Are You An Overachiever?

When it comes to college work, there are those that procrastinate on doing everything and those who it kills inside not to finish any school work, even the unnecessary ones. If the second one sounds like you, you just may be an overachiever.

What Does It Mean To Be an Overachiever?

For all the overachievers out there, they know the pain of not doing schoolwork, especially when tests are coming up or even quizzes are just around the corner. College is tough, but when it comes down to overachievers, the main tough thing is not doing anything at all. Not to say that this doesn’t apply to other students who don’t overachieve. It does, just not as severely. Overachieving means trying to constantly work without stop, always having the top grades in all classes, not believing in studying too much, and not considering stress as a consequence to always trying to do their best. Overachieving can definitely be seen as a speechless way to go about life for those who weren’t born with the gene, but for those who were, there are still some highs and some lows. If this sounds like you, you may want to keep reading.

What Are the Benefits?

Overachieving can bring the best out of a person. The constant work and need to finish is an adrenaline of its own. It’s refreshing and sometimes people need that feeling in order to get the joy out of work and school. You get higher grades, become more engaged with your studies, and even become faster. Overachievers rank high in multitasking because of all the work they peg to get done from the beginning. This enhances their skill in the field that they’re working in and even quickens their pace which many employers love in a worker.

This also includes more free time for the individual. With that time, they can do as they please or even, as most overachievers do, prepare themselves for further work that they believe is in their path. Overachievers excel at being the highest which isn’t a bad idea when the real world comes around after college. They’ll be the first ones in line and most likely the first ones to be picked.

What Are the Downfalls?

There are so many great things to coincide with hardworking and overachieving but often times than not, all that working can end in a travesty. Stress is the main component to overachieving. Constantly filling your mind and body with physical activity of writing, reading or even practicing on speeches; including all the information you’re forcing your mind to hold. Eventually, all of this can lead to an overload.

An overload is when the body shuts down and the mind blanks out. It will first come as a small headache, most likely above the eye, then turn into a huge migraine. Afterwards, after constantly looking at their work, the words and mathematics to the overachiever will become hard to understand. Of course, there are people out there who use more brainpower than others so they believe that they can store more information, but just being able to store more information doesn’t mean not having a limit.

Overachieving also becomes an addiction. The constant need to be working on assignments or studying, the irritation of not having work to do for more than an hour, or even the need to be the highest of the high. There’s nothing wrong with the overall ideal, but as an overachiever myself, I know the aches and pains that come with needing to have an ‘A’ in a class instead of a ‘B.’

Can It Be Solved?

Unfortunately, if you are an overachiever, you cannot simply take it away. Even if you believe you’ve solved the problem, it never really dissipates. You’ll have the constant nagging of family members and friends to slow down and those that don’t understand will negatively comment on how one can burn out themselves so easily by doing so much work. There will be that question, ‘why can’t you just take a break?’ And even if you tell them that to you, it feels physically impossible, they still won’t understand and will most likely continue with negative comments.

So what can you do if stressing over stress from being an overachiever is making you lose your mind? You find that one person who truly understands the struggle that you’re going through, even if they’re not one themselves, and you tell them to give you a limit. Almost like a life coach. For me, that coach is my sister. She’ll tell me when I’ve reached my limit and stop me when I need to take a break. Though I may complain about what she’s doing because I feel the need to constantly work, if she sees me becoming stressed or creating a headache for myself, she is the first to interfere. Instead of energized drinks to keep you going or headache medicines, the best medicine for this case is a trustworthy person that will help pull you out from drowning yourself in a sea of studying.