How to Live with the Overachiever in You

Did you know that if you Google “the key to success” you get almost 20 million websites? Every one of them focuses on ambition, money, power and success.

I happen to be one of those people who quit watching Oprah on TV because it was just too exhausting to try to be perfect all the time. I felt besieged on a daily basis to lose weight, eat healthy, be beautiful, make money and have a successful career to the point that my self-esteem began to suffer. There was so much to do to improve myself and so little time in the day! I do credit Oprah for introducing me to Egyptian cotton sheets which are truly worth the extra cost but she did fail to convince me that a Louis Vuitton was worth 40 times the cost of regular piece of luggage. At some point I realized I was good enough, inexpensive luggage and all.

The concept that a house is just a box you keep your “stuff” in resonates with me. The more stuff you have, the bigger your box. The bigger your box, the harder you have to work to keep it and you may end up working so hard that you do not have any time to enjoy all your cool stuff.  After all, how many TVs can you watch or how many cars can you drive at any given time? How does that saying go? All the money in the world cannot make you happy? Being driven by the concept that success equals money and possessions can leave you feeling empty in the end.

Perhaps what you consider to be achievements is the way to approach the overachiever in you. Define what success means to you. When your life is said and done, you cannot take possessions with you. If you have love in your life, emotional well-being, a deep connection to your spiritual side and quality of character, you are very successful. If you take time out of your day to appreciate the little things in life, you are ahead of the game.  Your accomplishments may not change the world but they do make it a better place to live in. If you came to realize what makes you happy in life and spend a great time doing that, you are the most successful of all. Perhaps that is the greatest achievement you can aspire to.