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I just wrote a whole book on this topic coming out soon. I had a similar crisis at 29 last year going into 30. As a former overachiever and perfectionist, I ga

I just wrote a whole book on this topic coming out soon. I had a similar crisis at 29 last year going into 30. As a former overachiever and perfectionist, I gave myself till 30 when I was 18 writing down goals for some life accomplishments like: - Get a Master's degree by 30 - Build a successful company by 30 - Be financially independent by 30 - Get married and have kids by 30 Needless to say, I accomplished only one of these things. I have a beautiful family I wouldn't trade the world for. But the others? Failure. I lived my life with the social conditioning of the modern world that I lost my sense of happiness. I looked to others to define my path of value and purpose. I kept losing myself to shoulds. What I didn't realize was that I was on my own path of fully expressing myself. I had to turn my attention back inward. I was the only person on this hero's journey to find happiness. Now I’m content with what I’ve done by 30.

IMTDb 5y ago
I am always quite surprised to see these as being labeled "overachiever" goals (they are pretty commonly expressed similarly). Being an "overachiever" means : benefiting from the work of others (food, clothes, transports, ...) for roughly 23 years (time it takes to complete a master degree), then contributing to society for roughly 7 years (until the "successful company is built) by working extremely and then benefiting from the work of other for 60 more years (assuming death at 90) once financial independence is reached. This is absolutely not sustainable for society as a whole, if more people managed to do that, mankind would not be better off. The fact that you have been able to complete your last goal, and that you are still contributing to society in a meaningful way, hopefully for many years to come is a much better outcome for everyone than if these self imposed goals had been reached. And the fact that you are content with your achievements so far a reflection of that. You are absolutely succeeding at life, and you actually have overachieved those goals.

IMTDb 5y ago

I am always quite surprised to see these as being labeled "overachiever" goals (they are pretty commonly expressed similarly). Being an "overachiever" means : benefiting from the work of others (food, clothes, transports, ...) for roughly 23 years (time it takes to complete a master degree), then contributing to society for roughly 7 years (until the "successful company is built) by working extremely and then benefiting from the work of other for 60 more years (assuming death at 90) once financial independence is reached. This is absolutely not sustainable for society as a whole, if more people managed to do that, mankind would not be better off. The fact that you have been able to complete your last goal, and that you are still contributing to society in a meaningful way, hopefully for many years to come is a much better outcome for everyone than if these self imposed goals had been reached. And the fact that you are content with your achievements so far a reflection of that. You are absolutely succeeding at life, and you actually have overachieved those goals.