achieve, don’t overachieve.
by bill reeb
as i have said before, overachievers tend to
- be overly optimistic about how efficiently they can accomplish any particular activity or
- take care of themselves only after everyone else on their list has been satisfied.
more: reality check: can you hit your goals? | aligning what we think with what we do | what is the best use of your time right now? | shrink the gap between strengths and weaknesses | be ready to forgive yourself | time passes anyway | duty: a tough hurdle to overcome | you are right where you are supposed to be | become your mind’s lead programmer | how ‘take what’s given’ works in business
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therefore, while overachievers accomplish great things, they often find themselves stuck because they are suffering from a disconnect between their commitments and available resources.
overcommitment combined with our internal pressure for excellence creates a need for a pressure relief valve. unfortunately, that relief valve is often one or more of the following:
- sleeping less
- skipping quality time with our family
- not exercising
- eating unhealthy fast food
- cutting back on the down time we need to rejuvenate
it doesn’t take a genius to see where these options will eventually lead and it doesn’t end well. therefore, i am suggesting that you think about the following as you consider the many projects you are trying to accomplish:
- work first on those projects that are of the highest importance to you.
- when you have multiple high-importance projects in the queue, don’t just default to doing a little work on each of them daily. manage your efforts so that you are spending an optimal amount of productive time to achieve the greatest progress on each.
- start watching closely for diminishing returns on your efforts. don’t waste significant resources for small incremental gain when that effort is sacrificing other equally high-priority objectives.
- put caps on the amount of time you are willing to commit to certain tasks, projects or expectations. by creating boundaries, you will likely not only accomplish more with your time, but also be more efficient, given that you are working with identified constraints.
- when you have overcommitted, face up to it right away and accept the consequences early. don’t wait until the last minute, creating excessive stress and frustration trying to force everything to work through personal self-sacrifice.
- keep in mind that time is the only unreplenishable resource, so don’t waste it.
you can save yourself a lot of frustration while simultaneously sustaining your momentum through better time, commitment and constraint management. this will allow you to move multiple important objectives forward, optimize progress with each, create whatever balance you are looking for between them and avoid the all-too-often chosen self-sacrifice as your solution for getting everything done.
final thoughts
here are a few key highlights to keep in mind to help you find the happiness and success you are looking for:
- distinguish desire from wishing. desire is characterized by a commitment to action.
- you will feel stuck anytime you are unable to resolve your unhappiness, including feelings of being unsuccessful, regarding your progress or priority.
- be prepared to reapply the replan-reprioritize-reaffirm cycle as often as a feeling of being stuck arises. the early warning signals for being stuck are loss of momentum, diminishing returns and functional disconnect.
- the only means of becoming unstuck are changing what you think and changing what you do.
- let go of what you think you know!
thanks for the time you have spent reading my posts. i hope the process i have outlined can provide you with even a portion of the help and insight i have gained by writing it!