This blog post has been authored by Stand Out Online Member Jenna Garofalo, IN/EX METHOD

What a daunting title, right? Also the worst nightmare for an overachiever. I am a self-proclaimed overachiever and I know you are too or you wouldn’t have clicked on this. Out of curiosity and the googler that I am, I searched “characteristics of an overachiever.” Number one, self-neglect. That hit me somewhere between my unbalanced heart chakra and my gut!

So many times we aim, strive, and break our backs for greatness. New things are better things. I have to be better than the person next to me. I need to have something to show for my success. All thoughts that have run endless races around the mind of an overachiever. All thoughts that have caused those races to be a circular track with no exit in sight. Constantly reaching to ultimately achieve nothing. When an overachiever misses a win or an opportunity that can bring on shame. Shame puts us in the perpetual cycle enforcing the behavior that didn’t get us where we wanted in the first place.

See, I say ‘we’ because I have come to learn how surrounded I was by fellow overachievers who were also achieving nothing except an imposter-syndrome and self-deprecating comparison that causes us to minimize our greatness within. So here’s a thought; rather than being a starter and go-getter, we made all the good things we had in our lives and made them great. We achieved within. We created a process that worked and a criticism that created constructive next steps. We achieved greatness by rooting ourselves.

Stepping into ourselves in a way that removes the external, overachieving lens leaves space for us, the overachieving community, to actually grow.

Step 1. Look at where you are, what you’re holding, what you’re eating, who you’re with, and ask yourself is this getting me closer to where I want to be? If yes, allow yourself to thrive there. If no, create action to remove yourself and create space for what will.
Step 2. Organization. Find it in your daily life to prioritize your time. Are you spending time in a day job you hate? Be on the hunt for something that ignites excitement. Or did you just spend 3 hours on instagram? Set a screen time limit or log out at a certain hour everyday.
Step 3. Bringing it back to that googled characteristic, self-neglect. In order to achieve you must, must, must dedicate your days to self-compassion. We don’t have time to waste on comparing ourselves! And we definitely don’t have time to sell ourselves short in the skills we know we have. We need to be busy nourishing our bodies and minds in order to make the nice things in our lives amazing.

Seems simple right? Maybe you said no. Maybe you said, “Okay, I got this.” Either is acceptable because they came from you. They are both acceptable because like so many things in life achievement comes from practice. I was told once by a coach and mentor, mastery is in the reps. So don’t expect to achieve level ten after completing level two. You have this, you have so much! Now make it something great.

I’m Jenna! A fitness and health coach of the mind and body. I help women shift the trajectory of their life by deep inner work and mindful movement. The IN-ercise and the EX-ercise. My program is designed to create physical health, boundaries, a new found love for yourself, and life beyond the “supposed to be’s.”