Confessions of an Overachiever
A few years ago I started the Enoughness Podcast to grapple with this universal question because no matter how much I achieved, I could not figure out how to feel like I was enough. As a type-A overachiever, I was in a perpetual state of wanting MORE — more success, more money, more opportunities.
Last year, when I thought I figured it out, I stopped recording. Through a lot of self-reflection and self-work, I finally believed I reached a state of feeling completely enough. This was a wonderful feeling — albeit fleeting.
Well, guess what? Feelings are just that, feelings. They aren’t facts and they come and go as they please. And because I was not careful, I fell back into my old patterns…
Workaholism, overachievement, and perfectionism. Patterns that are deemed not only socially acceptable but expected.
The moment I grasped the elusive feeling of enoughness, I was terrified to lose it. I switched right back into high-sprint work mode, ‘Aha! now it’s time to double down and do MORE!’
In the midst of quarantine, I simultaneously scaled my business, coached clients, started writing multiple books, and launched several projects, all while callously disregarding the warning signs my body is sending to me to slow down.
I overextended myself, pulled all-nighters (the recovery time is just not the same when you’re in your 30’s as when you’re in college), said “yes” to opportunities when I knew I should say “no,” and nearly broke under the pressure of self-imposed expectations and deadlines (which can be even more crushing than externally-imposed ones).
As I’ve been helping others embrace their own enoughness, to love themselves wholly, and prioritize their own voice, I’ve been privately contradicting my own advice.
I thought I had conquered enoughness… then it came back to SLAP ME IN THE FACE.
This week I was forced to face the hard fact that sometimes trying to do it all doesn’t lead to more success, it just leads to more exhaustion.
In an attempt to coach myself through my work addiction and help myself as I help so many others….
Here’s my full public, unfiltered, un-produced, un-edited imperfect confession as an overachiever
https://anchor.fm/enoughness-lisa-wang
Originally published at https://www.lisawang.co on September 16, 2020.
