Let’s face the truth – academic success is something that every college and university student is longing for. However, is it even possible to study too hard to attain your goals? Overachievers are individuals who tend to be outrageously particular about their college progress. They do some really great things but still never think it’s enough. Although they become more successful than the majority of their fellow students, they are never 100% satisfied with the results of their intense work and exert every effort to accomplish more. They buy academic essays just to make sure you can do better.
So, when it comes to you, you’re responsible, a real pro at time management, and responsible. But the sad part is that you have not the slightest idea of what it’s like to relax and enjoy some new Netflix show. Everything must be done perfectly. If you think that’s your story, and you might be an overachiever, here are some of the main signs that you may really be one.
You’re a Perfectionist
Overachievers always become too worried about doing everything perfectly. If you realize that something in your college routine is not perfect, you consider it a real failure. As a result, overachievers tend to go any length in order to protect their perfect image. While achievements and being a perfectionist are good things in general, they may become a source of anxiety and depression for many college and university students. Even though there is nothing wrong with valuing high-quality work, overachieving can take a toll on both your mental and physical well-being.
Outcome Is What You Care About
You’re definitely an overachiever if the outcome is what matters most. That’s the standard that overachievers judge themselves by. At the same time, they truly believe that people around them tend to judge them in the same way.
The reality is that failure is just part of the process. However, when it comes to overachievers, that is how they tend to measure their success and worthiness. Negative outcomes can be quite frustrating. For that reason, overachievers exert every effort to go to any ends in order to keep away from that kind of frustration.
When an overachiever does reach this or that goal, s/he is more likely to feel some kind of relief that s/he has successfully avoided failure. Instead of feeling joy and happiness in their accomplishment, overachievers are proud of having avoided failure.
You Always Criticize Yourself
There’s nothing wrong with being critical of your achievements and behaviors. Nonetheless, overachievers tend to berate themselves for not being able to meet their own sky-high expectations and demands. When it comes to setting daily goals, they choose the ones that are nearly impossible to achieve. As a result, they fail to live up to their expectations and start criticizing themselves for their inability to meet these unreachable standards.
If you’re an overachiever, you’re more likely to suffer and anxiety, self-doubt, and self-criticism. You’re constantly trying to reach the sky and are afraid of failure. This combination becomes a major source of stress. Needless to say that it can affect your overall health and make you prone to severe medical conditions.
You’re Never Satisfied with Today
Settling down and enjoying the present is something that overachievers find impossible to do. Even when this or that goal is achieved, they don’t take time to reward themselves and enjoy the process. Instead, overachievers focus on what is going to happen next. If you find yourself just drifting from one accomplished goal to the next without feeling the joy of results, it’s time to admit the truth – you are an overachiever.
Taking into account the fact that overachievers tend to avoid bad outcomes, they are constantly worried about the future. In other words, here and now simply does not exist for them. Since you’re focusing on your future achievements, you never live in the present moment. Life is just passing by without you noticing it.
Fear Is Your Biggest Motivation
There are loads of types of motivation that can make you work toward achieving your goals. However, if you’re an overachiever, you usually find yourself fueled and motivated by fear. It can be fear of letting your professors down, fear of academic failure, or fear of looking silly or nonprofessional enough. Unfortunately, this type of motivation turns into a source of stress and anxiety. As a result, you find yourself working too hard to avoid failures instead of achieving the desired goal.
Finally, overachievers have no idea of what it’s like to skip classes. Unless you have been diagnosed with smallpox or plague, then maybe you will think about staying at home. If you realize that you’re pursuing a particular goal at the moment, make sure to take a moment to consider what makes this goal that important to you. Do you really care about it that much? What if you fail to achieve it? Do you believe this goal had a realistic outcome? While these questions won’t change your mind about achieving this or that goal, taking a little step back to reconsider your motivations will help you see more clearly why exactly you’re so passionate about this or that goal. After all, you definitely do not want to find yourself on the edge of a mental breakdown just because your college essay or book review isn’t finished three weeks before the deadline.