Optimisation pressure:The High Achiever’s Dilemma

“𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨”, my client Tom* explains. “𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘬, 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳!”

I can so relate to this!

My mind also has a tendency to always wanting to improve what I do, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 I do things, to be 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠!

Even writing this little article, I have to reign my mind in, to stay on task, and not rush ahead.

It’s a plight I come across a lot, both in my professional and my personal life.

“𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞” – whether that’s about how to make the most of the hour I have spare between clients, to the friend who has their entire family’s lives scheduled and structured to the n-th degree, to the neighbour whose garden is perfect - but never quite perfect enough...

High achievers are masters of efficiency: We optimise our schedules, our routines, even our self-care. But when does optimisation cross the line into overdrive?

The drive to refine, improve, and maximise can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it fuels success. On the other, it can create an internal pressure that never lets up, turning even rest into a task to perfect.

And here is the catch: This relentless pursuit of “better” can actually become more costly than beneficial!

·      It can overcomplicate even simple tasks
·      By trying to optimise, we might actually cause ourselves even more work
·      That can take more time, effort and energy than the task itself, and then
·      It can make it hard to recognise when we’re running on empty.

The irony?

The very habits that make us high performers and high achievers (think, hyper-efficiency, relentless goal setting, and the ability to push through) can also be what lead us to burnout.

Burnout may then feel like that constant sense that 𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.

𝐒𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞:
Instead of optimising for productivity, or focus on an elusive goal or outcome, what if we actually learned to enjoy (or at least appreciate) the process?

Let’s start a conversation around “Optimisation Pressure” (by the way, I made this term up. Maybe there’s a better word for it? 😉