You know them well. They're fast. They're organized. They're probably full of caffeine. They pull energy and resume bullets out of thin air. They can tell you the difference between business professional and business casual when you're panic-breathing before a career fair. They're overachievers, and you're either one of them or you fear them.
I fear them.
Regardless, I have been among them. (I keep signing up to be their roommate.) I have spent my college career buffeted about by the trade winds of many very different but equally impressive overachievers, and I have survived, and I am here to share my wisdom with you.
1. Don't reject stress.
Overachievers are stressed. In fact, pretty much everyone is stressed at all times. The key is strategy. Stress can be part of your life without ruining it (I have a TED talk to back me up), but only if you stop treating it like a mythical creature that's going to stalk you invisibly and slowly drain your soul. Figure out the amount of stress you can handle, plan for it, and accept it as a normal part of your life. Address it when you feel it and trace it back to its source. Cut out obligations if they're pushing you over your limit. Make sure you have a game plan for when stress overwhelms you. Channel it into motivation to finish projects that cause it. And take stress for what it is: a sign that you're invested in the world around you, which is hardly a bad thing.
2. Write stuff down.
This is the world's biggest cliché, but that's because it works. All of the successful overachievers I know keep careful tabs on their own life: a physical calendar, a planner, reminders on their phone, whatever. I know there's some kind of appeal to living in the moment or whatever, but there's also some kind of looking like an ass when you show up late for something because you forgot it was happening. Not everyone likes or needs to do this to the same extent, but a little bit can go a long way. Life gets easier when you're not trying to remember your entire schedule off the top of your head. Another bonus: if you have a physical planner, you look super smart when you whip it out to make appointments.
3. Say yes -- carefully.
A couple of months ago, one of my roommates casually took a leadership position in an organization she had never been involved with before then. Someone recommended her for the post, which they were having trouble filling, she thought about if she could manage it, she considered the rewards and requirements, and she said yes. Overachievers are yes-men, but they are careful about it.
New experiences make life full and exciting, but only if they're not going to take up resources -- time, emotion, energy -- that you really need for something else. You have limits, and you also have a lot of opportunities. Choose wisely.4. Care a lot.
To put it poetically, your life has stuff in it. We have all heard the story about the professor and the golf balls and the sand, so you don't need a cute metaphor, but make sure the things in your life are there because you care about them. If you're not into something, trace it back to the thing you are into. Organic chemistry sucks, but you care about becoming a neurochemistry researcher, so you care about completing your chemistry major and therefore you care about your four-hour lab. Or your planning meeting is boring, but you care deeply about the cause that this event is raising money for so you care about marketing strategy. If you can't find a root like that for something in your life -- a relationship, a club, a major -- it may be time to move on.
5. Need things.
Nobody is a perpetual motion machine, not even my most unbelievably energetic, unstoppable overachiever roomies. Everyone has to get tune-ups every once in a while. You need to eat, so stop making yourself study through mealtimes. You need to sleep, so don't guilt-trip yourself for not staying up to proofread a friend's paper. Even the vaguer things, like reassurance, outlets, peace, etc, are real needs, so stop feeling like you can't call your boyfriend and vent about your problems for half an hour. Give yourself permission to watch an episode of "The Mindy Project" when your brain just can't anymore. Remember how stress means you're invested in the world around you? You're allowed to need a return on that investment. Treat yourself like a person.
