, as no two people are the same a definitive answer here cannot be given, however, the answer tends to be contained within what this behaviour is protecting you from – another way of saying this is; what are you avoiding within yourself?


Most people will be restricted by the limits of their own thinking to get a clear connection from within. This is where powerful transformational coaching will help you uncover and discover the hidden parts of you to connect you to what parts of you need further development. Connect here to find out for you. What difference would it make in your life if you could let go of these challenges while retaining your highly competent self to generate high-quality results?


Comment below!


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Dan Lawson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

I deeply care about who you truly are. Who you are, deep within. The you that is craving to be seen, that has be lock away and protected from the world for so long. The you that is ready to express all of who you are.


Allowing the parts of you have a voice for them to be heard through my training in Meta Dynamics, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) is a wonderful process in helping you to rediscover and reconnect with you again.


With this space that we create, I support you in using this version of self as a canvas to create the career, the business, the relationships, the family, the reality you deeply love and cherish.


Together, can we meet these parts of you?

 
 

This article is published in collaboration with Brainz Magazine’s network of global experts, carefully selected to share real, valuable insights.

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