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A facile assessment. We all have our demons, over-achiever or not.

ghettoCoder 9y ago
I Suppose one could say the same thing about your post. Yes we all have personal issues to deal with but what level of insecurity or damage pushes individuals to use this as a coping mechanism. I don’t know about others but quite often when I see what I, and likely most people, classify as an over-achiever I usually wonder what could push them to want to do those things. Best guess is they need to keep their mind in overdrive lest some personal reflection occur. I don’t envy them or their successes.
coldtea 9y ago
That's even more of a facile cop-out. We all have our demons, but some have more demons than others, and this includes over-achievers, junkies, and other such categories of people more than the general population...
- dasil003 9y ago
  Cop-out from what? I'm not the one posting an article diagnosing the psychological problems of a broad and ill-defined class of people, I'm responding to one specific article that I think is bollocks. To be clear, it's not that I don't think there are a lot of over-achievers that are overcompensating for something, of course there are, but what do I gain from trying to analyze them in the abstract? It's an impotent form of mass-judgement that I can see no use for except as a crutch for one with fragile self-esteem. Everyone needs to live their life as they see fit, and it will go better if they can be honest with themselves, but I'm not going to sit in judgement of someone who is not harming others merely because they exhibit obsessive behavior.
goatlover 9y ago
The issue in the article is people who sacrifice their life balance to deal with their inner demons. But when they accomplish whatever goal they're sacrificing for, it doesn't resolve the inner demon. The overachieving doesn't meet the actual goal. It's maladaptive. Maybe that's fine for the rest of us who get to bask in the glory of their accomplishments, but is it really worth it to the overachievers? Jim Ryun (former world record holder in the mile) and "Pistol" Pete Maravich (former NBA star) would be two examples of people who overachieved, crashed and burned, and then found their life balance.

I Suppose one could say the same thing about your post. Yes we all have personal issues to deal with but what level of insecurity or damage pushes individuals to use this as a coping mechanism. I don’t know about others but quite often when I see what I, and likely most people, classify as an over-achiever I usually wonder what could push them to want to do those things. Best guess is they need to keep their mind in overdrive lest some personal reflection occur. I don’t envy them or their successes.

coldtea 9y ago

That's even more of a facile cop-out. We all have our demons, but some have more demons than others, and this includes over-achievers, junkies, and other such categories of people more than the general population...

dasil003 9y ago
Cop-out from what? I'm not the one posting an article diagnosing the psychological problems of a broad and ill-defined class of people, I'm responding to one specific article that I think is bollocks. To be clear, it's not that I don't think there are a lot of over-achievers that are overcompensating for something, of course there are, but what do I gain from trying to analyze them in the abstract? It's an impotent form of mass-judgement that I can see no use for except as a crutch for one with fragile self-esteem. Everyone needs to live their life as they see fit, and it will go better if they can be honest with themselves, but I'm not going to sit in judgement of someone who is not harming others merely because they exhibit obsessive behavior.

goatlover 9y ago

The issue in the article is people who sacrifice their life balance to deal with their inner demons. But when they accomplish whatever goal they're sacrificing for, it doesn't resolve the inner demon. The overachieving doesn't meet the actual goal. It's maladaptive. Maybe that's fine for the rest of us who get to bask in the glory of their accomplishments, but is it really worth it to the overachievers? Jim Ryun (former world record holder in the mile) and "Pistol" Pete Maravich (former NBA star) would be two examples of people who overachieved, crashed and burned, and then found their life balance.